Trib HSSN football team of the week for Sept. 22, 2025

By: Don Rebel
Monday, September 22, 2025 | 7:27 PM

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Trib HSSN football team of the week – Aliquippa Quips

Coach: Mike Warfield (seventh season overall, first season back after taking time off in 2024)

Result: Aliquippa 21, Penn Hills 16

Record: 3-1 overall, 0-0 in the Class 4A Parkway Conference

#Earned: All the rumors of the demise of the Aliquippa football team following a rare loss two weeks ago have been put to rest with two straight comeback wins. Last week, the Quips trailed Mars 6-0 after three quarters before rallying for a big win over the host Fightin’ Planets, 19-6. Then on Friday, trailing Penn Hills after three quarters 10-0, Aliquippa once again came back with a big fourth quarter, scoring three touchdowns, including the dramatic walk-off 28-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game to give the Quips a thrilling win over the Indians, 21-16, in a Week 4 instant classic that could be a candidate for 2025 game of the year.

Statistical standouts: When the chips have been down, Aliquippa has turned to the “ice man” to come through late and he has answered the bell two weeks in a row. Against Penn Hills on Friday, Quips senior quarterback Marques Council Jr. connected on 19 of 30 passes for 309 yards and delivered three fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 50 and 15 yards to senior wide receiver QaLil Goode and with no time left on the clock, a game-winning 28-yard scoring strike down the middle to senior wideout Ray Miller. Council, a Yale commit, led the team in rushing with 68 yards. Goode lived up to his name with seven receptions for 112 yards and the two touchdowns and even though he didn’t score, senior wide receiver Josh Lay finished with eight catches for 150 yards. For the season, Council has thrown for exactly 800 yards and seven touchdowns while Goode and Lay have combined for 29 receptions for 578 yards.

Last year: Last year will be remembered as the season one of the most incredible WPIAL football streak came to an end. Through great players graduating, surprise coaching changes and even involuntary classification changes, Aliquippa had remarkably reached the WPIAL championship game every year since being a spectator for the Jeannette against Beaver Falls Class 2A title game in 2007. That 16-year run of playing for district gold came to an end last year. It started well for the Quips as they won five of their first six games, but a Week 8 loss to Montour looked like it might cost the red and black a shot at the Class 4A Parkway Conference crown. However, when West Allegheny upset Montour and the Quips beat Ambridge in Week 9, Aliquippa, West A and Montour shared the conference crown. In the district postseason, Aliquippa ousted Trinity in the 4A quarterfinals, 34-14, before seeing their season end “early” in the WPIAL semifinals to eventual champion Thomas Jefferson, 38-21. The Quips finished the season with a record of 7-3.

Remember when: With a district-leading 20 WPIAL football championships, there are plenty of great seasons to look back on, but this is a big anniversary year for four of the Quips’ district title runs. Seventy years ago, Aliquippa won the school’s second football crown with a tight 3A championship game victory over Mt. Lebanon, 14-13. Thirty years later, the Quips won gold No. 5 and repeated as WPIAL 3A champs in 1985 with a victory over rival Ambridge at Three Rivers Stadium, 13-0. This is the silver anniversary of the 2000 district 2A title run won by Aliquippa over Waynesburg Central, 14-6. Finally, title No. 16 was captured 10 years ago when the Quips won a wild one over two-time defending champion South Fayette in the 2A finals, 44-38.

Week 4 honorable mention

Seneca Valley

Coming off back-to-back losses to Pine-Richland and Norwin in which they were outscored 105-33, nobody would have thought twice if struggling Seneca Valley lost against a pretty good 5A team in Moon. But the Raiders showed a lot as first-year coach Don Barclay had the team focused and prepared for an eyebrow raiser. Cayden Parker rushed for 188 yards and a touchdown as Seneca Valley scored a touchdown in each quarter and erased an early deficit to improve to 2-3 before returning to 6A action this week, beating the Tigers 31-23.

North Hills

A competitive contest was expected in a Week 4 Class 5A Northeast Conference matchup between 2-2 Fox Chapel and winless North Hills, which entered the game with 49 points scored and 127 points allowed. However, interim coach Brody Zangaro picked up his first win as the Indians turned back the clock to the days when they ran roughshod in the district highest classification. Quarterback Kelly McCarthy connected on 11 of 18 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns as the Indians nearly matched their season total in points in the first half of a runaway victory over the host Foxes, 56-7.

Beaver Falls

Ding-dong, the streak is dead. A 15-game losing skid that covered the entire 2024 season and the first four weeks of this year ended as Beaver Falls edged Mohawk in a 2A Midwestern Athletic Conference contest on Friday at Reeves Field at Geneva College. What was incredible about this skid is that it came on the heels of the Tigers reaching the WPIAL 2A finals in four consecutive seasons, winning it all in 2020 and 2023. With the Warriors leading by six in the third quarter, Enzo Marzano tied the game on a 1-yard run and then hit Dax Shimrack for the two-point conversion for the deciding points in an 8-6 BF victory.

Apollo-Ridge

Following a victory over Carlynton last week, Apollo-Ridge had eclipsed its win total from the 2024 campaign as it evened its record at 2-2. In the Vikings’ Class 2A Allegheny Conference opener Friday, the good times kept on rolling at Owens Field. Jaden McCray only rushed for 37 yards, but he scored on touchdown runs of 15, 3 and 23 yards with the final two coming in the fourth quarter as Apollo-Ridge stunned previously undefeated Shady Side Academy, 22-14, moving the Vikings into a tie for first place with 2A powers South Allegheny and Steel Valley.

2025 Trib HSSN teams of the week

Week 3 – Avella Eagles

Week 2 – Southmoreland Scotties

Week 1 – Mars Fightin’ Planets

Week Zero – Upper St. Clair Panthers

Tags: Aliquippa