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North Allegheny shuts down Harrisburg offense, punches their ticket to the Chap!

Tagged under: District 3, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| December 2, 2023

“They’re just relentless on every down. The motor never quit. Our edge guys were flying all around. To hold all that talent to 12 points, that’s a great job by our defense” said North Allegheny head coach Art Walker. The Tigers brought pressure all afternoon forcing Harrisburg quarterback Shawn Lee jr. into situations that weren’t ideal for the Cougars. The Tigers punched their ticket to the 6A title game with a 24-12 win at Mansion Park in Altoona.

We wanted to make sure we ran the ball because they had guys going both ways that would give us fits. We thought once the ground game took over, Logan ran a hell of a game, so did Liam Flaherty, and it worked the clock. When we’re running the ball, their quarterback is playing defense and that is the safest place for him to be for us”. North Allegheny’s run game, led by quarterback Logan Kushner who had 168 yards and 2 td on 24 carries, did indeed keep the Cougar offense off the field. It also took a while for the Tiger offense to get rolling. Field position played a big role for North Allegheny thanks to defense and special teams. On their second possession of the day the Tigers took over on their 40 yard line. A steady diet of Kushner and Tyree Alualu running the ball got the Tigers to the eight, then Alualu went in for the score, giving them a 7-0 lead with 3:29 left in the first quarter.

Once again the Tiger defense did it’s job and forced a punt. Daniel Sellers had a tackle for loss on that Cougar drive. Again with good field position at the 45, Kushner led his team downfield. Evan Lyon pitched in a 27 yard run and the drive ended with a 1 yard td run by Kushner to put North Allegheny up 14-0 with 11:04 left in the second quarter.

Harrisburg head coach Cal Everett agreed with Walker about the Tiger defense. “We just had a hard time just getting things going offensively and that really hurt us. Their defense is fast, strong and relentless”. After forcing another three and punt, the Tigers got a 42 yard field goal from Peter Nataro to close out the first half scoring for NA.

Harrisburg, to their credit, never gave up. After losing their next possession to an interception, the Cougars followed up with an 82 yard touchdown pass from Lee to Quincy Brannon. They didn’t get the point after keeping the score 17-6 at the break.

Known as a second half team this year, Everett said “We wanted to get the ball down the field a little more but their pass rush was just too much for us”.  That really never came to fruition thanks in part to that Tiger running game. On the opening drive of the second half North Allegheny marched 65 yards, a drive aided by a 15 yard personal foul, and Kushner punched the ball over the goal line from 7 yards out to put NA up 24-6 with 8:32 left in the third quarter. Harrisburg managed a late td from Lee to Brannon but it just wasn’t enough for the Cougars.

North Allegheny will face St. Joseph’s Prep next Saturday Night for the PIAA Class 6A title.

 

 

 

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