South Allegheny routs South Park to avenge loss, solidify contender status in Class 2A

By: Liam Belan
Friday, September 19, 2025 | 11:56 PM

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Coming into Friday night’s clash against reigning WPIAL Class 2A champion South Park, South Allegheny had a chip on its shoulder.

When the sides last met, the Eagles traveled to Gladiator Stadium and outlasted SA in a 48-38 shootout. Three-hundred and sixty-four days later, it was the Gladiators who traveled to Eagle Stadium and returned home with a dominant 56-7 victory.

“Coming off last year, we were really hurt (losing to South Park),” said South Allegheny running back Joey Gamret, who starred with 139 yards and four touchdowns. “I just want to give all my glory to our linemen, our defense and our secondary. They really put on a show today.”

Gamret put on the best show of the night on the ground with his impressive performance. After star tailback Cam Epps graduated last year, SA coach Brian Hanson knew that Gamret could fill his role, and the talented runner has proven his coach right halfway through the season.

“We’ve been telling him that (he’s one of the top backs in the area) for three years now, and I think the lightbulb has come on and he’s running like we expected him to,” Hanson said. “He ran behind a great back last year in Cam Epps, but we knew the only person that could stop Joey Gamret was Joey Gamret.”

Hanson, who has overseen a staggering turnaround since taking over the South Allegheny (5-0, 2-0) program, was most proud that the win represented some of his core values in terms of dominating the line of scrimmage and pounding the football.

QB Alijah Cook, who was on point in the play-action game working off Gamret’s success on the ground, completed six passes in the win for 95 yards and a score. He tossed a touchdown to his brother, Drew, who had a receiving, rushing and return touchdown along with a fumble recovery.

“This one felt great because this is one of my MO’s,” Hanson said. “I try to build an identity in all my teams by winning the line of scrimmage. We’ve started to see a click with the linemen at practice, and they were great tonight. We know that this style of play carries on later in the season, so I’m really proud of that.”

On the other side for South Park (3-2, 0-2), coach Brian Abbey has a young squad with lots of replacements from last year’s championship team. While he acknowledged that plenty of young players are playing in big roles this season, Abbey said that he needs to see some improvement from his squad.

Several penalties and self-inflicted wounds bothered the Eagles all night as some of their inexperience showed at times.

“We’re a young group up front, so those things are going to happen,” Abbey said. “But we have to continue working. We have freshmen and sophomores out there, but they can’t play as such. Those guys, they have to meet an expectation, and we just have to clean it up. That’s all we can do.”

Quarterback Robert Lenzi rushed for his team’s lone score on a 21-yard carry after Quintin Napper set him up with a 55-yard scamper.

From the start, it was all Gamret and the Gladiators.

His shortest carry on the opening drive was 4 yards as Alijah Cook didn’t throw a single pass during the series. He took a 4-yard plunge into the end zone four minutes into the game to get SA on the board. After South Park jumped early on the point-after attempt, the Gladiators sent Gamret back out to get two points and take an 8-0 advantage.

South Park went three-and-out and a 28-yard return from Kymair Brown set South Allegheny up at the Eagles’ 41. From there, Gamret added 14 rushing yards, Austin Schane had a carry for a yard and Alijah Cook connected with Marcel Boxley twice before Gamret found the end zone again from 8 yards out.

The Gladiators shut down the Eagles once again on the next drive and eventually saw Gamret earn his third TD with seconds remaining in the first quarter to bring the score to 22-0.

The Eagles opened the second quarter with their biggest drive of the night and Napper’s 55-yard run played a big part in it. Lenzi and the South Park offense was pushed back a few times due to penalties, but it was the quarterback who broke off a 21-yard run into the end zone to get his team on the board.

South Allegheny made sure that the score didn’t flip momentum in the home side’s favor as Gamret punched another score in to make it 29-7. Then, a huge mistake from the Eagles made things even worse as a muffed kickoff was recovered by SA, allowing the Gladiators to score with 59 seconds left in the half as the Cooks connected for a 21-yard touchdown.

The Gladiators weren’t done there as they forced a three-and-out from South Park with seconds remaining in the half, forcing a punt to Drew Cook who took it 32 yards to the end zone to make it 42-7 at halftime.

From there, the running clock took effect and there was no scoring in the third quarter. Drew Cook took a 27-yard run for a score in the fourth and Derrick Pace got in on the scoring with a 33-yard carry to finish the scoring at 56-7.

Tags: South Allegheny, South Park