Indians take battle of 5A champions
Peters Township exacts revenge against Moon
A pair of familiar foes collided Friday night when No. 5-seeded Peters Township met No. 4 Moon in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal that featured the top two playoff seeds from the Allegheny Eight Conference. The Indians and Tigers were well acquainted dating to Oct. 4, when the latter handed the former a 21-13 loss that ultimately served as the lone blemish on an otherwise spectacular 10-1 season.
Since that frustrating night, the Indians had been rolling — outscoring opponents, 158-27, over four games leading into the affair. But so had Moon, with four consecutive wins, a 9-2 overall record and a taste of its first conference title in 16 years to show for it.
Well, a co-conference title, that is. Peters Township and Moon each shared the Allegheny Eight Conference champion rights, but Friday night, one team would claim it for good.
“Coach preached all week that we needed to take the asterisk away,” said Peters Township senior Josh Casilli. “And that’s exactly what we did. [The loss] humbled us. They exposed a lot of our weaknesses that we could clean up on and be a better team out of it.”
And on a chilly November night at West Allegheny’s Joe P. DeMichela Stadium, the Indians were the far, far better team.
Peters Township weathered a slow start to cruise over Moon, 33-7, and advance to the WPIAL semifinals for the first time in school history. The Indians dominated the final three quarters, totaled 354 yards on the night and stymied Moon’s dynamic multi-faceted offensive system to conclude the night — and Moon’s season — with the last laugh.
“This is who we are,” said Peters Township coach TJ Plack. “We had a great season last year and a great season this year. I know it’s cliché, but sometimes it does take a loss to refocus us.”
The matchup featured two of the Allegheny Eight’s top three scoring offenses, but the first quarter didn’t show it. The first 12 minutes were scoreless as both sides struggled to amass much of anything offensively.
A minute remained in the first quarter when Moon punter Logan Young pinned
Peters Township inside its 2. Moon’s defensive line had been controlling the line of scrimmage as the Indians option run game was virtually non-existent. No one would’ve expected a 98-yard scoring drive, right?
Wrong.
The Indians drove nearly the entire field on 11 plays, capping it with a 7-yard touchdown rush by senior Ryan Magiske.
“It was my fault,” Casilli said, laughing. “I didn’t field the punt and we got down to the 2-yard line. I just read my keys while making our decisions and we marched down the field.”
The five-plus minute statement drive spearheaded by Casilli operating out of the wildcat formation was a sign of more things to come, as the Indians scored 21 unanswered in the second quarter. Just 1:28 later, Casilli busted a 52-yard touchdown on a double cutback rush, and junior quarterback Logan Pfeuffer later connected with Aidan McCall for a 48-yard touchdown with two minutes until halftime.
On the other hand, Moon amounted just two first downs in the entire half — one on its first possession and one on its last.
“Our kids are intelligent, and our coaches prepare our guys extremely well,” said Plack. “I don’t think there’s anything they did tonight offensively that we didn’t know about. …We’ve got a great defensive staff. I’ll put them up against anybody in the WPIAL or anybody in the state.”
Peters Township scored on its opening drive of the second half on Magiske’s second touchdown of the night from 3 yards. Pfeuffer then found Casilli for a 31-yard scoring strike on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend Peters Township’s lead to 33-0. He ended the game with 59 passing yards and two touchdowns, while Casilli, the program’s alltime scoring leader, finished with 183 yards from scrimmage and a pair of touchdowns on 17 total touches — garnering his 50th career touchdown in the process.
The Tigers were held to their lowest scoring total of the season and finished with just 193 yards from scrimmage.
“[Peters Township] just wanted it more,” Moon coach Ryan Linn said. “They were a little more aggressive. They set the tone tonight. They did to us what we’ve done to everybody for the last 11 weeks. They came at us and ran downhill and we got phased by it a little bit.
“You can’t see it on film, but they had a look in their eyes that they were going to go out and make things happen.”
Peters Township will face No. 1-seeded Penn-Trafford Friday in the 5A semifinals.