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Championships at the Chap (An Inside Look)

Tagged under: News, Playoffs

| December 13, 2023


For those of you who have hesitated to travel to the new championship site at Mechanicsburg or who have never been to the PA football title games you are definitely losing out on a wonderful experience.  This year there was only one contest that came down to the end, but there were memorable performances, players, and some of the greatest teams, in my opinion, to ever play in the PA state championship games.  We’ll get to those in a second.

In case one didn’t know, The Chap is Chapman Field, Cumberland Valley’s home football field in Mechanicsburg.  The weather was chilly this year except for a little warmth on Friday afternoon.  But everyone was thankful the weather was precipitation free for the three-day event of two games a day.

Game One Thursday afternoon pitted a pair of unbeaten teams that had the potential to be maybe one of the best games of the weekend.  The contest was also a contrast in quarterbacks.  Steelton-Highspire’s senior signal-caller, Alex Erby, is Pennsylvania’s all-time leading career passer in completions, yardage, and touchdowns.  Matt Sieg of Fort Cherry is only a sophomore but has set some District 7 (WPIAL) records himself and has the potential to re-write some state records.  Even though he is still young, he is an accomplished dual threat QB who loves to run, and does it very well.

As the game progressed, the Steamrollers of Steel High did just that.  They steamrolled through Fort Cherry on their way to a convincing 42-8 victory.  In fact, the game was won by Steel High at halftime as they led 34-0.  Erby set the state single season TD pass record by throwing five which gave him 61 for the year.  It is quite an accomplishment.  Hats off to his offensive line who gave a lot of time to throw, not only in this game, but in his whole career.  It was Steelton-Highspire’s 5th state football championship in five tries.

Game One Quotes – Not a lot of credit is given to the Steel High defense because of what Erby and the offense does, but Fort Cherry’s coach Tanner Garry had this to say about the Roller defensive unit, “Defensively, we knew they were going to be good.  This is the first team we’ve played I’ve felt that was complete on defense front to back.”  Andrew Erby is the coach of the Steelton High Steamrollers.  He is the father of not only Alex, but also twin brother Andrew Jr. who plays both ways on the line.  “This was not easy,” said Coach Erby, “It was hard to hold the tears back.  We put so much into it.  I remember when my sons were little just running hills, working hard, and wanting to be great.  For them to finish it here, it is a blessing, a special moment.”  QB Alex Erby stated, “It’s sinking in that this was the last game with my dad.  We’ll never have that connection with him again, the three of us on that sideline.”

Game One (Class A) Records – Alex Erby’s 5 touchdown passes and accounting for 6 touchdowns (he rushed for one).  Steelton’s Durrell Ceasar Junior’s 13 pass receptions practically doubled the old record.

Game Two – Most people thought that the 4A game Thursday night would be the third straight year Aliquippa would meet up with Bishop McDevitt.  The Quips held up their part, but Dallas foiled the return of McDevitt by whipping them in double overtime.  Coming into this game both teams were also unbeaten, just like the first contest.  The question for this game was whether or not Dallas was ready for the physical play and speed of Aliquippa.

As it turned out, the Mountaineers were not.  The Quips had three first half drives of 91 yards or better and led 40-14 at the break.  They never looked back, winning 60-14 and amassing 580 yards of offense.  The Quips were more focused than ever before and played brilliantly.  In fact, this was Aliquippa’s 10th appearance in the state championship game and their 5th win.  This was the first time in the rich tradition of Aliquippa football that they finished a season undefeated.

Game Two Quotes – “Ever since we were growing up, we always thought of ourselves as this special class that was able to do special things, and we did it,” said Quip QB Quentin Goode.  Coach Mike Warfield stated, “There is no growth without pain.  It was painful last year (losing 41-18 to McDevitt) and we grew from that.  I’m proud of the kids and our community.  We’re a program.”  Warfield’s record since becoming the Aliquippa head coach in 2018 is a whopping 74-6 with four state title appearances, winning three of those.  Despite all of that, his real desire is that Aliquippa be known for academics and for all the kids to be successful beyond football and sports.  The Dallas head coach, Rich Mannello, told his team, “This is hard to swallow right now, but looking back someday, they’ll look back someday and see how much they accomplished.”  Especially since they did slay one giant in Bishop McDevitt.  Dallas is now 1-2 in football championships.

Game Two (Class 4A) Records – The Quips set a record by scoring 40 points by halftime and winning by a margin of 46 points.  QaLil Goode of Aliquippa had an 87-yard pick six among his 3 interceptions.  The defense had 5 picks altogether.  An 83-yard pass that did not result in a touchdown is probably a record.  That came on a Quentin Goode to Brandon Banks pass.  The 580 total yards by Aliquippa is now second all-time in all classes only to Pine-Richland’s 594 in 2014 when they lost to St. Joes 49-41.  By the way, St. Joes in 2014 was second until this game with 553.

