Bethel Park leans on linemen, Volpatti to take down No. 3 North Allegheny

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 2, 2017 | 12:30 AM

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Thirty times in a row, Bethel Park ran the football.

Eleven for one touchdown.

Nineteen for two more.

There wasn't much trickery or deception. Instead, the Black Hawks leaned heavily on four touchdowns from tailback Tanner Volpatti and a veteran offensive line in Friday night's 35-15 victory, the team's first over North Allegheny in nearly a decade.

The strategy was simple: “Listen to coach, go with his game plan,” Volpatti said, “and follow the line.”

The senior had 141 yards on 17 carries, and teammate John Doleno added 143 yards on just eight attempts with a 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

As a team, Bethel Park rushed for 348 yards on 50 carries.

The Black Hawks completed just one first-half pass, a 43-yard screen pass that Volpatti took for a first-quarter touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The Black Hawks then ignored that section of their playbook, stuck to the ground and Volpatti added touchdown runs of 7, 1 and 4 yards. His last came early in the third quarter to lead 28-0.

Bethel Park scored on four of its first five possessions, and only the arrival of halftime had stopped its offense.

“The line was having a good game,” Volpatti said. “They were creating the holes, and I was hitting them at full speed — just trusting what I saw.”

“We thought maybe with our experience that we could do some things inside,” Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny said. “That's proved to be the case.”

The win was a nonconference victory. But for No. 5-ranked Bethel Park (1-0), there was reason to celebrate. The Black Hawks hadn't defeated No. 3 North Allegheny (1-1) since 2008, the year Bethel Park won the WPIAL title and reached the state final.

The nine-year span since included five losses to NA, a 21-14 loss last season included.

“We were fueled by last year, that we didn't finish the game,” Bethel Park lineman James Gmiter said. “This year we came out with the mentality that we're going to finish it and run them into the ground.”

The northern teams dominated WPIAL Class 6A a year ago, a trend Bethel Park wants to disrupt.

“(This win) shows that we're ready,” Gmiter said. “We'll come for anybody. We're not scared.”

Five seniors start on Bethel Park's offensive line, which has both experience and size. The right tackle is Gmiter, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound West Virginia commit.

“I think they have a chance to be pretty special,” Metheny said.

North Allegheny rushed for just 84 yards on 26 carries. Quarterback Luke Trueman led the Tigers in rushing (44 yards) and passing (203 yards), but also threw one of the team's two interceptions.

Ben Maenza scored both North Allegheny touchdowns, on second-half runs of 6 and 1 yard.

North Allegheny tried to rally in the third. After Maenza's first touchdown, the Tigers earned a safety when a Bethel Park punt snap bounced through the end zone. But the Tigers' momentum stalled when a 50-yard touchdown catch by Turner White was negated by a personal foul penalty for a blind-side hit.

“Obviously you want to try to win them all, but it doesn't always happen,” North Allegheny coach Art Walker said. “The No. 1 thing is to stick together. It's real easy to make excuses and point fingers and say it's this guy's fault or that guy's fault.

“It's real easy to listen to negativity from everybody else that doesn't play. But that's a coward way out. We're here to build character and to get better. I told them, we can be better. We can learn from this.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Bethel Park, North Allegheny