Pine-Richland Breezes by Shaler Area in 44-3 Blowout
Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News
Blake Fuchs | October 26, 2024
Cover photo was taken by @rgt_pics on Instagram.
Gibsonia-There was no issue for Pine-Richland as the Rams easily handled Shaler Area, winning their final regular season game 44-3.
This game essentially was meaningless for both teams. While it was a 5A Northeast Conference game, Pine-Richland had already won the conference and are set to have a top four seed going into the WPIAL playoffs, their only loss of the year coming the previous week against 6A rival North Allegheny. Meanwhile, Shaler Area had been eliminated and before winning last week against Fox Chapel had gone on a 5 game losing streak.
The biggest storyline going into the game was the fact that standout Rams quarterback Aaron “Oobi” Strader was not going to play due to an injury suffered towards the end of the previous week’s loss against North Allegheny. Instead, freshman Carson Campbell would be taking snaps under center, playing for the entirety of the game. Pine-Richland got the ball first and quickly marched into Titans territory off a 27 yard run from workhorse running back Mac Miller, but was stopped after that and sent the field goal unit out. Unfortunately, the 53 yard field goal attempt by senior kicker Grant Argiro would doink off the crossbar to keep the score at zero apiece.
After the missed field goal, Shaler was given a touchback and started their first offensive drive from their 20 yard line. Unfortunately, their luck ran out quickly. Their first play from scrimmage resulted in quarterback Aaron Aversa seemingly throwing the ball behind him while being tackled for what would have been a loss of yards. However, only Pine-Richland defenders were around, and similarly to when the quarterback of another Titans team Will Levis had a similar moment two months ago, they would take it for a touchdown. Sophomore defensive lineman Dajour Webb snatched up the loose ball from the ground and took it to the house, the Seneca Valley transfer giving the Rams their first points of the night. Pine-Richland followed things up with forcing a quick punt from Shaler Area, Aversa connecting with receiver Jonathan Saban to convert a long third down, but didn’t get much of anything afterwards and the Titans punted before they could cross midfield.
Pine-Richland then stormed down the field via two consecutive 20+ yard runs from Miller, slowing down once in Shaler Area territory. Miller was handed the ball off most of the time, but Campbell kept it a couple times himself, showing decent power from the 6’ freshman, pushing through a couple defenders to move the chains on a 3rd and 3 play. Ultimately, Miller got the touchdown, punching in a 5 yard score to go up 14-0 with only a couple seconds left in the first quarter.
Shaler started out the second quarter with an excellent run from Aversa, a 33 yard designed QB run bringing the Titans to their 49 yard line. An unnecessary roughness penalty after the play would tack on 15 extra yards, which gave Shaler Area even better field position. This has been consistently the biggest issue for Pine-Richland, with penalties hurting them in games which both did and did not matter. The Shaler Area drive stalled out around the 25 yard line of Pine-Richland. However, the defense and special teams of Pine-Richland came into play again as the 31 yard field goal attempt would be blocked by junior Grant Pillar and taken by standout receiver, cornerback, and recent West Virginia University offeree Lawrence “Jay” Timmons for the second non-offensive Pine-Richland touchdown of the night.
Things would continue to get better for the Rams and worse for the Titans as their next play from scrimmage sailed high over Aversa’s head. Aversa was able to grab the ball but only in the end zone, and was swarmed by Pine-Richland defenders who forced a safety. The woes continued for Shaler Area as their subsequent punt kickoff was housed by senior Tanner Cunningham, but penalties bit them again as a holding penalty wiped those six points off the board. On the Rams’ next play, Campbell threw a pass into triple coverage and was intercepted by Saban, making the penalty even more painful.
The two teams traded turnovers on downs for the rest of the first half, with Pine-Richland’s lone attempt of points, a 45 yard attempt from Argiro, leading to none being scored in the end. Argiro was surprisingly inaccurate from longer ranges, having the leg power to make almost every attempt (barely) minus the 53 yarder, but missed the previous two as well as a 41 yard attempt in the third quarter. This was the case for extra points, as Argiro did not miss any of those. Shaler Area did make a field goal to conclude the half, scoring what would be their only points of the game from 35 yards out.
Pine-Richland put their foot on the pedal in the second half, starting out with a 33 yard Jalen Neals receiving touchdown. It was a screen play, but Campbell still placed the ball well for Neals who scampered past a couple Titans defenders for the score. Shaler Area attempted to make some positive gains with Aversa and running back Braylon Ronel, who had a few decent runs during the game, but wouldn’t lead to much other than punts at the end of the day.
Miller got a second rushing touchdown to put the Rams two points from mercy rule, bursting his way from 6 yards out. Campbell scored the two point conversion to put the Rams officially up 35 points, keeping his legs churning at the goal line and bouncing off a Shaler Area defender to get in. Campbell scored the final points of the sped-up game as well, powering into defenders and bringing them with him over the goal line to put the Rams up 44-3 towards the end of the game. Campbell was a solid replacement for the injured Strader, and giving him in-game experience was good. He showed solid passing and running competence, and while at points it was evident he was a freshman it’s hard not to disparage that in the long run.
Shaler Area didn’t have much incentive to play this game, and it showed. Aversa and Ronel had a solid run game and Saban along with fellow receiver Braedyn Witkowski had a couple nice receptions, but weren’t really able to put everything together. The Titans have twelve seniors graduating this year but none of the aforementioned players are part of this class, so if they are able to improve with aspects they struggled in such as offensive line play, they can be successful next season.
For Pine-Richland, their goal of surviving without further injuries was successful. They will have a nice break with the bye week next week due to most likely having a top 4 WPIAL playoff seed, and having a home quarterfinal game will help as well. Tonight’s game proved that Oobi Strader is an important part of this Rams team, but if push comes to shove someone like Campbell is able to come in and do a solid enough job. However, a playoff team should be a step up in quality from Shaler Area, and if Pine-Richland is without their star quarterback and they have to play a tough opponent things might get bad.
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