TROPHY PERFORMANCES
Central Valley becomes 24th consecutive victim
Above: Aliquippa’s Tikey Hayes, left, and Arison Walker celebrate their team’s 34-7 win over Central Valley in the WPIAL Class 4A football title game on Friday night at Acrisure Stadium.
Left: Steel Valley’s JeSean Wright takes in a memorable moment after the Ironmen’s 34-14 win over Beaver Falls in the WPIAL Class 2A title game Friday at Acrisure Stadium.
Complete coverage of high school football playoffs in Sports,
Judging by the success of both teams and the recent history between them, the Aliquippa-Central Valley game Friday night had the makings of a classic WPIAL championship. And it was. A classic mismatch.
Clear some more room in the trophy case at Aliquippa because the Quips are bringing home another one. The Quips flexed their muscles, manhandled Central Valley and saw their collection of WPIAL championships turn 20.
In what was the first title game in WPIAL history that matched defending state champions, Aliquippa dominated Central Valley and defeated the Warriors, 347, in the final of four title games at Acrisure Stadium Friday. And one of the greatest players in Aliquippa history was on hand to see it, as Darelle Revis watched from the sidelines.
The win gave Aliquippa (12-0) its record 20th WPIAL title, stretched the Quips’ winning streak to 24 games and put them into next weekend’s PIAA semifinals against Allentown Central Catholic (9-5), which crushed Meadville, 50-7, in a PIAA quarterfinal Friday.
“They were locked in this week and I just knew,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield.
But could he have known Aliquippa would hold Central Valley (11-2) to a grand total of 1 yard rushing?
“You have to have the players. That’s what it’s all about,” said Warfield, who won his third title in five years as coach. “We’ve got the players – and it showed tonight.”
One of those “players” is Aliquippa super sophomore running back Tikey Hayes, who was in the spotlight again after rushing for 123 yards on 26 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Fellow sophomore John Tracy added 111 yards on 22 attempts carries as they became only the 13th tandem to run for more than 100 yards in a title game at either Three Rivers Stadium or Acrisure (formerly Heinz Field).
But plenty of credit should go to the Quips’ offensive and defensive linemen, or “Trench Dawgs,” as they like to call themselves. They pushed around Central Valley all night. The offensive line of Naquan Crowder, Jason McBride, Braylon Wilcox, Neco Eberhardt and Kamari Matthews had a great
surge throughout the game.
“That ‘Trench Dawgs’ name stands for a reason,” Crowder said. “It’s all about the trenches. We depend on our running backs every game and we’re going to make holes for them. We’re going to win in the trenches. That’s one thing we’re going to do.”
And the defensive line of Jayace Williams, McBride, Crowder, Eberhardt and Dorius Moreland barely budged against Central Valley. Aliquippa came into the game allowing only 20.7 yards a game rushing and held Bret FitzSimmons, who came in with 1,605 yards, to 12 yards on 10 carries.
Besides holding Central Valley to 1 yard rushing, one other statistic tells everything about Aliquippa’s domination: Aliquippa won time of possession, 34:19 to 13:41.
And this was a Central Valley team that led Aliquippa, 24-14, in the regular season finale before Aliquippa came back for a 34-24 win. And this was a Central Valley team that had won three consecutive WPIAL Class 3A titles and two PIAA championships in a row. One of those WPIAL titles came against Aliquippa in 2019.
“They did it to us three years ago, beat us twice in the same season. Now we did it,” Warfield said.
Aliquippa held a 14-0 halftime lead, scoring on two long drives – 16 plays for 86 yards, and 14 plays for 62 yards. Hayes scored both touchdowns on 1-yard runs.
Aliquippa picked up the second half where it left off in the first. The Quips took the second-half kickoff and drove 84 yards in 14 plays for a score to make it 21-0. Hayes scored the touchdown on a 3-yard run.
John Tracy scored Aliquippa’s final touchdown on a 3-yard run.
Aliquippa’s final touchdown came on a 34-yard pass from Quentin Goode to Jayace Williams.
Attendace for the four games at Acrsirue was 9,572, by far the lowest in the 34 years that the WPIAL has played four games in one day at Three Rivers or Acrisure.