Penn Hills’ Amir Key scores 3 times in victory over Pine-Richland and his former coach

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, September 9, 2022 | 11:20 PM

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Jon LeDonne spent five seasons building Penn Hills into a big-play dynamo and saw that explosive energy work against his new team Friday night.

With LeDonne now on the opposite sideline, running back Amir Key rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns as No. 2-ranked Penn Hills defeated No. 3 Pine-Richland, 33-28, in a highly anticipated Northeast Conference opener in WPIAL 5A.

A long touchdown run by Key in the fourth quarter was ultimately the difference.

The 5-foot-8, 195-pound junior, dubbed “Little Saquon Barkley” by his new coach, carried the ball 20 times and scored on runs of 45, 2 and 71 yards as Penn Hills (2-1, 1-0) established its running game early. Having LeDonne on the other sideline was extra motivation for him and his teammates.

“That’s mainly what drove me coming into this game today,” Key said. “I was very excited and couldn’t wait for this since the day we got our schedule.”

LeDonne was successful at Penn Hills and won a state title with the Indians in 2018, but was hired away by Pine-Richland in February.

“I’m not going to lie, I cried,” Key said of LeDonne’s departure, “but that’s behind us now.”

For his part, LeDonne said it was odd coaching against his former players. But he was appreciative of the reception he received at Yuhas-McGinley Stadium, despite now coaching a conference rival.

“A lot of hugs and people saying hi,” he said.

There was much interest in his return, but the Penn Hills players never let it become a major distraction, said first-year coach Charles Morris.

“That was our whole spiel all week: ‘Worry about us,’ ” Morris said. “It’s about Penn Hills. It’s nothing against Coach LeDonne, but focus on us and what we can do.”

Penn Hills started the first half like a team on a mission.

Key scored twice in the first quarter and teammate Keith Pelmon returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown in the second to give the Indians a 21-0 halftime lead.

Pine-Richland rallied in the second half behind a three-touchdown night by running back Ryan Palmieri and forced a 21-21 tie early in the fourth quarter, but Penn Hills answered with consecutive TD runs by Naytel Mitchell (26 yards) and Key (71 yards).

Mitchell and Key scored less than 2 minutes apart to lead 33-21.

“We came out really flat early on and let them do what they wanted to do,” LeDonne said. “Going down 21-0 on a team like that makes it always hard to fight back.”

Pine-Richland had a size advantage at the line of scrimmage, but Penn Hills came out determined to fight that battle. The Indians ran the ball on their first 12 plays over two possessions, gained 139 yards and Key scored twice.

As a team, Penn Hills ran for 372 yards on 44 carries. Indians quarterback Julian Dugger attempted only seven passes but rushed for 99 yards. Mitchell had 53 rushing yards.

“I felt the team who won in the trenches was going to win the football game,” Morris said. “I think we won in the trenches.”

Pine-Richland quarterback Kanan Huffman completed 10 of 19 attempts for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He threw a 19-yard TD to Vasilios Balouris in the third quarter as the Rams rallied.

But they mostly wanted to run the ball.

Palmieri, a senior, shouldered much of the Rams’ offense. He rushed 27 times for 127 yards and scored three total touchdowns. He reached the end zone on runs of 14 and 17 yards and had a 90-yard kickoff return.

“He’s tough as nails,” LeDonne said. “What we’re asking him to do, tote the rock 25 or 30 times, go play defense, go back on kicks and punts, he doesn’t get much of a break. We can rally behind a guy like that.”

Palmieri scored twice in the fourth quarter, the last on a 14-yard run with about 6 minutes left.

But the Rams’ comeback was foiled by two other fourth-quarter possessions that stalled inside the Penn Hills 30-yard line. With 80 seconds left, the Rams failed to convert on fourth-and-12 at the 29.

“Our defense over the first two weeks has been the strength of our team,” Morris said. “Our offense carried us tonight. But our defense was still respectable enough to get a stop when need be.”

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: Penn Hills, Pine-Richland