Art Walker is a longtime educator and football coach, but it was Walker who also played the student role Friday.
On this night, Walker learned a lot about his football team.
“They’ve got a lot of fight in them,” said Walker, “and they didn’t quit.”
Not even when they trailed in the final minute on the road against a very good opponent.
Brady Brinkley found Luke Rohan for a 6-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with just 50 seconds left to push Class 6A No. 2 North Allegheny to a 28-26 win against Class 5A No. 3 Woodland Hills in a Week 0 thriller at the Wolvarena.
“I’m just so proud of them, especially in the second half, to come back and then to hold on,” Walker said. “That team has a ton of weapons, a seasoned veteran at quarterback. You talk about the running backs, the receivers and everything around them.”
Woodland Hills had taken a 26-22 lead with eight seconds left in the third quarter courtesy of a ridiculous 31-yard touchdown run by Taylor Reid, who broke close to 10 tackles on his way to the end zone. But, just as was the case when the Wolverines scored their previous second-half touchdown, they failed on their 2-point attempt.
And while that was a big punch, it was North Allegheny that landed the final blow. And it came courtesy of a 10-play, 68-yard drive that saw the Tigers eat up 5 minutes and 3 seconds of clock.
“They just told us we had to dig deep, give it everything we got, and it paid off,” Rohan said.
On fourth-and-goal from the 6, Brinkley tossed the ball to a streaking Rohan, who hauled in the catch and raced to the left side of the end zone for the go-ahead score with 50 ticks left.
“They brought the rush and manned up, and nobody accounted for Luke,” Walker said. “If they did, we blocked them because we got the line through and went to the next level on the screen. I thought Brady did a great job of buying some time, he threw the ball to Luke, and Luke did the rest.”
North Allegheny misfired on the extra-point attempt, keeping it a two-point game. Woodland Hills, which committed 12 penalties for 173 yards in the game, moved the ball into North Allegheny territory in the final seconds, but Scoop Smith was tackled at the 10-yard line as time expired following a 28-yard hookup from Cam Walter.
It was a gritty win for a North Allegheny squad that had to replace eight starters on defense and six on offense from last year’s team that fell to Central Catholic in the WPIAL Class 6A championship. The Tigers, who won back-to-back WPIAL Class 6A titles in 2022 and 2023, hope to reach the final for the fourth year in a row this fall.
“A thing that’s different from last year to this year is we fight through it,” said senior defensive tackle-offensive guard Lincoln Hoke said. “We’ve seen it a lot in practice, and tonight we fought through a lot of adversity. When they started scoring, we didn’t say, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ We buckled up and said we’re going to push through it. We’re going to win.”
Hoke, a Pitt recruit, is one of the veterans on a team that is counting on a number of players to step into bigger roles this season. Another is Rohan, a senior running back-linebacker who finished with 22 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Brinkley, a two-year starter at quarterback, was 17 of 24 for 211 yards. He threw for two scores and was intercepted twice. Senior defensive back Korry Pitts had a 35-yard pick-6 in the third quarter.
But those guys got lots of help from some more unfamiliar faces. Among them were sophomore wide receiver Ben Kern and senior linebacker James Harrison III. Kern caught a 21-yard touchdown from Brinkley in the first quarter and Harrison led the Tigers in tackles. Harrison, son of Steelers great James Harrison, who attended the game, was injured last season.
“It’s big-time football now. They all have to rise up for it,” said Walker, who also mentioned junior wide receiver-safety Gavin Ust and junior running back-safety Kellan Frank as newcomers who stepped up Friday.
And against a talented veteran team like Woodland Hills, North Allegheny needed all the help it could get. The Wolverines returned many of its starters from the 2024 team that won a conference title for the first time since 2015 and reached the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals.
Smith, a senior wide receiver-defensive back-kick returner and Miami (Ohio) recruit, left his mark on the game as he normally does. One of the area’s most electric players, Smith came out on fire, intercepting Brinkley on the game’s opening possession before giving Woodland Hills a 6-0 lead less than three minutes in following a 60-yard touchdown run. But Smith was kept mostly in check after that, finishing with four catches for 67 yards and three carries for 69 yards.
“I’m not around him much because by the time I get there he’s already gone. But just watching him out there, you hear all the hype about him and it’s real,” Hoke said of Smith. “That guy will break any tackle and he’s fast. It was fun to play against him.”
Walter, who like Smith is a four-year starter, was 16 of 24 for 213 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He was 10 of 10 in the opening half. Senior running back-linebacker and N.C. State recruit Ziggy Moore also had an excellent game for the Wolverines, scoring on a 35-yard touchdown toss from Walter and making quite a few big tackles on defense.
But in a battle of teams that have WPIAL championship aspirations, it was North Allegheny that reigned supreme on this night.
And, as usual, the Tigers did it with a chip on their shoulder. As has been the case in recent years, defending champ Central Catholic got most of the preseason hype in Class 6A, and Class 5A juggernaut Pine-Richland has overshadowed Walker’s bunch, as well.
These Tigers don’t mind, though. They’ve come to embrace it.
“We love when they doubt us,” Rohan said. “We just love proving everyone wrong, and there’s going to be a lot more of that this year.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.