WPIAL Class 3A final notebook: Aliquippa adds to district-best title total

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 17, 2018 | 6:54 PM

Aliquippa added its WPIAL-leading 17th football title Saturday with a 42-19 victory over Derry.

The Quips are now 17-12 all-time in WPIAL championship games.

For Derry, it was a long afternoon in its first WPIAL title game appearance. Prior to Saturday, one of its predecessor schools, Derry Township, lost the 1945 Class 2A game to Dormont, 30-19.

Derry Township won the WPIAL Class 2A title in 1930. Since the school was the only undefeated, untied team in the classification, it was declared the winner without a playoff.

In 1956, Derry Township and Derry Borough merged to form Derry Area.

Beaver County repeats

This represented the 21st consecutive season at least one school from Beaver County made the WPIAL finals at either Three Rivers Stadium or Heinz Field. The last time Beaver County was shut out was 1997.

Quick responses

The first two times Derry scored, Aliquippa answered quickly.

After Justin Flack’s score made it 22-6 Aliquippa with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the half, Aliquippa scored 11 seconds later on a 56-yard pass to MJ Devonshire.

When the Trojans scored again with 6:21 left in the third quarter, the Quips answered 28 seconds later on Avante McKenzie’s 5-yard touchdown run.

Flack scored his third touchdown of the day with 1:01 to go, and Aliquippa ran out the clock.

Flag fest

Even with the large scoring advantage, the game dragged through the third quarter with numerous penalties.

In fact, the Quips were called for two penalties on the same play. Aliquippa was flagged for a blow to the head, followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct. Derry advanced from the Quips’ 48 to the 18 without running a play.

Three plays later, Aliquippa was called for pass interference, taking the ball to the 10.

The Trojans, however, lost the ball on downs.

All told, Aliquippa was penalized 18 times for 144 yards while the Trojans were called for three penalties and 25 yards.

A pause for reflection

Derry coach Tim Sweeney opened his postgame press conference with a congratulations to Aliquippa and, with unsolicited sincerity, gave a gaggle of reporters and four of his players a lesson in perspective.

He took a few moments to honor the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.

“On the bus ride in, when you come from Derry, we weren’t sure which way to go with traffic,” Sweeney said. “We went (Route) 376, and I am glad we went that way. We passed through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel; the first exit is the Squirrel Hill exit. As we passed that exit, I couldn’t help but think of the families of the victims in that tragic incident in the last couple weeks. It puts a football game into perspective.

“While the game goes on, it’s the most important thing in our lives; we don’t think of anything else,” he said. “But I would be remiss if we didn’t … if we don’t keep those victims, their families, their friends and that synagogue in our prayers as we move forward.”

Faithful fans

The Trojans’ fan following was nothing short of impressive.

The school had a pre-sale of $7,100 and $15,000 overall for its three playoff games.

That doesn’t include gate sales from Derry borough and township, along with New Alexandria.

In fact, Derry fans jammed the parking lots near Heinz Field more than three hours before game time.

The Flack finale

Flack capped an outstanding season with 94 yards to give the senior 1,334 yards on the ground. His three touchdowns gave him 38 for the season.

Onreey Stewart had 32 yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark on the season and finish with 1,016 yards

Also, Aliquippa’s Eli Kosanovich had 327 passing yards to give him 2,798 on the season. Kosanovich has 35 scoring passes.

Receiver William Gipson now has 1,494 receiving yards and Avante McKenzie has 1,444 rushing yards.

Drawing a bye

The Quips will get a bye in the PIAA tournament next week and will be back in action either Nov. 30 or Dec. 1 in the semifinals against either Sharon, Bald Eagle Area or Bedford.

Scoring summary

Aliquippa 42, Derry 19

Score by quarters

Derry Area 0-6-6-7 — 19

Aliquippa 22-8-6-6 — 42

How they scored

A: William Gipson 15 pass from Eli Kosanovich (Deoveon Crute pass from Kosanovich)

A: Xavier Harvey 1 run (Harvey run)

A: Gipson 42 pass from Kosanovich (run failed)

DA: Justin Flack 3 run (kick failed)

A: MJ Devonshire 56 pass from Kosanovich (Avante McKenzie run)

DA: Flack 1 run (run failed)

A: McKenzie 5 run (run failed)

A: Gipson 20 pass from Kosanovich (run failed)

DA: Flack 1 run (Robert Boyer kick)

Team statistics

Derry Aliquippa

First downs 15 15

Rushes-Yards 49-154 25-72

Passing yards 46 327

Passing Att-Comp-Int 10-2-5 33-18-1

Total offense Plays-yards 59-200 58-399

Punts (number-avg.) 2-33.0 3-33.7

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 3-25 18-144

Possession time 27:24 20:36

Individual statistics

Rushing: DA: Justin Flack 27-94, Onreey Stewart 12-32, Colton Nemcheck 7-32, Justin Huss 2-4, Paul Koontz 1-minus 8; A: Avante McKenzie 16-48, Xavier Harvey 5-15, Vernon Redd 1-12, team 3-minus 3.

Passing: DA: Koontz 1-5-7-3INT-0TD, Flack 1-5-39-2INT-0TD; A: Eli Kosanovich 18-33-327-1INT-4TD

Receiving: DA: Huss 1-39, Jason Geary 1-7; A: William Gipson 7-165, Deoveon Crute 7-85, Harvey 2-17, MJ Devonshire 1-56, Soloman Chinua 1-4.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Aliquippa, Derry Area