WPIAL Class 2A championship game by the numbers: South Park 21, Seton LaSalle 14

By: Jonathan Bombulie
Saturday, November 23, 2024 | 5:04 PM

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South Park 21, Seton LaSalle 14

South Park 6-8-7-0 — 21

Seton LaSalle 0-7-0-7 — 14

Scoring summary

SP: Eric Doerue 6 run (kick blocked)

SP: Robert Lenzi 1 run (Doerue run)

SLS: Khalil Taylor 32 run (Brayden Carter kick)

SP: Doerue 8 run (Griffin Burnett kick)

SLS: Richard Littlejohn 51 pass from Michael Pastirik (Carter kick)

Team statistics

SP … SLS

First downs 17 … 5

Rushes-yards 53-217 … 8-56

Passing yards 28 … 113

Passing Comp-Att-Int 2-3-0 … 12-16-0

Total offense plays-yards 56-245 … 24-169

Punts (number-avg.) 4-31.0 … 4.36.8

Fumbles-lost 1-0 … 1-1

Penalties-yards 4-30 … 8-55

Possession time 36:20 … 11:40

Individual statistics

Rushing: SP: Eric Doerue 34-149, 2 TDs; Kenyan Brown 8-35; Robert Lenzi 6-25; Colsen Heynes 3-9. SLS: Khalil Taylor 1-32, TD; Logan King 7-24.

Passing: SP: Lenzi 2-3-0, 28 yards. SLS: Michael Pastirik 12-16-0, 113 yards, TD.

Receiving: SP: Harilaos Bouzos 2-28. SLS: Khalil Taylor 5-(minus-1); Richard Littlejohn 4-91, TD; King 2-21; Will Martin 1-2.

Title history

The victory gave South Park three WPIAL titles. The Eagles defeated Shady Side Academy, 38-6, in the 1997 finals and Greensburg Central Catholic, 24-20, in the 2005 finals. The Eagles went on to win state titles in each of those seasons. The school also won a fourth WPIAL championship when it was known as Snowden in 1955, defeating Neville, 32-13. Snowden High School was renamed South Park in 1966. Neville merged with Coraopolis to form Cornell High School in 1971.

Running wild

The Eagles ran for 217 yards Saturday, running their season total to 3,716 yards. That’s a school record, breaking the mark of 3,617 set in 16 games in by the 2005 state championship team.

Big year

After a 149-yard, two-touchdown performance, South Park senior Eric Doerue ran his season totals to 1,741 yards rushing with 25 touchdowns. Doerue is the school’s all-time leading rusher with 4,804 career yards. With 62 touchdowns, he is three shy of the school record (Tyler Scruggs, 65).

Sought after

Parker and Troy Cunningham, twin brothers on the South Park line, have 37 Division I scholarship offers between them. Parker Cunningham committed to James Madison.

Key stat

Thanks to a ball-control offense, South Park ran more than twice as many plays as Seton LaSalle. The Eagles ran 56 compared to 24 for the Rebels.

Under wraps

Seton LaSalle’s Khalil Taylor, a sophomore with nine Division I offers, including Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia, is a home-run hitter, which he showed with a 32-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. But in the passing game, South Park’s defense did a tremendous job limiting the big play. Taylor’s five catches went for 2, 6, minus-1, 1 and minus-9 yards.

First loss

Saturday’s loss was Seton LaSalle’s first in the WPIAL finals. The Rebels won their previous five championship game appearances in 1979, 1980, 1990, 2002 and 2004.

Muuuuth!

Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth was the honorary captain, joining captains at midfield for the pregame coin toss. Freiermuth was a four-star recruit at the Brooks School in North Andover, Mass., ranking as the No. 2 recruit in Massachusetts, before committing to Penn State.

Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.

Tags: Seton La Salle, South Park