Belle Vernon credits defense for state championship

By: Jeremy Sellew
Monday, December 12, 2022 | 7:01 AM

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Yes Virginia, defense does win championships. And if anyone says otherwise, just roll the tape of Belle Vernon’s PIAA 3A championship win over Neumann-Goretti.

The Saints feature a number of Division I recruits. It didn’t matter.

The Saints won eight straight games entering the championship matchup. It didn’t matter.

No matter what the Saints did Saturday, in the end, they finished with only 67 yards in the Leopards’ 9-8 win.

It was a game that will be remembered in the Belle Vernon area and also in state championship history as the Leopards defense stood tall at the 1-yard line in the final seconds, eventually forcing a turnover to clinch the program’s first state title.

Seconds before the Leopards (12-2) finished off the win, the football gods blinked. A Neumann-Goretti fumble was ruled dual possession, and the ball stayed with the Saints (11-4).

“I’ve been at this a long time, and I believe in football justice,” Belle Vernon defensive coordinator Brett Berish said. “It hasn’t always been kind. I’ve suffered through 0-10 seasons here. We’ve suffered through some really tough losses. So there was definitely some football justice.”

Replays on the PCN broadcast showed Leopards defensive end Braden Laux with the ball in his belly, yet the officials gave the Saints another opportunity.

The Leopards took a timeout to ready for the next play.

“Surprisingly, it was very calm after they made that call,” BVA coach Matt Humbert said. “The kids were energetic. The sideline was juiced up. It’s so hard to stop a team from that position.

“But during that timeout, there was this weird feeling. It’s like there was this weird aura over the field and, to be honest, the calmness around everything going on made it a little uncomfortable. There was a strange feeling about everything.”

The next play went down as one of the biggest in Leopards history and maybe in PIAA championship history.

Saints quarterback Mekhi Wharton tried a quarterback sneak and was clocked over the top by BVA safety Adam LaCarte.

“If you watch the film, it starts with Parker Jewell. He filled the right gap,” Berish said. “(Wharton) squirmed to the other side, and LaCarte hit him and the ball was coming out. (Anthony) Crews ripped it out, and Aiden (Johnson) got the recovery.

“It was justice for sure.”

Berish said he never will forget the huddle during the timeout.

“It was so quiet. I was on a knee surrounded by my guys. Humbert just let me talk,” Berish said. “Parker said, ‘Let me go A-gap.’ So we pushed our tackles to the Bs. The players will tell you, I’m a player’s coach. We do nothing but preach football IQ. I’d rather have 11 smart kids on my defense than 11 Neanderthals. I trust those kids. They knew what was coming.”

The Leopards put up a ton of points throughout the season, but it was the defense, Berish’s baby, that carried the way.

Belle Vernon didn’t allow a second-half point since its Week 3 loss to Penn-Trafford.

“I go back to Bobby Bowden. Someone asked him what made him so successful, and he said, ‘I had a 95% retention rate of my coaching staff,’ ” Berish said. “That’s what makes us so successful. It’s the coaching staff and a great bunch of kids that do the work.”

Humbert and Berish lauded the efforts of defensive line coaches Aaron Szakal and Frank Muccino, linebacker coaches Jeff Ogrodowski and Scott Bryer. Mike Steeber handles the defensive backs with Logan Pfrogner under his wing and coaching safeties.

“We have six defensive coaches and three on the offensive staff. It’s not rocket science. We know we’re not winning anything without this defense,” Humbert said. “Look, I’m a quarterback, and I will wholeheartedly agree defense does indeed win championships.

“Brett and I, there’s never any battles. He’s been with me a long time. He follows his gut and has been through so much as a coach. Look at a guy like Steeber. He’s such a technician and enthralled with technique in the secondary. He doesn’t miss anything.”

Throughout the season, it’s been guys like Jewell, Steve Macheska and Johnson continuing to improve.

“Johnson, we knew coming in he was kind of a hot head. But his maturation process throughout this season was amazing,” Berish said. “I couldn’t be happier to see him come out of there with that football at the end.”

Macheska, who was a defenseman on the Ringgold hockey team, was recruited to play football by Humbert. He suffered a knee injury his sophomore season. He was the Leopards’ most valuable player against Neumann-Goretti after it seemed like he was unblockable the entire game.

“We watched the Bishop McDevitt game against Aliquippa and McDevitt’s No. 55 was eating up Aliquippa’s offensive line, and we know how great they were,” Berish said. “Stevie was unstoppable. We wore their offensive line out. I knew we wanted to slant and pitch our defensive tackles, and Stevie was running free to the backfield.”

For Berish, the reality of the situation and his team’s accomplishment — his unit’s accomplishment — hasn’t hit him yet.

“It might be (Monday) when I don’t have to go to practice,” Berish said. “I don’t think it’s settled in. Maybe Saturday with the parade, but I will say this. … It’s a great experience, and it was awesome. We are etched in state championship history as a program, and our defense will be for winning the game the way we did.

“It’s been surreal getting messages and having cats that I played with at BVA reaching out to me to congratulate me. It goes back to the coaches I played for and coached alongside. Joe Kroskie and Billy Connors. Bap Manzini and Guy Montecalvo, they’re all just first-class people and football coaching royalty. It goes beyond Xs and Os.”

Humbert had his own perspective.

“You know, I look back and we had multiple opportunities to put ourselves in better position to win that game,” Humbert said. “But during that timeout at the end, like I said, there was this feeling. We got the fumble. I don’t know if it was the football gods, but we believe in our kids, our coaches and we believe in our defense. We put our kids in the right position, but what you need is their grit. We’re tough, we’re physical and all that unsexiness is what you need. Belle Vernon is full of tough kids, and they showcased that throughout that game.”

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