The final minute of play proved downright frightful for a pair of West Hills high school football teams making their WPIAL playoff debuts on Halloween Friday night.
In a Class 4A thriller at New Castle, Montour eschewed a potential game-tying PAT in favor of a game-winning two-point conversion, but that attempt failed with 20 seconds remaining when Spartans quarterback Brandon Bennett slipped while making a cut around left end, and that sealed New Castle’s 14-13 win.
And about nine miles west of Taggart Stadium, Mohawk kicker Andrew Lloyd drilled a 22-yard field on the game’s final play to snap a 14-14 tie and give the Warriors a 17-14 victory over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in a Class 2A first-round game.
Two other West Hills teams began their WPIAL playoff runs Friday night with considerably less drama, although it took a while for both of them to get going.
In a Class 5A first-round matchup, Moon had its hands full with Armstrong in the early going, trailing 14-6 at halftime. But the host Tigers took control in the second half, outscoring the River Hawks 42-7 in the final two quarters to win going away, 48-21.
And at Dormont Stadium, No. 3 seed Bishop Canevin trailed 29-28 entering the final quarter but wound up defeating No. 14 Greensburg Central Catholic, 50-35 in a Class 1A contest.
New Castle 14, Montour 13
Brandon Bennett’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Zander Stern in the right corner of the end zone with 20 seconds remaining brought the Spartans to within 14-13 in the Class 4A playoff opener between the two Parkway Conference rivals.
But rather than call for the PAT to potentially tie the game at 14-14, Montour coach Lou Cerro kept his offense on the field and called Bennett’s number on a keeper.
Bennett headed around the left side, but when he stopped to cut back, he lost his footing and slipped to the turf, leaving the Spartans on the short end of a 14-13 score. Montour attempted an onside kick, but New Castle’s Damian Harrison corralled it to seal the win for the Red Hurricanes, who improved to 9-2 while the Spartans finished 7-4.
The first 24 minutes saw just one score – Bennett’s 3-yard run, which capped a 16-play, 67-yard drive that took more than 81/2 minutes in the first quarter.
The Spartans ran the ball for 15 of those 16 plays, as they methodically drove the ball down the field.
New Castle’s fine freshman quarterback, Marino Graham, sat out most of the second quarter after taking a hard hit deep in Red Hurricanes’ territory.
Kai Cox had to fill in at quarterback for the rest of the half and New Castle had trouble sustaining any sort of an attack.
Montour also had difficulty moving the ball after its opening drive. The Spartans appeared to get a break late in the first half when Cox muffed a punt deep in his own territory and a Montour player appeared poised to recover, but Cox somehow wound up with it.
Leading 7-0, Montour looked ready to go up two scores midway through the third quarter when Bennett scored on a keeper from 3 yards out. But that TD was wiped out by an offensive holding call, and the Spartans ended up turning the ball over on downs, clinging to their 7-0 lead.
New Castle finally got on the board on its next possession when Graham hit Harrison on a 56-yard touchdown pass with 2 minutes, 15 seconds to play in the third quarter. Graham made good on the two-point conversion to give the Red Hurricanes an 8-7 lead.
New Castle used its big-play capability to add to its lead early in the fourth quarter when Graham connected with Chase Lemmon on a 65-yard touchdown pass. Graham failed to score on the 2-poitn conversion attempt, and the Red Hurricanes led 14-7.
That set the stage for the Spartans late drive, which started at their own 20 with 4:20 to play. After moving to the Montour 36, Bennett raced 31 yards on a keeper down the left sideline, then hit Stern for 24 yards on the next play. Bennett appeared to score several plays later on a run from 3 yards out, but a Montour penalty once again wiped out a score. But two plays later, Bennett hit Stern from 14 yards out to make it 14-13, setting the stage for the Spartans’ ill-fated two-point conversion attempt with 20 seconds remaining.
Mohawk 17, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 14
A pair of J.J. Hayden touchdown passes – a 30-yarder to TyTy Hawkins in the third quarter and a 44-yard shot that Thomas Pinno juggled and eventually put away with a little over 2 minutes to play in the game – combined with Hayden’s two-point conversion pass to Owen Nestor, gave the ninth-seeded Chargers a 14-7 lead.
But they couldn’t hold on in the Class 2A first-round matchup. Penalty flags played a role in what transpired in the final minutes, as OLSH was assessed a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct calls following its go-ahead touchdown. That meant the Chargers had to kick off from their own 12-yard line, and Mohawk gained possession at the OLSH 40-yard line with 2 minutes to play.
Yet another unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Chargers moved the ball to the OLSH 20, and moments later, Mohawk’s Bobby Fadden hit Joe Nail on a 13-yard touchdown pass to pull the eighth-seeded Warriors to within 14-13 with 45 seconds remaining.