Game Three – The Friday afternoon 2A game was an unknown for a couple of reasons.  Westinghouse was undefeated, but hadn’t been winning by the scores they did the year before, plus some of their games were close at least at halftime.  Secondly, was Southern as good as last year at the end of the season.  Numbers said the offense might not be, but the defense might be, even though the Tigers did lose to Mt. Carmel 42-30.

The game did not disappoint any fans.  It was the best game of the three-day state championships.  Southern jumped out early 14-0 on a long run on the second play from scrimmage and a pick six.  Then Westinghouse went to work scoring twice to tie the game by the end of the half.  The House took the lead late in the third 20-14.  Half way through the 4th quarter, a Bulldog punt was downed inside the 1-yard line.  From there the Tigers of Southern Columbia made history by driving 99 and ½ yards to score with 42 seconds left and won the game on Isaac Carter’s PAT.  By the way, he is the young man who had the pick six for Southern.

It was Southern Columbia’s 14th state title and 7th in a row.  Both are records across all classifications.  They have now been in 9 straight title tilts, winning 8 of them.  The 9 in a row ties their own record set from 1998 through 2006.  And again, that is a record for all classes.  St. Joes has now been in 8 straight.

Game Three Quotes – Coach Jim Roth got his 498th career win, all at Southern Columbia.  He said, “I’ll include my assistant years.  This is 44 years for me (40 as head coach) and I’ve never seen a finish like this.  And to have one in the state championship game…”  He continued, “To win a game like this speaks to our players, their character, their heart, their determination.  I thought I’d seen it all, but I’ve not seen this one before.”  Westinghouse Coach Donta Green had the following to say about the game, “It was pure want-to.  We had the strategy.  We had everything down.  It was pure want-to.”   On Southern’s winning drive, there was a penalty called on Westinghouse that some disagreed with, but on film it was a penalty.  Coach Green showed so much class when he said, “There’s no one play or call that determines a game.  We’ve just got to play a more solid game for 48 minutes.”  That, folks, is a teaching moment for sure.

Game Three (Class 2A) Records – Isaac Carter’s 66-yard pick six was a 2A record for interception returns for a TD.  Blake Wise of Southern Columbia appears to be the only QB in PA state history to ever win 3 in a row.  Alex Erby (Steelton-Highspire) won 3 but not in a row.  Samaj Jones (St. Joes Prep) appeared in 3 in a row, but lost as sophomore to Mt. Lebo.  Joe Mischler (Erie Cathedral Prep) was in 3 in a row too, but lost his sophomore season to Imhotep.

Game Four – The 5A game was a battle of a couple more unblemished teams as the 14-0 Imhotep Panthers was to tangle with the 15-0 Peters Township Indians.  This was the first time Peters played in a state title football game, while Tep had been in 7, only winning once.  Imhotep was favored in this one as they have a plethora of Division 1 stand out players.  Both squads played great defense throughout the year in addition to having very good offenses.

As it turned out, the Panthers were too much to handle.  They built a 24-7 lead at the intermission and ended up winning 38-13.  Peters Township was outgained in yardage 482 to 152.

Game Four Quotes Peters Township head football coach T.J. Plack said “We knew what we were getting in to, we needed everything to go our way, our kids weren’t going to quit, that’s why we’re here”.  When asked about the Peters Township community the coach added, “They’re fantastic, the school, the community, just everyone, everyone that lives in Peters, I didn’t know there was that many Peters fans!”  On the Imhotep side, coach Devon Johnson said, “This is dedicated to our family, and everybody at Imhotep, at 21st, and Godfrey and all of our players past and present, this is for y’all.  We knew that we had to establish the run, those guys play both ways so we wanted to wear them out.  That was the game plan.  That’s a great football team over there, I got nothing but respect for coach Plack, I know they’ll be back here.”

Game Four (Class 5A) Records – Tep’s star running back, Jabree Wallace-Coleman dashed 68 yards for a TD and that tied the 5A mark.

Game Five – Belle Vernon came in as the defending champs and had a record of 12-1.  Northwestern Lehigh was 15-0 and knocked off some good teams along the way including Palmerton, Scranton Prep, and Wyomissing.  This was NW Lehigh’s first ever football championship game.  The thinking was this would be one of the better games.  But looking a little deeper, it was noticed that the Tigers only had 5 seniors on the team.  The defending champ, Leopards, had a large number of seniors starting and were veterans from winning the championship last year.

Belle Vernon returned the opening kickoff and had two other rushing touchdowns of 60 or more yards on their way to a 38-7 triumph.  The turning point of the game was when Northwestern Lehigh, already trailing 14-0, drove the ball to the Belle Vernon 1-yard line but could not punch it in for the score.  And the Leopards followed that goal line stand by driving 99 yards to go up 21-0.

