PIAA Class 6A Title game preview: North Allegheny

Tagged under: District 7, News, Playoffs

Shane Lux | December 8, 2023

North Allegheny v St. Joseph’s Prep Saturday, 7pm

NORTH ALLEGHENY

PIAA District: WPIAL (D7)

Head Coach: Art Walker Jr

How they got here:

The Tigers are a team that, for a while, many had as the #2 team in the WPIAL. Central Catholic held the #1 spot…for a while. Following a midseason thumping to the Vikings, North Allegheny seemed to wake up. Central Catholic fell asleep at the wheel and lost to 5A Penn Hills. SWAP! Just like that the Tigers, led by Logan Kushner, were the favorites (at least in our eyes). You knew it was coming. The battle. And it’s a battle that North Allegheny won, albeit a very close win. Then wins over McDowell and a dominant win over D3 powerhouse Harrisburg put them in the title game. This team has all the elements to make a run at the perennial 6A champs, but they’ll need to play a complete game to have a shot.

2023 SCHEDULE.

Keys on offense:
Ball control. Long sustaining drives that end with scores. The Tigers need to keep the ball out of the hands of that explosive, senior laden SJP team.

Protect Kushner. They’ll need to give the quarterback time to find an open receiver on pass plays against a stellar Hawks backfield. Khyrin Boyd will need to run his best routes ever.

Establish the run. Again it’s on the line and fullback Aiden Buggey to stand tough and create enough of a gap for Kushner and Alualu to get into space.

Keys on defense:

Don’t give up the home run. Boyd, Lyon and Humphrey will need to play their best and not let anyone get past them. At the same time the linebackers can’t let the SJP run game consistently get huge chunks of yards.

Turnovers. The Tigers will need to win this battle. Plain and simple. If SJP doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score.

Discipline. Don’t do someone else job. If they aren’t doing their job, tell coach an adjustment needs made. Everyone has to stay home.

STARTING LINEUP:

OFFENSE NAME
LT CAMERON CHMURA or RYAN LOGAN
LG JOE BOOTH
C RYAN RANALLO
RG LINCOLN HOKE
RT JACK YATCHENKO
TE DANIEL SELLERS
WR JAMES DONALDSON / COLEMAN CRAFT
WR EVAN LYON / BRADY MEYER
WR KHYRIN BOYD
FB AIDEN BUGGEY or KYLE LANGDON
TB TYREE ALUALU or LIAM FLAHERTY
QB LOGAN KUSHNER
DEFENSE NAME
DE DANIEL SELLERS
DE AIDEN BUGGEY
DL CAMERON CHMURA or LINCOLN HOKE
DL JACK YATCHENKO
LB LIAM FLAHERTY
LB TYREE ALUALU
LB KYLE LANGDON / DYLAN LANGDON
DB JAMES DONALDSON
DB KHYRIN BOYD
DB NICHLOLAS HUMPHREY
DB EVAN LYON
SPECIALISTS NAME
LS SCHELL
RET BOYD / LYONS / CRAFT
K NOTARO
P VAN WINKLE

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