For the second straight week, Moon Area found itself trailing at halftime in a win-or-go-home WPIAL playoff game.
And just like the previous week, the Tigers did what they had to to keep their season alive, this time overcoming a seven-point halftime deficit to post a 20-13 victory over host Penn-Trafford in a Class 5A quarterfinal matchup.
The victory, aided by a controversial officials’ decision that preceded Moon’s go-ahead fourth-quarter score, puts the fifth-seeded Tigers into a semifinal matchup with top seed Pine-Richland at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at a site to be determined.
Moon coach Ryan Linn said he was “super-proud” of his team and the way his players performed.
“Next week we get an opportunity to see the No. 1 team and see what we can do against them,” he said.
The West Hills’ other remaining playoff combatant – Bishop Canevin – had no such first-half trouble in its quarterfinal contest against Frazier. The Crusaders bolted to a 42-0 lead after two quarters and cruised the rest of the way for a 50-7 win.
Bishop Canevin coach Rod Steele said he thought his team showed solid offensive balance.
“And once our defense set in, we were playing good team ball,” he said. “We had multiple players making plays on both sides of the ball. It was a great team win.”
Bishop Canevin will take on No. 2 seed Clairton, which prevailed in a wild one with Jeannette, 38-33.
Moon Area 20, Penn-Trafford 13
Andrew Cross tossed a pair of second-half touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Savario Vandetti with 3 minutes, 23 seconds to play, to lift the visiting Tigers over the Warriors.
Cross’ game-winning score came just three plays after he had the ball punched out of his hand while scrambling for a first down inside Penn-Trafford territory.
Officials ruled Cross was down before the ball came out, preserving possession for the Tigers. Cross made the Warriors pay, as he connected with Vandetti from 15 yards out for what proved to be the deciding score.
Moon, now 9-3, trailed 10-3 at halftime, with its only points coming on Evan Senkevich’s 41-yard field goal on the Tigers’ first possession.
Senkevich pulled Moon to within 10-6 on the Tigers’ opening possession of the second half, a drive punctuated by a 41-yard completion from Cross to a diving Jayden Revis that put the ball inside the Penn-Trafford 10-yard line.
But the Warriors’ defense stiffened and the Tigers had to settle for Senkevich’s 44-yard field goal with 6:24 to play in the third quarter.
Moon’s defense forced a three-and-out on Penn-Trafford’s next drive, and that resulted a short punt that put the Tigers in business at midfield.
Two plays later, Cross rolled to his right and hit Revis in the end zone from 38 yards out to give Moon a 13-10 lead.
“He stayed in the pocket and took the hit when he threw it,” Linn said of his quarterback.
Penn-Trafford, which pulled out a last-second victory over the Tigers during the regular season, answered on its next drive when Jack Miller booted a 41-yard field goal less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, knotting the score at 13-13.
Moon’s next possession decided the game, and the Tigers were aided by a questionable officials decision.
After driving to the Penn-Trafford 34-yard line, Cross faced a third-and-8 and took off out of the pocket. Near the end of the play, Penn-Trafford’s Landyn Stikkel punched the ball out of Cross’ grasp, but the officials ruled Cross was down before the ball came out. That set the stage for Cross’ game-winning TD strike to Vandetti, and Senkevich’s PAT made it 20-13 with 3:23 to play in the game.
“He kept his eyes downfield and found (Vandetti) on the crosser,” Linn said of Cross.
Penn-Trafford made its way across midfield on its next drive, but on a fourth-and-9 play at the Moon 49, Daiveon Taylor pressured Warriors quarterback Nate Desmond into throwing an incomplete pass, turning the ball over to the Tigers.
Moon was not out of the woods at that point, as nearly 2 minutes remained in the game and Penn-Trafford had all three of its timeouts left. But after the Warriors used two of those stoppages, Cross hit Jared Moyer on a clutch first-down completion on third-and-10, icing the win for the Tigers.
Cross finished with 8 completions in 11 attempts for 119 yards. Taylor led Moon’s ground game with 57 yards rushing on 10 carries. A week after rolling up nearly 400 yards on the ground against Armstrong, the Tigers managed just 97 yards rushing against Penn-Trafford.
Linn complimented his team for playing complementary football, even singling out kickers Senkevich — who converted two PATs and a pair of field goals — and Blake Wilmot, the latter for putting every kickoff into the end zone.
“We played well in all three phases,” he said. “Defensively we put the clamps down in the second half. We didn’t make too many adjustments — we just started to execute the game plan better.”
Bishop Canevin 50, Frazier 7
Myontae Mott ran for a pair of touchdowns and Damar Olds threw for one, ran for one and returned an interception for yet another score as the Crusaders overpowered the Commodores in a Class 1A quarterfinal playoff game played at Canon-McMillan.
With the win, Bishop Canevin advances to Friday’s semifinal game against No. 2 seed Clairton, which defeated 10th-seeded Jeannette, 38-33.
The third-seeded Crusaders, who improved to 9-3, took a 7-0 lead on Mott’s 20-yard touchdown run and Leo Shorthouse’s PAT.
Frazier, which finished its season 7-5, mounted a 16-play drive on its ensuing possession to take more than 7 minutes off the clock, reaching the Bishop Canevin 5-yard line.
But the Commodores turned the ball over on downs at the Crusaders’ 6-yard line, and Mott went 94 yards for a touchdown on the very next play.
Bishop Canevin extended its lead to 22-0 when Olds hit Justin Melvin on a 34-yard touchdown pass, and Olds scored on the two-point conversion.
Olds then picked off Brady Secrest’s pass and returned it 55 yards for a score to make it 29-0.
Neuval Bone added an 11-yard touchdown run and Olds scored on a 10-yard TD run to give the Crusaders a 42-0 halftime lead.
Dominic Cisnero-Torres tacked on a second-half touchdown to close out the scoring for Bishop Canevin while Derek Diamond’s 30-yard touchdown run averted the shutout for Frazier in the 50-7 loss.
Olds finished with five completions in seven attempts for 108 yards. Mevin caught three of those passes for 71 yards.
Mott rushed for 161 yards on just nine carries and Bone contributed 60 yards on nine carries.
As a team, the Crusaders rolled up 391 total yards, with 290 of that coming on the ground. The only negative note for Bishop Canevin came in the penalty department, as the Crusaders were flagged 13 times for 125 yards.
Bishop Canevin’s defense put the clamps on Secrest, as he failed to complete any of his 12 pass attempts and was picked off twice. Diamond provided the only offense for Frazier, rushing for 122 yards on 23 carries.
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