No. 1 Aliquippa rolls past No. 5 Armstrong
For the first three quarters Friday night at Armstrong High School, it appeared the River Hawks could be setting the stage for an upset for the ages.
Then, when the fourth quarter rolled around, Aliquippa issued a reminder to the raucous Armstrong fans in attendance why the Quips are the No. 1-ranked Class 4A team in the state.
Led by sophomore sensation Tiqwai Hayes and senior leader D.J. Walker, Aliquippa (1-0) broke a tie score with a pair of fourthquarter touchdowns en route to a hard-hitting 28-14 win against the WPIAL Class 4A No. 5 River Hawks (1-1). Fresh off a monster debut season with 1,746 yards rushing, Hayes carried the ball 36 times Friday for 202 yards and four touchdowns.
“I felt good today,” Hayes said. “We had a few bumps and bruises, but we always like that.”
One of the Quips’ top two-way players and multi-sport athletes, Walker came up with two crucial first-half interceptions against Armstrong star quarterback Cadin Olsen. On his second interception, Walker caught the ball after a tip and almost took it all the way for a touchdown, only to be tackled out of bounds at the 1.
Walker’s return nearly mimicked that of Aliquippa grad M.J. Devonshire, who caught a tipped pass for an interception and returned it for a go-ahead touchdown in Pitt’s 38-31 win against West Virginia Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium.
“D.J. came up with two big plays,” said Quips coach Mike Warfield. “He’s our leader, and he showed it. I’m proud of him.”
Olsen led the WPIAL in passing as a sophomore and finished second in the WPIAL in passing as a junior, and the 6-foot-5 senior is expected to be among the top quarterbacks in
the state again this fall. The Penn recruit had his moments on Friday, but Aliquippa’s vaunted secondary gave him tons of trouble.
“We’ve been looking at [Olsen] for a couple weeks now, so we sort of knew some of the things they were going to do,” Warfield said. “He’s a good quarterback. He can throw it anywhere on the field at any time.”
After a 3-yard touchdown run by Hayes capped an 11-play, 62-yard scoring drive on the Quips’ opening possession, the River Hawks responded with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Olsen to senior Dozick Zablocki. A 47-yard reception on a screen pass by junior running back Alex Patton set up Zablocki’s score.
Following Walker’s second interception and near-touchdown on the return, Hayes scored on a 1yard run on the very next play to give Aliquippa a 14-7 halftime lead.
“Man, I was this close,” Walker said. “I should have dove for it. I was thinking about it. But we still got it.”
Late in the third quarter, Armstrong found itself facing third-and19 from the Quips 25. Olsen dropped back to pass and heaved the ball to the back left corner of the end zone, where junior Isaiah Brown made a tremendous catch which tied the score.
Going into the final quarter, the River Hawks seemed to have all the momentum, and maybe even the recipe for a shocking upset — but not for long.
A few hard-nosed runs from Nate Lindsey moved Aliquippa into the red zone, then Hayes punctuated the drive with his third touchdown run on third-and-goal. Hayes would add another score on a 21-yard touchdown run with 3:10 to play to put the game away.
“I think last year taught us a lot. That you have to keep playing no matter what the score is,” Warfield said. “I’m impressed with what we did, just battling.”