Peters gets another shot at NA
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Odds are the Peters Township players were itching to get another shot at North Allegheny not long after losing to the Tigers in the WPIAL championship.
Some second chances never come.
For the Indians, it took only about a week.
It will be a WPIAL championship rematch when North Allegheny (20-2-1) and Peters Township (18-1-1) square off in a PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal Saturday just nine days after the Tigers used a late rally to defeat the Indians, 2-1, and win their second consecutive WPIAL title.
The teams both took care of business in their PIAA openers Tuesday. Like the three other WPIAL champions, North Allegheny rolled to a first-round win. The Tigers got three goals from star Josh Luchini — he now has 35 this season — to throttle Pine-Richland, 5-0. Peters Township rebounded from its first loss by beating District 10 champion Erie McDowell, 1-0. Logan Brinsky scored the game’s only goal 12 minutes into the second half.
“It’s not easy to rebound after losing the championship match, but we were able to do that and advance,” Peters Township coach Bob Dyer said.
Now comes a shot at redemption. Peters Township went up, 1-0, on North Allegheny behind a first-half goal from Luke Kelly and the score remained that way until late in the second half. North Allegheny tallied the equalizer on an own-goal with 7:17 left and Luchini set up Cameron Yurick for the winner less than two minutes later.
“It’s never easy to lose like that when you work so hard to win,” Dyer said.
North Allegheny will try to end Peters Township’s season for the second year in a row. The Tigers beat the Indians in last year’s WPIAL quarterfinals. A Tigers’ win would advance them to the semifinals for the second year in a row. They lost to Conestoga in last year’s semifinals.
Montour
Montour’s Nolan Hutter will have a busy weekend. Friday, he will kick for the Spartans’ football team in the WPIAL semifinals. A day later, he will take the field with his soccer pals in the PIAA quarterfinals.
Hutter is a standout senior midfielder who helped Montour (17-3-1) win its first WPIAL soccer championship last Saturday and first PIAA playoff game Tuesday. Hutter scored a goal in a 3-0 first-round win against Hollidaysburg. The Spartans play Erie Cathedral Prep (201) in Saturday’s Class 3A quarterfinals. Friday, the Montour football team (8-2) takes on top-seed South Fayette (11-0) in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals. Hutter has made 38 extra points and two field goals this season.
“It’s going to be a blast,” Hutter said. “In football, our team has real high morale right now. It’s a big week coming off the win against New Castle. In soccer, we play Cathedral Prep, who we lost to last year. So it will be great to get another shot at them. I’m really excited.”
West Allegheny
In order to extend its season into another week, West Allegheny must get through a defending state champion.
West Allegheny (20-2-1) will play Lower Dauphin (222-1) Saturday with a spot in the Class 3A semifinals on the line. Lower Dauphin won the title last season. That championship run included a 4-0 win against WPIAL runner-up Mars in the quarterfinals. A year later, Lower Dauphin, the District 3 champion, draws the WPIAL runner-up once again.
After seeing its 20-game unbeaten streak come to an end in the WPIAL final, West Allegheny got offensive when it rolled over DuBois, 7-0, in the first round. Evan Blunkosky led the way with two goals and an assist
Jackson Becher had a hat trick in Lower Dauphin’s 4-1 first-round win against Harriton. Becher, a senior, is the program’s all-time leading scorer and a University of Maryland-BaltimoreCounty recruit. He was selected to play in the High School AllAmerican game in December. North Allegheny’s Josh Luchini was also picked to play in that game.