Shady Side trying to Continue Cinderella Story against Avonworth

Tagged under: District 7, News, Playoffs, Podcasts

Nate Grella | November 17, 2022

The Cinderella story is something that can be common in Pennsylvania High School football, however nothing is common between the Avonworth Antelopes and Shady Side Academy Bulldogs seasons.

Heading into the year, the Avonworth Antelopes were expected to be right at the top of the 3A WPIAL standings. They met those expectations. Three years removed from winning the 2A WPIAL championship and running all the way to Hershey, the Lopes went 9-1 in the regular season, with their only loss coming to 4A powerhouse Central Valley.

The Lopes come into the semifinal matchup with one of the top QBs in the WPIAL in multi-year starter Nate Harper. Harper is averaging 133 yards through the air for the Antelopes and he has a deep stable of RBs and WRs to lean on as well. Luke Hilyard, Brandon Biagiarelli and Luke Hollywood have all been key contributors in the ground game while Andrew Kuban, Austin Johncour and Peyton Faulkner all have more than 230 yards through the air.

Then there’s Shady Side Academy. Going into the playoffs, no one outside of South Braddock Avenue thought that the Bulldogs would make a run and have a shot to make their first WPIAL semifinal since 2008. After taking care of South Park in the first round, Shady Side nearly doubled up the 3rd ranked Elizabeth Forward Warriors coming off of a bye, shutting down the Warrior’s talented passing attack in the rain. All this without their starting quarterback, Max Wickland. Joey Bellinotti has stepped up and done an amazing job carrying the ball and the team.

It’s been the defense for Shady Side this year, as the Bulldogs allow only 14 points a game on average. The only team that scored more than three touchdowns against the Bulldogs this season were those Elizabeth Forward Warriors in their regular season matchup. Noah Yeh, Nate Ewell and company are a tough bunch.

It’s hard to imagine that just three years ago, both of these teams were in the 2A WPIAL playoffs, now at 3A, both are looking to make a little history. For the Lopes, a trip to Acrisure would make their first trip to the Championship in a new classification. For the Bulldogs, it would make their first since 1998.

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