Game Five Quotes – Quinton Martin of Belle Vernon, a Penn State recruit, had a long touchdown run where he got outside to the left and burst up the BV sideline for 92 yards.  “I knew nobody was going to catch me.  That’s what separates me from other athletes around the country is my burst.  It’s insanely good.”  He added he didn’t want to sound cocky but just wants to keep it as real as possible.  Belle Vernon’s coach Matt Humbert noted that the offensive line’s play, “was amazing.” Northwestern coach Josh Snyder stated, “These guys took us to new levels never before seen at Northwestern.  We hope to build off this experience and continue to grow in the future.  We are going back to our stadium in New Tripoli and enjoy this day.”

Game Five (Class 3A) Records – Martin’s 92-yard run set a new record.  Preston Rathway of Belle Vernon booted a 44-yard field goal that tied the record.  Anthony Crews’ 77-yard kickoff return was not a record.

Game Six – North Allegheny came into the game on a roll.  They were averaging 44 points a game and were playing much better defense.  They were 13-1.  The problem was they were playing St. Joes Prep who were ranked #6, #7 or #9 in the country, depending on the poll.  The only loss the Hawks suffered was to IMG Academy out of Florida, the undefeated #4 team in the country by a score of 17-14.  According to one fact sheet, St. Joes has 19 kids with at least one Division 1 offer including their back-up quarterback.

North Allegheny played some tough football and made St. Joes work on both sides of the ball.  But playing top teams in the whole country is a different animal.  St. Joes built up a 45-10 lead in the third quarter invoking the Mercy Rule.  To NA’s credit they closed the gap to 45-23 by the game’s end.  It was St. Joes 8th state championship in 10 tries.  It was North Allegheny’s first loss in four appearances.

Game Six Quotes – Tim Roken, the St. Joes coach said this about his quarterback Samaj Jones, “He’s a young man of great character.”  Art Walker, Jr. of NA had this to say about Jones, “He’s the best we’ve seen.”  Roken said that NA was well-coached.  In western PA most people know that Walker and his dad, Art Walker, Sr., are the only father-son coaches with over 200 career wins each.

Game Six (Class 6A) Records – Even though Samaj Jones of St. Joes had 357 all-purpose yards it was not a record.  His 80-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Jones was a record and so was his accounting for 5 TDs, three running and two passing.  Both Joneses are heading to the University of Cincinnati to play college ball.

Some Final Notes and Thoughts – With expansion to 6 classes in 2016, twenty-one new teams have been given an opportunity to play for a state football title that most of them would not have had if the PIAA had stayed in the archaic-medieval times of just 4 classes.  Seven of those teams won gold.

In my humble opinion, this year featured, not only great players but great teams.  This year’s St. Joes team was probably the best Hawk team of all-time.  They were big, strong, and fast.  And they were well-coached.  This year’s version of Imhotep rivaled the 2015 version, but I would hate to pick against the current Tep team.  I can’t believe there have ever been as good a team from Aliquippa as this year’s.  They had it all and the 2023 Quips didn’t lose a game.  How can one argue this team wasn’t the best.  I can’t leave out Steelton-Highspire.  They had one of the best single A teams I’ve seen.  They were more than just athletes like some Class A champs.  They were a team and mostly played that way.  That is a credit to Coach Erby and his staff.

The other fun thing for me was the bands and the young talent that sang the National Anthems before each game.  North Allegheny had a fabulous band and Belle Vernon’s impressed me also.

There is a young lady, a sophomore at Southern Columbia, by the name of Michaela Williams.  She plays the violin.  Her violin version of the National Anthem before the 2A game was not only different (I’ve never heard the Anthem played by a violin before), but was phenomenally precise and beautiful.  What a pleasure it was to hear.  What a talent she has!  She could play at the Super Bowl.  Keira Berk from Perkiomen Valley sang her National Anthem before the 6A game was just amazing.  I love a southern twang in the female voice and she had it.  On top of that she hit every note.  It was truly music to my ears.  A real patriotic blessing occurred before the Belle Vernon-Northwest Lehigh game when the young lady’s microphone failed to work and the fans from both sides picked it up and loudly sang the Anthem with her.  Kudos to all those fans!

Finally, for fans attending the games at Cumberland Valley High School, it is easy to make a day, or two or three of the events.  The surrounding Mechanicsburg and Carlisle area is accommodating and has numerous hotels, restaurants, and shopping places available.  Hershey is only about 30 minutes away if you want to do something there.  Getting in and out of the stadium is easy and parking is very accessible without long walks to your car or long waits in line.

Follow Phil Myers on Twitter: @Protime_PFN

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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