Late FG sends Indians to semifinals
Junior returns punt 50 yards, sets up winning points in final minute
Somehow, it came down to Brian Bruzdewicz’s right foot.
Even after Peters Township and PennTrafford had put up 70 points through three quarters of their WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal Friday night at West Mifflin High School, there was Bruzdewicz, Peters Township’s senior kicker, staring at the football, then the uprights.
The scoreboard behind him blinked a tied score and seven seconds left in the game. He swung his right foot around.
“I looked up,” Bruzdewicz said, “and it went through. That’s all I can say.”
The kick, giving Peters a 38-35 win, was redemption for a similar field-goal try early in the fourth quarter. In the bedlam, Bruzdewicz beamed and said, “It came down to me, and I guess I just clutched up.”
T.J. Plack, Peter Township’s head coach, is 43 years old. He was 1 when the Indians previously advanced to the semifinals. This is their third semifinal berth — 1972, 1976 and 2018.
“I told the kids before the game, ‘It’s going to be a collision. Champions refuse to quit,’” Plack said. “We outlasted them. Made one more play than them. It was a heck of a game.”
The first quarter was a flurry of offense, which came as a surprise, since both teams’ defenses had drawn rave reviews in recent weeks. Instead, the teams swapped six touchdowns in a span of less than four minutes in the first quarter.
Peters Township sophomore quarterback Logan Pfeuffer capped a nine-play, 50-yard drive by connecting with sophomore receiver Corban Hondru on a fade route to the corner of the end zone, opening the scoring at 5:13 of the first quarter. Penn-Trafford needed just three plays to tie the score, as junior tailback Caleb Lisbon broke four tackles on a 58-yard gallop up the visiting sideline.
Then, a further surge of action resulted in three scores in 34 seconds.
On the next drive, Pfeuffer’s favorite target, junior receiver Josh Casilli, took a slant route 71 yards to reclaim the lead. After Warriors junior Ethan Carr brought the ensuing kickoff back 95 yards, getting tripped up at the Peters Township 2 — junior quarterback Gabe Dunlap scampered in for the score — Indians junior Aidan McCall returned the next kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.
On the Warriors’ next drive, Dunlap hit junior receiver Noah Allen on a short pass. Allen lateraled the ball to Lisbon, who was sweeping past him, and Lisbon raced 63 yards untouched.
At last, the opening volley was over. “That first quarter was pretty wild,” Plack said.
In the second quarter, the teams traded punts twice before Pfeuffer put Peters Township back on top with a 10yard strike to senior receiver Gabe Maloni.
That lead, like the rest, didn’t last long.
On Penn-Trafford’s next offensive snap, Dunlap faked a handoff to Lisbon, rolled right and lofted a pass to Lisbon, who motored along the sideline for 74 yards and his third score of the half.
The defenses arrived at halftime, with the score knotted at 28-28.
In the third quarter, around touchdowns runs of 34 yards by Peters Township junior tailback Ryan Magiske and 43 yards by Dunlap, the Penn-Trafford defense recovered a botched snap and forced a turnover on downs.
Peters Township sophomore linebacker Michael Peyton picked off a pass in the third quarter, then another in the fourth, setting up Bruzdewicz for a short kick. He missed.
Finally, on a night when the most dangerous decision was to kick the ball away, Peters Township junior McCall fielded a punt and ran 50 yards in the final minute of the fourth quarter to set up Bruzdewicz again.
Given a second chance, Bruzdewicz didn’t miss.