North Allegheny shakes off rivalry loss, focuses on future

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, October 7, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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North Allegheny’s football stadium was filled nearly to capacity for a hyped-up game with rival Central Catholic. There was an electric atmosphere in the crowd, yet the Tigers ended the night feeling drained after a lopsided loss.

But those feelings didn’t last too long.

A week later, a re-energized North Allegheny romped over another rival, Pine-Richland, in a nonconference win Sept. 29. The seven-day span between the loss and the win had the Tigers feeling optimistic again.

In that span, North Allegheny coach Art Walker said, he saw his players move on from the Central Catholic loss and refocus on their original goals of making the playoffs and defending their WPIAL title.

“As coaches, we’re super excited with how they responded, how they dealt with having a loss and how we regrouped,” he said. “They really stepped up, prepared well and showed up ready to go. … It was good for our program overall, to see our kids respond with a lot of positivity for the rest of the way.”

The Tigers are the reigning WPIAL champions in Class 6A and they remain in solid position to reach the playoffs, despite the one loss. But 6A teams play only four conference games, so each carries extra importance.

After the loss to Central Catholic, the Tigers had conference games remaining against Mt. Lebanon (Oct. 6) and Seneca Valley (Oct. 27).

“I think that had to be the most important part of (our situation),” Walker said. “Are we going to sit around and complain and be upset about the loss? Or are we going to focus on getting better?”

After the Central Catholic loss, the team spent the weekend feeling down and came to school Monday still unhappy, Walker said, but shed the frustration by the afternoon.

“You kind of have that 24- or 48-hour rule, but it’s still there,” Walker said. “We come in Monday, our kids lift and then we have a meeting. We talk about a couple of things from the previous game, and then we put it to rest. It’s done. It’s over.”

He credited an experienced senior class, some who’ve started since sophomore year. Their message at practice was, “We can be better,” as the team got back to basics.

Walker said some under-the-radar players led by example, including quarterback Logan Kushner, receiver/safety Evan Lyon and lineman Cameron Chmura. He said Chmura, for example, “never says a word, but never comes out, never is not trying and never is not paying attention.”

It likely helped that their next opponent was Pine-Richland, a team they lost to a year ago. This time, Kushner accounted for four touchdowns and Khiryn Boyd and Tyree Alualu each scored twice in a 45-10 win.

“One of my coaches made the comment, ‘If you go to the grocery store and you’re wearing something that says ‘NA football,’ someone (from Pine-Richland) says, ‘We got you this year!’” Walker said. “We had to deal with that for a year since last year.”

There’s a strong likelihood North Allegheny and Central Catholic will rematch in the playoffs, possibly in the WPIAL finals for the second year in a row. But Walker said once the team had turned its focus to Pine-Richland, the baggage of the Central Catholic loss was behind them.

“All right, we’re done talking about it,” he said. “We’re done feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re done hearing about it on social media and the newspaper and on radio. They won. They’re going to continue to talk about it. That’s what we have to deal with, but let’s focus on what we can control.”

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.

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