Aliquippa tops Belle Vernon Area for Class 4A crown
By JOSE NEGRON
jnegron@yourmvi.com
Second-seeded Aliquippa relied on a two-headed monster in the running game and a suffocating defensive effort to claim its 18th WPIAL title with a 28-13 victory over top-seeded Belle Vernon Area in the Class 4A championship game Saturday night at Heinz Field.
Freshman Tiqwai Hayes finished with 133 yards rushing and a pair of first-half scores to help lead the Quips (11-1) to the win in their 14th straight title game appearance. Sophomore Jon Tracy added a 22-carry, 91-yard effort as Aliquippa gained 225 yards on the ground.
“They just got movement and were able to hit lanes,” BVA head coach Matt Humbert said. “Defensively, we couldn’t squeeze or bottle them up like we did (last week) against TJ. They were just dominant up front and whenever we were aggressive and sent some blitzes at them, we had some success, but ironically enough we didn’t have great tackling. There were many plays where we penetrated with either a linebacker or a defensive lineman, but we couldn’t come up with a tackle.”
Aliquippa limited BVA (10-1) to 40 yards of total offense in the first half before the Leopards got things going after intermission. Humbert’s group managed to finish with 202 total yards as quarterback Devin Whitlock threw for 99 and ran for 69. He scored both the Leopards’ touchdowns in the fourth quarter on runs of 5 and 6 yards.
“They just stymied us at the line of scrimmage. They have three big boys and everything runs through them, so that allows their linebackers to flow,” Humbert said. “The irony is you just need one block because they’re going to give you some voids behind. If you get past that first line, you can usually hit a big play, but we unfortunately didn’t have that, especially in the run game.”
“In the second half when we were behind and we were battling back, we were able to get our pass game rolling and that’s when we were able to hit some of those splash plays. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
The Quips led 21-0 at halftime as Hayes scored on runs of 1 and 13 yards to make it 14-0 by the early portion of the second quarter.
With just seconds left in the first half, the Quips converted on a play in the end zone to extend the lead to three scores. Quentin Goode connected with Donovan Walker for a 38-yard touchdown pass that served as a blow to the Leps right before the break.
“That last touchdown before the half was a hard one to swallow,” Humbert said. “We think that if we negate that, we can come in at halftime, regroup and go from there.”
The Leopards showed fight after a scoreless third quarter as Whitlock’s first touchdown run came within the first two minutes of the fourth.
But Cyair Clark returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, extending the Aliquippa lead to 28-7 with 10:24 on the clock.
Aliquippa dominated possession, controlling the ball for more than 30 minutes. When BVA did have the ball, penalties proved costly. The Leopards had five penalties, including four in the first half.
“They wanted to eat up the clock and keep our offense off the field, and they did a tremendous job of it,” Humbert said. “When we got the ball offensively, we weren’t very effective with it and a lot of that was because of penalties. Every time we would maybe get a positive yard or two, we would set ourselves back behind the sticks.
“Hats off to Aliquippa, but we didn’t really help ourselves out when it came to that.”
Aliquippa resumes play next week against Jersey Shore in the PIAA Class 4A semifinals.
