PIAA Quarterfinals Weekend Recaps

It was a great start for the WPIAL as all four of its champions won going away. With an average margin of victory of 26 points, Pine-Richland, Central Valley, South Fayette and Clairton are all on their way to the State Semifinals. Here are recaps from the three games played on Friday and the one contest played Saturday on Quarterfinals Weekend in the PIAA Football Playoffs.

A special thanks to Mike Azadian, Bob Gregg and Lou Rood for their help on these recaps.

PIAA CLASS AAAA QUARTERFINALS:
Pine-Richland Rams 49 – State College Little Lions 29
State College had 37 first downs and more than 500 yards offense. And lost. That might seem a little hard to fathom, but despite all of State College’s offense, the Little Lions lost to Pine-Richland, 49-29, in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon. It was a strange game. Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz used the word “ugly” to describe it. There were 27 penalties in the game – 14 on Pine-Richland and 13 on State College. “It wasn’t pretty, but all that matters is we won,” said Kasperowicz. The win lifted Pine-Richland’s record to 14-0 and put the Rams, the WPIAL champions, into next week’s semifinals. State College finished 6-7. “We thought we could win this game,” said State College coach Matt Lintal. The game was tied, 7-7, late in the first quarter and State College pulled to within 21-17 early in the third quarter when Jordan Mishler scored on a 51-yard pass from John Weakland. But Pine-Richland came on strong, scoring four of the game’s next five touchdowns. Pine-Richland was a little ragged on offense, but still scored 49 points and had 427 yards offense. Quarterback Ben DiNucci completed 17 of 27 for 247 yards and threw for three touchdowns. He also scored on a 4-yard run. His touchdown passes were 3 yards to D’ondre Gastion, 49 to Antonio Battaglia and 28 to Luke Everett. Pine-Richland running back Connor Slomka, who ran for 153 yards on 21 carries, scored twice for Pine-Richland on runs of 2 and 28 yards. Pine-Richland also got a touchdown when Mike Merhaut fielded an onside kick and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. “Games aren’t always going to be pretty, especially at this point of the season,” said Kasperowicz. State College had 269 yards passing and 242 yards rushing. Weakland attempted 49 passes and completed 22. Running back Jordan Misher rushed for 157 yards on 32 carries.

PIAA CLASS AAA QUARTERFINALS:
Central Valley Warriors 52 – Conneaut Eagles 23
At North Allegheny High School the Central Valley Warriors took on the Conneaut Eagles in  AAA PIAA quarterfinal action. The Warriors used their normal potent offense, and after the first quarter their usual stellar defense to roll to a 52-23 win. The  Warriors made it look easy on their opening drive, after deferring the opening kickoff to Conneaut and stopping them on three plays, Central Valley took over and went on a 7 play 66 yard drive ending on a 17 yard Jordan Whitehead touchdown run and it was 7-0 Warriors. Whitehead had 5 touches on the opening drive. Conneaut took over and on their second possession they would score easily as well going on a 3 play 78 yard drive. Hunter Merritt scored on a 27 yard touchdown run and it was 7-7. A wild first quarter continued as the Warriors would score on their second drive, a 4 play 59 yard drive ending on a 35 yard reverse play.   Kurt Reinstadler had the whole left side of the field to himself and scored with ease and it was 14-7 Central Valley. The Warriors  would score again on their next possesion as Whitehead took the ball and on the first play ran 63 yards for  score to make it 21-7 Central Valley. Connor Mattera would cut the score to 21-14  scoring on a 14 yard TD run as the Eagles went on a 9 play 72 yard drive, the drive was aided by a Warrior Personal foul penalty. That would be all the scoring for the Eagles in the first half, but Central Valley’s offense would score three more times. The Warriors 4th possesioin of the half ended in a Preston Johnson 24 yard TD run. The drive was 5 plays and 67 yards. On their 5th possession a 4 play 65 yard drive ended as Whitehead scored on a 41 yard run to make it 35-14. Whitehead would score again on the Warriors next possession taking the first play and running 60 yards for a score to make it 42-14 Central Valley. Whitehead had 205 rushing yards in the first half and 4 rushing touchdowns. He would not play in the second half. The Warriors put up 390 yards of total yardage in the first half. Finally the Warriors on their final possession got bogged up by the Eagles defense and had to settle for a field goal and the half ended at 45-14 in favor of Central Valley. The Warriors would receive the opening kickoff of the 2nd half and roll on a 7 play 66 yard drive scoring on a Chris Callaghan 21 yard touchdown pass to Reinstadler to make it 52-14 and invoking the mercy rule. With a running clock and the Warriors back ups in, a snap thru the end zone on a punt would give the Eagles a safety late in the 3rd quarter to make the score 52-16. At the end of the 3rd quarter the Eagles would go on a 5 play 64 drive capped by a Justin Ledford 21 yard touchdown catch thrown by Conner Mattera to make it 52-23. With a running clock and both teams substituting liberally there would be no more scoring. Central Valley goes on to their first ever PIAA semi final berth. After the game Jordan Whitehead was all smiles when asked if he thought the  last two weeks was the best he has ever played in his career. ” I definitley think so” When asked the same question head coach Mark Lyons said “No question, he’s so relaxed, he knows this is it for his high school career, he’s  trying to go out with a state title. The Warriors now sit at 14-0 and will face Bishop McDevitt in the PIAA semi finals next week at a site and date to be determined.

