North Allegheny Knocks Off Unbeaten Pine-Richland In 28-21 Win

Tagged under: District 7, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub, News

Blake Fuchs | October 19, 2024

Cover photograph and gallery photos 3, 5, 7, 9-10, & 12 were taken by mark.shot.that on Instagram. Gallery photos 4, 6, 8, 11, & 13-16 were taken by rgt_pics on Instagram. Photos 1 & 2 were taken by @CCHastings 1863 on X.

Wexford-The rushing attack was on display from both sides as North Allegheny would take a big 28-21 win against Pine-Richland in an exciting rivalry game.

This game was an important one for North Allegheny. Not only because it was a big rivalry game, but also due to the fact that they really hadn’t had any big wins yet. Four of their wins were against fellow WPIAL 6A teams, but Hempfield Area, Norwin, Mount Lebanon, and Canon-McMillan all did not and still do not have winning records. The only other 6A team with a winning record was Central Catholic, who the Tigers lost to 27-14, and going toe to toe with 4-4 Penn Hills was not a good look, as the Vikings and Indians had both lost to Pine-Richland earlier in the season. With a win, North Allegheny could prove themselves as a contender and get their first statement win.

For Pine-Richland, the stakes weren’t as important but still did matter overall. For starters, North Allegheny was the team’s last regular season loss, getting blown out 45-10 in an embarrassing away game. Now they would have to head back to Newman Stadium to redeem themselves and maintain their 7 game unbeaten streak, with only 8-0 Upper St. Clair having the other 5A WPIAL undefeated record left. North Allegheny seemed fraudulent, so all the Rams needed to do was prove that fraudulence then coast to the playoffs, the 5A Northeast Conference clinched and a first round playoff bye on the horizon.

To start out, things looked to be in favor of Pine-Richland. It would only take 7 plays for the Rams to march 80 yards down the field and score with a 31 yard touchdown run from junior running back Mac Miller. North Allegheny would have a 3 and out, a long pass from quarterback Brady Brinkely being broken up to force the Tigers to punt. 

Scoring would stall out for a while after that, North Allegheny having the best chance to score off a 40 yard field goal attempt from Alabama commit Peter Notaro, but he would send it wide left in a rare miss and the score would stay the same. This was followed up by a dropped touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Aaron “Oobi” Strader to junior Jalen Neals, who had the ball for a couple steps in open space and a near guaranteed, but it would instead fall to the turf for an incompletion. 

Two drives would lead to punts until the second quarter, where North Allegheny would get their first points on the board from a long Brinkley pass to receiver James Donaldson, who would be the main receiver target for Brinkley. The Brinkley-Donaldson connection would lead to the Tigers scoring on their following drive, but the score would stay even going into halftime. Sandwiched in between the two Donaldson touchdowns Miller would notch one of his own, taking a direct snap inside the 5 yard line. 

The running game was the biggest factor of the contest, as on both sides quarterback and running back could run it themselves, with Strader and Miller on Pine-Richland’s side and Brinkley and junior Luke Rohan for North Allegheny. Both quarterbacks seemed to prefer keeping it themselves versus passing, with Brinkley passing it more often than Strader due to more designed screen plays. Rohan and Miller were both good power backs, being able to run up the middle and break through tackles. Miller would open up scoring in the second half, the Rams’ first drive starting at the North Allegheny 30 due to a great 35 yard punt return from senior return specialist Tanner Cunningham. 

Fumbles would be a key aspect of the game, as North Allegheny’s next best attempt at a score would be negated by Brinkley, who was set to get a 12 yard score but lost the football on the one yard line, which the Pine-Richland defense was able to pounce on. This was the third fumble of the game, as an issue the past couple of games for Pine-Richland reared its ugly head again. Miller lost the ball twice in the first half, both drives not getting points. Strader was able to get a significant chunk of yardage on the Rams’ first play from the 1 yard line, showing his elusiveness and speed, cutting and slicing past defenders to pick up 37 yards before being taken out by a rough hit from a North Allegheny defensive player. He would briefly lose possession of the ball in that same drive, but quickly grabbed it again and kept going. 

Throughout the game, Strader seemed to have a different plan of attack compared to previous games. He would rarely pass the ball, and sometimes was inaccurate when taking to the air. This is something we have seen from him, but if he is mostly doing read options it does make more sense to hand it off to Miller or keep it himself, as in a few passing scenarios he had to attempt to make a play himself. Brinkley had a similar methodology on North Allegheny’s side, the passing game being only used with designed rollout screens to Donaldson or senior Dylan Langdon, though Brinkley did make a few deep shot attempts. This mindset makes sense for both quarterbacks who are still sophomores, as giving them time to develop their passing game is important and not relying too much on their arms initially is good. Brinkley, like Strader, had no issue taking it himself on the ground game, indicated by a 78 yard fourth quarter touchdown run where he would shake off multiple Pine-Richland defenders to tie the game at 21. 

Things would not get much better for Pine-Richland as they wouldn’t even get the ball again after Cunningham caught the fumble bug from Strader, giving up the football to North Allegheny at the Pine-Richland 35 in the only case of a kickoff return during the entire game. Langdon would get a receiving touchdown to give the Tigers their first lead with 4:10 remaining in the game. Would a possibly game-tying drive be in store for Strader and Pine-Richland?

After the touchback from Notaro and the Rams offense trotted out to their own 20 yard line, a few questions arose as to the plan of attack for the offense. Would they keep it on the ground with Miller and Strader? Utilize the passing game with receivers Cunningham, Neals, Jay Timmons, Eli Wentz, and Tyler Hays? Some combination of the two?

As these speculations started floating around, a more important question started being asked as everyone looked at the Pine-Richland offense heading onto the field: Where was Oobi Strader? 

At this collective moment, the hearts of every single Pine-Richland fan sunk and every North Allegheny fan’s heart did the exact opposite. As everyone looked to the Rams sideline, they saw the number 1 standing on the sideline with his helmet off. On the field the number 17 was now behind center. Strader would not be finishing the game, possibly getting injured from the hit at the end of his 37 yard run. Instead, freshman Carson Campbell took the last four offensive snaps for Pine-Richland’s offense, which would lead to a punt after a costly penalty. Penalties were an issue for the Rams, giving up multiple personal foul flags that North Allegheny would capitalize, such as multiple offensive plays getting essentially called back and giving the Tigers a first quarter first down they would use to score their first points. This has been a consistent issue for Pine-Richland throughout this year, and in this case it, along with multiple others, was the reason for their loss. 

North Allegheny needed a statement win, and they got it. Scoring 14 unanswered to finish the game and knocking off one of two unbeaten WPIAL 5A teams left sends a message to the one or two actual contenders for the WPIAL 6A title. It proves that they can be competitive when it matters, and the Brinkley-Donaldson matchup should be a good one to watch going forward. The Tigers play their last home game next week against the only 6A team they have not played yet, 4-4 Seneca Valley, then will gear up for WPIAL playoff action as they have already clinched a spot in the four team battle and look set to make a championship appearance.

Pine-Richland had a nightmare game. They were competitive and played well, but the late game collapse and penalties made up the worst issues from this game. Additionally, if Strader is out long-term this could be terrible news for them. Campbell or fellow freshman backup quarterback Cooper Stiscak have played this year and are competent, but if things aren’t sorted out things could get ugly come playoffs. Fortunately for them, up next week is a home game against 5A Northeast Conference bottomfeeder Shaler. They have also already clinched a WPIAL 5A playoff spot and probably will get a first-round bye and a home quarterfinal game. If things are able to be cleared up by then, there is still some hope of playoff success for this Rams team. Things do not look good, though.

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