Playoffs offer shot to avenge losses
North Catholic and Beaver Falls won’t get a second chance to make a first impression when squaring off against their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal opponents Friday.
That first impression came Sept. 21, and it wasn’t pretty. That night, North Catholic was blanked by Derry Area, 27-0, and Beaver Falls was throttled by Aliquippa, 39-0.
But fortunately for both of the teams that fell flat that night, there will be a shot at redemption. And if the teams have grown from those losses like their coaches think they have, they just might be able to earn some payback, and maybe even a trip to Heinz Field.
Will we see a revised script or will the sequels play out much like the originals when North Catholic (10-1) plays Derry (10-1) at Hempfield and Beaver Falls (9-2) meets Aliquippa(10-1) at Ambridge?
For North Catholic, the loss to Derry was the only blemish on what has otherwise been a terrific season. North Catholic is in the semifinals for the second year in a row, but last year’s run came in Class 2A. It moved up a class, but hasn’t been outclassed. Well, aside fromthat loss to Derry.
“We just got beat up,” North Catholic coach Patrick O’Shea said. “I could try to make excuses for what happened, but I can’t. They just physically dominated that football game. It was a complete win for Derry. We couldn’t do anything.”
They could moving forward, though. O’Shea said his team realized that night that they would need to play more physical, and if they didn’t, a result like that one could happen again. North Catholic responded by outscoring its final five regular-season opponents, 251-10. That included a 27-0 win two weeks later against Elizabeth Forward, which a week previously had dealt Derry its only loss, 25-22.
Derry coach Tim Sweeney said his team played one of its best games of the season against North Catholic, and that doing that again won’t be easy.
“I think it’s a Herculean challenge,” Sweeney said. “I thinkit was as close to a perfect game as we could have played the first time and I don’t think they gave us their best game. It’s hard to play close to a perfect game twice.”
But Derry will surely try. And if it’s successful, it will continue what has been an improbable turnaround since Sweeney took over the program in 2014. At the time, Derry was on an 18-game losing streak and had won no more than two games 10 times in the previous 17 seasons. This season, Derry won its third consecutive conference title, splitting the Big East championship with North Catholic and Elizabeth Forward.
Derry doesn’t do anything fancy offensively. It runs the ball a lot and tries to wear down defenses with a powerful offensive line. Running back Justin Flack has had a tremendous season. He has rushed for 1,165 yards and has scored a school-record 32 touchdowns. Flack scored four against North Catholic in the first meeting and three in a 46-0 quarterfinal win against Central Valley.
“When you talk about the best football players in the history of Derry, Flack has to be in the argument,” said Sweeney, a1985 Derry graduate.
North Catholic’s offense is more diverse. Quarterback Zack Rocco has been excellent, passing for 1,721 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushing for 469 yards and 10 touchdowns. His 4-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds left allowed North Catholic to beat Quaker Valley, 31-24, in the quarterfinals.
Other semifinal
Beaver Falls-Aliquippa isn’t justa semifinal game. It’s also a big rivalry game. The previous playoff meeting between the two came in 2016 when Beaver Falls beat Aliquippa, 35-22, to win the WPIAL championship.The Tigers went on to win the PIAA title that season, but then went 1-8 last season. They’ve rebounded this season, though, their only losses coming against Aliquippa and Class 4A semifinalist Blackhawk.
The threat of lightning forced three 30-minute delays in the first Aliquippa-Beaver Falls meeting. When the players were actually on the field, Aliquippa was scoring lightning fast, tallying four of its six touchdowns on plays of 60 yards or more. Avante McKenzie had touchdown runs of 82 and 79 yards. Eli Kosanovich threw touchdown passes of 60 yards to Will Gipson and 80 yards to Deoveon Crute.
For the outcome to be different this time, Beaver Falls coach Nick Nardone said his team might have to be flawless.
“You lose 39-0, you didn’t do much of anything right,” Nardone said. “We think we’re a better team, but we have to play a perfect game to beat them.”
Quarterback Dayln Brickner will need to be exceptional. Brickner is the team’s best player, and has thrown for 1,061 yards and 17 touchdowns togo along with 854 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns.
Aliquippa, which is looking to advance to the final for the 11th year in a row, bounced back from its only loss by beating Freeport, 40-17, in the quarterfinals. Beaver Falls topped Elizabeth Forward, 33-14.
Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said it will be a challenge for his team to beat Beaver Fallsa second time.
“It’s always tough to beat a team, no matter if it’s a rival or not, twice in a season. It’s definitely a big, uphill challenge,” hesaid.