PIAA CLASS AA QUARTERFINALS:
South Fayette Lions 42 – Karns City Gremlins 15
Hunter Hayes ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns and Nick Ponikvar returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown late in the first half, leading South Fayette to a 42-15 win over District 9 champion Karns City Friday night.  The defending PIAA champion Lions have now won 30 consecutive games, tied for the fourth longest winning streak in WPIAL history.  Following an exchange of turnovers to start the game, South Fayette (14-0) took over at midfield and converted back-to-back third downs. After running 16 yards to the Gremlins’ one, Hayes drove in for the game’s first score but a blocked PAT left the Lions up, 6-0.  Midway through the second quarter, a South Fayette drive stalled out inside the Karns City 10-yard line.  Dan Trimbur delivered a 25-yard field goal to make it 9-0. After holding Karns City and forcing a punt, the Lions went 61 yards in six plays, Hayes capping the drive with a 9-yard run, scoring with 1:47 to play in the half to make it 16-0.  When the Gremlins couldn’t move the chains, they punted with 22 seconds left in the half.  Ponikvar fielded the kick at his own 23-yard line, gave a little ground to make the lead tackler miss, turn left toward the sideline, picked up a couple blockers then outran the coverage for a back-breaking score with just 3 seconds to play.  Karns City got the second-half kickoff but on the first play, South Fayette’s Logan Sharp ripped the ball away from Christian Turner.  Three plays later, Hayes score for  a third time, putting the Lions up 29-0.  Following a very short Karns City punt on the ensuing possession, Brett Brumbaugh found Trimbur running free down the middle of the field, then hit Sharp with a 6-yard strike for a touchdown, triggering the mercy rule, pushing the score to 36-0.  Karns City’s Collin Dunmyre broke free on the first play, running 53 yards for a Gremlins touchdown.  Late in the third, Hayes scored from 18 yards out, the intercepted KC quarterback Caleb King on the first play of the fourth quarter.  Ethan Conto’s one-yard run with 22 seconds closed the scoring.  On a night when Brumbaugh was pinpoint perfect, the Lions worked other ways to win.  The record-setting quarterback struggled particularly in the first half, nearly getting intercepted with his first pass and seeing his second throw picked off.  Brumbaugh was just 7 of 18 in the first half for 104 yards, then hit on four of his five second half throws for 95 yards and the Sharp touchdown, the 124th scoring pass of his career.  Unofficially, the senior is just 105 yards shy of setting a new, all-time PIAA passing yardage record, a mark currently held by Port Allegany graduate Matt Bodamer.  The D-9 product also holds the career TD pass mark with 137.  South Fayette held Karns City to 22 yards in the first half, 6 in the first quarter, and just 179 total yards in the game, 80 in the final period.  The Lions rolled up 207 on the ground, 406 total on the way to the win, their 41st in the last 42 games.  By the time South Fayette takes the field in the PIAA semifinals, 749 days will have passed since the Lions last tasted defeat, Nov. 16, 2012.

PIAA CLASS A QUARTERFINALS:
Clairton Bears 52 – Berlin-Brothersvalley Mountaineers 24
Clairton defeated Berlin Brothers Valley 52-24 in PIAA Quarterfinal action Friday night at Elizabeth-Forward High School, but the final score was not an indication of just how competitive the game was.  Berlin as they prefer to be called stymied the Clairton ground game forcing the Bears to depend on the arm of Ryan Williams and their passing game.  Williams did not disappoint going 21-31 for 342 yards and 6 TD passes on the night.  LaMont Wade chipped in with 20 carries for 115 yards rushing and 6 catches for 113 yards.  Williams threw 45 yards to Wade to open the scoring just 1:14 into the game to put the Bears up 6-0.  Noah Hamlin took a jet sweep in for the 2 point conversion to make it 8-0 Clairton. Just 3:13 later Williams tossed a 15 yard strike to Aaron Matthews and Wade added the 2 point conversion to make it 16-0.  At the 2:03 mark of the 1st Quarter Williams tossed his 3rd TD to James Hines for 46 yards to make it 22-0 and it seemed that the rout was on.  But on the ensuing kickoff Braden Fochtman had a huge kick return that led to a drive that culminated in a Bryce Fochtman 2 yard TD run at 8:32 of the 2nd quarter and Berlin was on the board. Carter Raughpach added the XP and the score was 22-7.  Just one minute later Clairton responded with a Williams to Jjuan Jackson 20 TD pass and he then hit Harrison Dreher for the 2 point conversion to make it 30-7.  Sixteen seconds later it was 30-14 courtesy of Braden Fochtman’s 89 yard kickoff return for a touchdown and   Raughpach’s XP.  For good measure, Berlin closed out the scoring in the first half with a Raughpach 30 yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining making the halftime score 30-17 Clairton.  The 2nd half opened with a Clairton TD drive on Williams 1 yard QB sneak to make it 36-17 at the 9:49 mark after the XP attempt failed.  Berlin answered with 3:52 left in the 3rd quarter when Braden Fochtman went 89 yards for a TD and Raughpach’s kick made it 36-24 Clairton.  The Bears were finally able to gain some breathing room when Williams hit Wade with his 5th TD pass of the game from 12 yards out.  Matthews then hit Williams for a 2 point conversion on a reverse pass and it was 44-24 with 9:54 remaining in the game.  The final score came at the 5:21 mark of the 4th when Williams hit Hines again this time from 5 yards out for his 6th TD pass of the game.  Matthews added the 2 point conversion and the final score became 52-24 Clairton.  However give Berlin credit for not backing down and keeping the game close until the 4th quarter.  Braden Fochtman carried the ball 33 times for 247 yards—yes you read that right 247 yards—and 2 TDs plus he added 250 yards in kickoff return yardage for the Mountaineers.  For Berlin fans they can be happy that he will be back next year as he is only a junior.  For Clairton, the beat will go on as they eclipsed the state scoring record for a season set by Jeanette and now have scored 884 points on the season just 17 points shy of the 2nd place team nationally for points scored in a season.  Look for that to fall next week as the Bears will take on Sharpsville in the PIAA semifinals, with the winner going to Hershey.