Quips dream of undefeated season crushed by Central Valley

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

PFN Staff | October 28, 2019

Mark Ross

Over the years Aliquippa & Central Valley has developed into quite a rivalry when Central Valley was known as Center High School. Those years saw the Quips dominate as far as overall records in head to head competition, but since the merger that created the Central Valley School District 10 years ago these Warriors have taken the rivalry to a whole new level, and been able to win some very important games against Aliquippa but none as big as this past Friday evening.

Behind an explosive offense led by Junior quarterback Ameer Dudley, and a big play defense led by Reed Fitzsimmons, Central Valley claimed the 3A Tri County West Section Title by blowing out Aliquippa 45-6. “This game was huge for us to come in here on their home field, we knew we had to play physical and set the tone – the first turnover was big, for us, to get it then go down and score was huge.” said senior lineman and linebacker Reed Fitzsimmons. “We knew what we had to do just come in here play our game and shut them down. We have great athletes on both sides that can make plays, it was a total team effort to do what we did tonight.”

Central Valley capitalized on three Aliquippa turnovers early that put the Quips in a hole they couldn’t climb out of, including a fumble recovery by Fitzsimmons that was returned 24 yards for the 3rd TD of the game. “I don’t get to score to many, it was exciting, (Michael) Barbuto tried to get it, he scooped it to me, I picked it up and took it in.” said Fitzsimmons. To put the game more into perspective of the Central Valley’s dominance consider that Aliquippa’s defense only gave up an average of 15 yards rushing per game this season, Friday night the Warriors had over 150 rushing, while Dudley threw for 142 yards and 2 TD passes.

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