Avonworth’s football team has played in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game each of the past three seasons.
Even while the high-scoring Antelopes won their second WPIAL title in six seasons and advanced to the PIAA championship game in 2024, Luca Neal said he felt there was maybe a slight stigma surrounding his team’s defense.
“In previous years, we were shorted always,” said Neal, now a senior safety. “There was no respect on our name. I think this year people are starting to realize what we are capable of doing.
“I still think that we’re slighted, but we don’t look at that,” he added. “We just do our thing.”
It’s getting harder to miss the dominance of Avonworth’s defense these days.
For the third consecutive week, the Antelopes held one of the WPIAL’s top offenses in check Friday night — this time dominating visiting Hopewell, 48-14, at Lenzner Field.
Avonworth (5-0, 1-0) held Hopewell (3-2, 0-2) and its sensational quarterback James Armstrong out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter with most of its reserve defense in the game to earn its first WPIAL Class 3A Western Hills Conference victory of the season. The Antelopes forced two turnovers and tallied five sacks.
Last week, Avonworth knocked off defending WPIAL Class 4A champion Thomas Jefferson, 41-14, after dispatching of perennial power Aliquippa, 23-7, just seven days earlier.
“They’re playing at a high level,” said coach Duke Johncour, now in his 15th season with the Antelopes, of his defense. “We’ve got athletes at every position, which helps. We’re not hiding anybody.”
And Avonworth’s defense has helped its high-powered offense score over the past two weeks.
With the Antelopes clinging to a 14-6 lead, and just under two minutes remaining in the first half against Hopewell, Neal intercepted an Armstrong pass across the middle and raced 55 yards for a critical touchdown.
“He rolled out left, and I kind of baited him,” Neal said. “I was acting like I was flowing with him, but I knew he was looking backside for something. I kind of waited for him to throw it, and then when he did, I just jumped on it and took it to the crib. It felt amazing.”
A week earlier, Antelopes linebacker Evan Loutzenhiser scored a pair of defensive touchdowns against Thomas Jefferson. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior returned an interception 14 yards for a score before he recovered a fumble and raced 25 yards to the end zone.
“We do our assignments and just grind,” Neal said. “You see three defensive scores in the last two weeks, I think our defense is pretty legit.”
Avonworth held Hopewell to just 81 rushing yards and kept Armstrong in check for most of the game. He completed 11 of 24 passes for 199 yards and the Vikings’ lone touchdown on a 13-yard run late in the fourth quarter with the Antelopes’ reserve defense in the game.
A week ago, Armstrong threw for 346 yards, rushed for 263 yards and accounted for six total touchdowns in Hopewell’s thrilling 51-50 loss to Beaver. With numerous scholarship offers already in the bag, Armstrong scored two more over the last week from Power Four conference schools Penn State and North Carolina.
“We felt the same wrath that Thomas Jefferson felt last week, right,” said second-year Hopewell coach Matt Mottes. “You’re in the game, and then all of a sudden it’s busted open. You can’t make mistakes against a team like Avonworth.”
Senior quarterback Carson Bellinger threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Antelopes offense, while bell-cow running back Dimitri Velisaris carried the football 15 times for 89 yards and touchdown runs of 21 and 2 yards.
Bellinger threw a 16-yard touchown pass to tight end Maro Arlia in the first quarter before sending his team to halftime with a 28-6 advantage on a 51-yard scoring strike to Jaden Jones with just 37 second remaining in the second quarter.
Sophomore Gavin McDowell scored on a 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and freshman Logan Krul added an 81-yard run to the end zone in the fourth quarter to round out Avonworth’s offensive output.
“It’s just week to week,” Johncour said. “Next man up, next play up, next week up, we’ll be ready to go. Central Valley next week, it’s going to be a big one.”
Senior kicker Rocco Marcantonio provided a bright spot for Hopewell, tying his own WPIAL record of a season ago with a 55-yard field goal in the second quarter against the Antelopes. He also made a 33-yard field goal earlier in the contest.
“It’s a great tool to have,” Motes said.
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.