Fierce defenses square off when Pine-Richland, Peters Township meet in WPIAL title rematch

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, November 21, 2024 | 8:48 PM

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There are plenty of old football coach sayings that link defense and championships.

Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne offered this one ahead of the WPIAL finals: “If they don’t score, they can’t win.”

Simple enough.

No. 1 Pine-Richland (10-1) plays No. 3 Peters Township (11-1) in a WPIAL Class 5A final Saturday night that pairs two of the league’s top defenses. The game is also a rematch of last year’s final.

Kickoff is 8 p.m. at Acrisure Stadium.

“Hopefully, your defense is playing really good football,” LeDonne said. “I’m not a big stat guy. But if you go look at the stats, both of these defenses are playing really well right now.”

His Rams held their semifinal opponent to seven points. Peters Township allowed only three in its win.

“It may be an offensive struggle,” LeDonne added. “Maybe special teams come into play. But we need to prepare in all phases.”

Peters Township vs. Pine-Richland has quietly become a WPIAL championship rivalry. This is the third time in five years that they’ll meet in the finals.

The series is tied 1-1.

Peters Township enters as the defending champion after a 43-17 victory last season. Pine-Richland won their first finals matchup, 35-0, in 2020.

“They’re the pillar of 5A,” Peters Township coach T.J. Plack said of Pine-Richland. “We’re excited to play against them.”

This is Pine-Richland’s third straight appearance in the finals and the fourth in five years. It’s Peters Township’s fourth in six years.

“I think they’re similar communities and very similar types of kids, as far as their mentality and where they come from,” LeDonne said. “TJ is doing an awesome job down there.”

This year, the teams’ defenses ranked second and third in WPIAL 5A. Peters Township held opponents to 10 points per game and Pine-Richland allowed 11.9.

That stinginess has carried over to the playoffs.

Pine-Richland is coming off a 28-7 win over Bethel Park, which had the highest-scoring offense in 5A. Peters Township defeated Upper St. Clair, 7-3, in a game that had no points on offense.

“Defense and run game travel,” Plack said. “We’ve been so fortunate with our defense. … We definitely rely on them. A 7-3 win against Upper St. Clair? We pretty much shut them down in the second half.”

That’s not to say either finalist is one-dimensional. Both Pine-Richland and Peters Township have offenses that average better than 30 points.

Rams running back Maclane Miller rushed for two touchdowns last week. Indians quarterback Nolan DiLucia passed for three touchdowns and ran for another in the quarterfinals.

Yet both are stout on defense.

A trio of linebackers leads Peters Township’s efforts: Senior Mickey Vaccarello and junior Reston Lehman flank senior Nick Courie in the middle. Vaccarello (6-3, 215) is a Stanford recruit. Lehman (6-4, 230) has Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia among his college offers.

Senior tackle Franco Muscatello (6-2, 230) is a run-stopper up front.

They’re among seven returning starters from last year’s defense.

“Our defense is phenomenal,” Plack said. “They do such a great job. Having those guys back, we will rely on them. And whatever we need to do on offense and special teams, we’ll try to get done.”

Pine-Richland has six defensive starters back from last year’s championship game. The Rams this year have 28 sacks, 15 fumble recoveries and nine interceptions in 11 games.

Senior linebacker Sam Heckert has a team-high 99 tackles and 16 tackles for a loss. Senior Tanner Cunningham has 74 tackles and two interceptions. Junior Jay Timmons leads with four interceptions.

“We’ve got guys on the back end, in the middle and on the front end who all played in this game last year,” LeDonne said. “As does Peters.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Peters Township, Pine-Richland