North Allegheny runs away form Hempfield in battle of unbeatens

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, September 12, 2025 | 11:02 PM

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North Allegheny (4-0, 1-0) throttled Hempfield (3-1, 0-1), 56-13, with a heavy run attack Friday night at Newman Stadium to kick off Class 6A play.

NA junior quarterback Brady Brinkley ran for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Luke Rohan added 88 yards and a score on eight carries.

“He beat me?” Brinkley asked about Rohan tallying 3 more yards than him. “We make good reads together, and I can rely on him gaining yards when I hand the ball off, and he can rely on me gaining yards when I pull the ball. We also have that confidence in each other, and that makes us a great one-two punch.”

Four backs scored touchdowns, including late scores by Anthony Sisinni and Brandon Schantz.

Brinkley also was 10 for 18 for 126 yards and one touchdown through the air.

His leading targets were Korry Pitts Jr., who caught three passes for 57 yards, and Cam Kushner, who hauled in four passes for 41 yards. His touchdown pass was 19 yards to Kadyn McConneha for the first score of the game.

“Korry’s hands have gotten so much better from last year, and he’s really developing as a great receiver,” Brinkley said. “Cam is a route specialist, great hands. We worked on our chemistry all summer, and it’s getting to the point that we’re cooking now.”

The Tigers defense tallied seven sacks, with Owen Urschler getting 2 1/2, Eli Janowiak, Ryan Logan, Mack Niederberger and Lincoln Hoke with one, and Grant Girty with a half-sack.

“We were really fired up,” Urschler said. “(Local media) was calling us out this game. Some said they had Hempfield winning this one, so it was pretty emotional for us. We were all just fired up tonight and we just did our jobs.”

Urschler talked about his hunger on the pass rush, as they got to Hempfield quarterback Dom Detruf, putting him at minus-31 yards.

“I’ve really been working on my pass rush,” Urschler said. “Their left tackle is a Harvard commit, so I knew that going in. I just had to get off the ball, be fast, physical, and take the quarterback down.”

Janowiak and Cam Kushner both picked off passes, Kushner’s being a 45-yard pick-6.

The Tigers also had three forced fumbles, one of which came when Logan Hughey jarred a ball loose on the kickoff and Rocco Colaizzi fell on it. Another was caused by Niederberger, resulting in a Maximus Folks recovery.

“If you want to be the best, you have to play the best,” Hempfield coach Nick Keefer said. “We’re not running away from who we play. We’re excited. We’re a big school, too, and we’re happy to be in 6A and it wasn’t our night tonight.”

The Tigers struck first and didn’t look back.

However, The Spartans hung around at first and responded quickly with a two-play, 65 yard drive in 41 seconds.

Detruf found Teddy Kopas for 55 yards on a streak. Detruf connected for a 10-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Stinebiser, but a blocked extra point had Hempfield trailing 7-6.

Brinkley swiftly took a quarterback keeper to the short side of the field and would run by everyone for a 55-yard score to put NA up 14-6 on the second play of the second quarter.

Brinkley found Kushner over the middle for 19 yards to get NA to the Hempfield 1-yard line. Brinkley then scored on a keeper for a 21-6 lead.

NA tacked on one more score late in the second after Brinkley found Pitts Jr. for 41 yards to get into Spartan territory. Rohan capped the drive four plays later from 2 yards for a 28-6 halftime lead.

Rohan threw the first punch in the second half, breaking four tackles for a 44-yard touchdown run to go up 35-6.

Kushner would notch a 45-yard pick-6 for a 42-6 lead.

Hughey then notched a big hit, forcing a fumble on the kickoff with NA’s Colaizzi recovering. Sisinni ran in a 5-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 49-6.

JM Landa ran in a 23-yard touchdown for Hempfield to cut the lead to 49-13.

Schantz tacked on the final score of the game from 2 yards.

Brinkley saw this as a way for the Tigers to prove themselves.

“You can’t say that the NA Tigers are going to lose,” Brinkley said. “We knew this was going to be a good game. They were definitely good, but with all the backlash we experience throughout the summer and people saying we aren’t going to be as good, we use that as motivation. As you can see, 56-13 was a pretty good butt kicking.”

Hempfield looks to turn the page and focus on another 6A powerhouse in Central Catholic.

“Hats off to Coach Walker and his staff,” Keefer said. “I thought they did a great job like they always do. They had our number tonight. I thought we got out physicaled a little bit, but I think we are good football team too. We just played a better one tonight. We got to buckle it up, learn from the film and get ready to play a great team again next week.”

Tags: Hempfield, North Allegheny