North Allegheny’s Daniel Sellers was in a festive mood late Saturday following his team’s WPIAL championship win, and it sounded like the celebration would extend beyond that night.
“Tomorrow for sure, too,” he said, smiling.
But Sellers added that come Monday, it would be business as usual for the Tigers as they begin preparation for their next game and next tournament.
The last time North Allegheny won a WPIAL title it also won a PIAA title. Are these Tigers destined to do the same?
Two days ago, the WPIAL Class 6A and 5A championships were a big deal, but today they are already ancient history for North Allegheny and Pine-Richland, who will play in the PIAA quarterfinals Friday. Class 6A North Allegheny (11-1) travels to State College (12-0), while Class 5A Pine-Richland (10-3) hosts Cathedral Prep (8-2).
This will be North Allegheny’s first appearance in the state playoffs since 2012. That year, the Tigers polished off an unbeaten season by beating Coatesville in the final to claim their second title in three years and third all time. (They also won titles in 1990 and 2010.) Pine-Richland last appeared in the PIAA tournament in 2020 when it beat Cathedral Prep, 48-7, in the championship. The Rams also won a title in 2017.
If Pine-Richland plays defense like it did in the WPIAL final, it will be tough to beat. The Rams limited Upper St. Clair to 120 total yards in routing the Panthers, 34-3. That yardage number included minus-26 yards rushing on 27 carries. Upper St. Clair star running back Jamaal Brown managed only 16 yards on 14 carries after running for 198 and 132 yards in the Panthers’ earlier two playoff wins.
“We focused on [stopping Brown] especially,” Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne said. “We said if we were going to go down, we were going to have a freshman and sophomore beat us at quarterback. They completed a couple nice passes, but getting them in third-and-long a lot really benefited our defense.”
The third-and-longs allowed Pine-Richland to put an enormous amount of pressure on Upper St. Clair quarterback Ethan Hellman, who often faced a heavy rush when dropping back to pass. The Rams collected seven sacks, including three by Joseph Perry and two by John Rottinghaus.
“We knew we had to stop the pass, and honestly, we didn’t do a great job there, but our D-line was getting to the quarterback and he had no time to throw, so that was huge,” Pine-Richland quarterback-safety Ryan Palmieri said.
It was Palmieri who once again led the way offensively, rushing for 73 yards and two touchdowns, while going 8 of 13 for 85 yards and hooking up with Vasilios Balouris for a touchdown. Ethan Pillar rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown and Luke Rudolph 50 yards and a score.
North Allegheny was coming off a semifinal shutout of Canon-McMillan and entered Saturday’s action having given up 11.4 points a game this season. And while that defense surrendered 380 yards and three touchdowns in the championship, it came up with a huge play when it needed to. Trailing, 35-21, in the final minutes, Central Catholic was threatening to make it a one-score game. But on fourth-and-goal from the North Allegheny 1-yard line, Sellers tackled Central Catholic quarterback Payton Wehner short of the goal line with 2:59 left. The Tigers took possession and ran out the clock.
“On that fourth-and-1, our guys came off the ball and just hawked to it. They were flying to it,” North Allegheny coach Art Walker said.
The North Allegheny defense registered eight tackles for loss and produced the game’s first touchdown when Sellers picked up a fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. Sellers, a defensive end, was all over the place for the Tigers, finishing with six tackles, a sack and the scoop and score.
“It feels great,” Sellers said of the win. “The fact that I scored the first touchdown is even better for me. I’ll have memories for the rest of my life. It’s just amazing. I can’t even describe it.”
Quarterback Logan Kushner and wide receiver Khiryn Boyd were the standouts offensively for North Allegheny. Kushner surprisingly starred with his legs, running for 184 yards and a touchdown after collecting only 46 yards rushing in North Allegheny’s first 11 games. Kushner also hooked up with favorite receiver Boyd for scoring tosses of 51 and 68 yards.
In the PIAA quarterfinals, Pine-Richland faces perennial power Cathedral Prep, winner of five PIAA titles all time. The Ramblers have reached the championship game six times since 2012. Their only losses this season were to Ohio’s Archbishop Hoban and St. Francis, N.Y. What’s interesting is that the Ramblers have been idle since beating Canisius, N.Y., on Oct. 28. The Ramblers should have played two subregional games to get to this round, but both of their expected opponents, District 6 Hollidaysburg and Brashear of the City League, opted out of the PIAA tournament.
Cathedral Prep is led offensively by junior quarterback Luke Costello (1,062 yards passing, 14 touchdowns), junior running back Dajoure Hollingsworth (572 yards, 11 touchdowns) and senior receiver Wakeem Page (31 receptions, 463 yards, 2 touchdowns). Page has FBS offers from Army, Air Force and Bowling Green. Junior Jiavani Cooley, a 6-foot-6, 265-pound lineman, has offers from Pitt, Maryland and Toledo.
North Allegheny’s PIAA opponent is fresh off a wild 57-50 triple-overtime win against McDowell in a first-round game. State College’s Michael Gaul caught the winning touchdown from Finn Furmanek before ending the game with a defensive fumble recovery. The win put State College two victories away from reaching the PIAA final for just the second time. Its only appearance was in 2009 when it lost to La Salle College in the final.
Not only is State College unbeaten, but also the Little Lions have won all but one of their games by double digits. The Little Lions have a star freshman in running back D’antae Sheffey, who has amassed a team-high 1,576 yards rushing and 24 touchdowns. Sheffey has reached 100 yards in nine of the team’s 12 games. Furmanek, a senior, has passed for 1,476 yards and 15 touchdowns. Senior lineman Michael Dincher (6-3, 290) and senior tight end-defensive end Stephen Scourtis both have some FBS offers.
For North Allegheny and Pine-Richland, the feeling of winning a WPIAL title was great, but they would love to experience how it feels to be a PIAA champion, as well.
Said Kushner, “That’s the ultimate goal, to win states.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.