At first it appeared as though Mohawk would go for the two-point conversion and the win, but after both teams called timeouts, the Warriors brought on Lloyd for the PAT, and his kick tied the score at 14-14.
Nestor’s ensuing kickoff return set the Chargers up near midfield but after they moved to the Mohawk 44, Hayden’s pass was tipped and intercepted by 6-foot, 310-pound defensive lineman Dan Monaco.
After Fadden kept for nine yards and threw an incompletion, he lofted a pass down the right sideline for Nail, who caught it at the OLSH 6-yard line with 2 seconds remaining in the game.
That set the stage for Lloyd’s game-winning field goal.
OLSH coach Donnie Militzer was perplexed by the dual unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that followed Pinno’s touchdown catch.
“I’d like a better explanation on how it was called the way it was,” he said. “Two kids ran down the sidelines and celebrated and they threw double flags.”
Militzer said overall he thought his team played well and even outplayed Mohawk for most of the game. “But they’re a well-coached team – and disciplined,” he said of the Warriors. “We made mistakes and they didn’t, and and at the end of the day that kills you. We had dumb penalties and turned the ball over twice. They sat back, waited until we made a couple mistakes and they capitalized.”
Hayden finished with 8 completions in 17 attempts for 128 yards for OLSH, which finished 5-6. Jamire Samuels led OLSH’s running game with 94 yards on 22 attempts. Fadden – Mohawk’s standout five-sport athlete — completed 13 of 22 passes for 140 yards and also rushed for 86 yards on 19 carries.
Moon Area 48, Armstrong 21
Andrew Cross threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, and Daiveon Taylor also rushed for two scores as the fifth-seeded Tigers shook off a lackluster first-half showing to roll up 42 second-half points en route to a win over the 12th-seeded River Hawks.
With the win, Moon will move on to play fourth-seeded Penn-Trafford at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, at Penn-Trafford High School.
Armstrong took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on Jaydon Oliver’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Quinton Olsen, but Moon pulled to within 7-6 in the second quarter on Taylor’s 46-yard touchdown run. Moon’s PAT attempt was blocked.
Armstrong answered with Max Zablocki’s 1-yard scoring burst later in the quarter, and the River Hawks went into halftime with a 14-6 lead.
Whatever coach Ryan Linn said at halftime worked, as the Tigers came out and put two touchdowns on the board in the third quarter and then added four more scores in the final quarter.
Cross scored on a 34-yard run for Moon’s first touchdown of the third quarter, and he followed that by hitting Braeden Stuart on a 19-yard scoring pass to make it 20-14.
Cross opened the fourth-quarter scoring with an 18-yard run to increase the lead to 27-14, but Armstrong pulled to within 27-21 on Oliver’s 20-yard run.
Taylor responded with his second TD run, from 23 yards out, and Cross then hit Jayden Revis on a 12-yard score to make it 41-21. Moon’s final score came on Ryan Culligan’s 46-yard interception return.
The Tigers did the bulk of their damage on the ground, as they rushed for 384 yards to 66 for Armstrong. Cross finished with 111 yards rushing, Taylor added 104, and Dionte Henry contributed 87 and Paul Bronaugh chipped in with 71 yards. Cross completed 8 of 11 passes for 66 yards.
Photos by Mike Longo Jr.
Bishop Canevin 50, Greensburg Central Catholic 35
The third-seeded Crusaders needed a big game from Damar Olds in their Class 1A playoff opener, and that’s exactly what they got.
Olds ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more – both to Justin Melvin — and Myontae Mott rushed for 182 yards and one score as Bishop Canevin rallied in the fourth quarter for the win.
Greensburg Central Catholic, which finished 5-6, got five touchdowns from Samir Crosby – four on runs from scrimmage and the last one on an 86-yard kickoff return – but it wasn’t enough.
The Centurions led 22-15 at halftime on the strength of three Crosby touchdown runs and his two-point conversion. Olds’ 13-yard run, his two-point conversion run and his 66-yard touchdown pass to Melvin accounted for Bishop Canevin’s first-half points.
Olds scored on a 14-yard run and hit Melvin on a 69-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, but Crosby’s 14-yard scoring run enabled Greensburg Central Catholic to take a 29-28 lead into the fourth quarter.
Mott’s 23-yard touchdown run, followed by Olds’ 8-yard scoring run, put Bishop Canevin on top for good. Neuval Bone III’s 6-yard TD burst closed out the scoring for Bishop Canevin.
Olds finished with 5 completions in 11 attempts for 161 yards, with Melvin grabbing four of those passes for 141 yards.
The Crusaders will move on to play 11th-seeded Frazier, which upended No. 6 California, 27-12, at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov 7.
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