Three Days at the Chap – A Review of the Games and More
Tagged under: News, Playoffs
Phil Myers | December 14, 2022
This past weekend was filled with anxiety. Of course, the coaches and players had that mental anguish one gets when one plays the game, especially on this stage, at that magnitude. The referees never know how things are going to go, but want and need to be on top of their game. The fans, especially parents of players get anxious, not knowing what will happen, but hoping, praying their sons and their sons’ team does well. Then they are those in charge. This year the PIAA moved the state championships for football to Chapman Field (‘The Chap’) on the campus of Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.
The PIAA staff was well prepared and did a real great job as usual. But how did things go at the new facility, with different people to work with? What kind of cooperation was there and what did the players, coaches, fans, and media think? As far as cooperation goes, the weather adhered the contract to be pleasant with no precipitation. Every day was in the upper 40s or low 50s with little wind and no rain or snow. Each night was chilly but bearable, with a bit of wind and no precipitation. Check that box.
The workers, including security at Cumberland Valley, could not have been more cheerfully polite and helpful. When someone, the media or otherwise, had a question or a need, these people kindly gave the answer or tried their best to accommodate the request. Most everything went smoothly with a few glitches, but what big event ever goes off 100% on the button? There was an issue on Friday with the internet connection and the staff of Cumberland Valley worked hard to resolve that problem. Kudos to Cumberland Valley’s A.D. Mike Craig, his staff, and all those whom he got to help make the three days at ‘The Chap’ a pleasant experience. Check that box.
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The coaches and kids seemed to be happy, especially about the locker rooms which were a huge upgrade from the last facility. The fans appeared to be happy as everything was in close proximity and the stadium, although smaller than the last one, it had a more welcome feeling that made one feel like they were almost right on the field and part of the game. The media was definitely excited about the suppers which included beef tips, pasta night (the alfredo sauce was a giant hit), and Dijon chicken. Desserts like cheesecake, brownies, cookies, and pecan pie squares were to die for as the saying goes. Check that box.
Some in the media however, had an issue with the press boxes. Minor details will be worked out and the visitor side box will be completely revamped for next year’s games. Remember too, some in the press always see the glass as half empty. For this old codger, it felt really nice to be warm and not have to wear long johns and a heavy coat because someone refused to turn on the heat in the press box like it had been the past few years. It was refreshing that someone was always checking on the press instead of the press trying to find someone to solve an issue like it was before. Finally, remember this sports fans. It has been duly noted that some media personalities who were denouncing the facilities were not even present at the games! That should tell most people a lot about those self-hyped personalities and their resentment to not only the PIAA, but the kids playing the game.
Let’s take a quick review of each game, factor in a couple of quotes, and maybe throw out a few statistics. Look on the PFN website for the full stories of every game from each team’s angle, whether they won or lost.
Steelton-Highspire 22 Union Area 8 – The game was in doubt until the last half of the 4th quarter when the Rollers came up with a touchdown and a safety to put the game out of reach. The Scotties completely controlled the 1st quarter in yardage and time of possession, but were unable to score. One of the keys to the game was the fact that Union had the ball in the red zone three times in the first half and came away with no points.
Another key to the game was Steelton-Highspire’s defense which clamped down after the opening quarter. They held Union under 200 total yards including 10 plays that went for almost a negative 100 yards. The third key to the game was a young man by the name of Ronald Burnette who ran for all three of Steel High’s TDs and 126 yards.
It was Union Area’s first finals appearance and the fourth for Steelton-Highspire. The Rollers are now 4 for 4 in state championship games. Both teams return over half their offensive and defensive starters including 8 on offense for Steel High. To the rest of the single A teams in the state this can’t be good news for the 2023 season.
The most outstanding quote after the game was by Union Area’s first year coach, Kim Niedbala, “Trust me, I knew what we had here (at Union) with the kids. I didn’t leave a 6A school (Mt. Lebanon) and go to a 1A school just to take a job.”
Bishop McDevitt 41 Aliquippa 18 – To celebrate his 25th year as McDevitt’s head coach, Jeff Weachter finally won that elusive state championship trophy. He’s had some really good teams, but they were beaten by some even better teams. This time around the Crusaders rewarded their coach and school with the victory. It was the Crusaders 2nd state football title. It was the Quips’ 9th appearance in the finals. Their record is now 4-5.
It was a close game after one period. McDevitt led 7-6. By late in the 3rd quarter, it was 34-6 and one Crusader score from a Mercy Rule game. The Quips made sure that didn’t happen, but McDevitt dominated most of the game. The pad-popping game was not well-played, in fact it was sloppy at times. There were 7 turnovers and 21 penalties for 175 yards. Even though Crusader super soph QB Stone Saunders threw 5 touchdown passes (he was intercepted 3 times), the stars of the game were OL/DL Riley Robell and WR Tyshawn Russell. Robell was ‘a beast’ as Saunders said, on both sides of the ball. Whether it was blowing up plays and making tackles on defense or opening holes for Marquese Williams or protecting Saunders on offense, one couldn’t help notice Robell. Russell only caught 4 passes, but they all went for touchdowns. He ended up with 121 receiving yards.
The outstanding quote after the game was from Weachter and what he said he told his Crusaders after losing 34-27 to Aliquippa in the finals last year (2021), “You have 364 days to fix this because we’re going to face them again.” Mike Warfield, Aliquippa’s coach had a really good comment too when he told his team they needed to stay strong after the game, “You’ve got to be a man about this. You’re a man when you win. Sometimes you’ve got to be a man when you lose.”
Southern Columbia 37 Westinghouse 22 – This may have been Jim Roth’s best coaching job in the finals. He and his Southern Columbia Tigers have been in 21 state final games, winning 13. No one has come closer than 25 points in Southern’s previous 12 state final wins. The average point differential was 38 points every time the Tigers won a state championship football game. But this Westinghouse Bulldog team was undefeated, Southern had 3 losses. The Bulldogs averaged 44 points a game and only allowed 8. “This one is probably the most rewarding,” said Roth whose lifetime coaching record at Southern Columbia now stands at 484-67-2.
“We just wanted to win so bad. We worked so hard for this. This is the most rewarding feeling in the world. Everyone doubted us and we proved them wrong,” said Isaac Carter, who not only is the kicker but he volunteered to play defensive end for the playoffs. This is the third straight Southern Columbia senior class that has won the PIAA 2A championship all four of their high school years as the Tigers have now won 6 consecutive title tilts. It was the first championship appearance for Westinghouse, a Pittsburgh City League team out of District 8.
The key to this slobberknocker of a contest was when Southern had a third down and 22, holding on to a precarious one-point lead, 15-14, early in the fourth quarter. That’s when QB Blake Wise hit Braeden Wisloski with a 61-yard touchdown pass. Southern sandwiched a couple more scores around a Westinghouse TD to set the final at 37-22. The Bulldogs gained almost 300 yards against Southern, but the Tigers really could not be stopped as they rushed for over 330 yards on 50 plus carries with Wisloski and Wes Barnes both going over the hundred-yard barrier.
The quotes of the game come from Donta Green, the head coach of Westinghouse, “We didn’t come here to lose, we came to win. You have to respect what they’re doing over there. Their program is amazing. I don’t look at them as villains, I look at them as someone who’s doing a really good job. These kids (Westinghouse) face a lot of adversity outside of football. Whether it is crime or poverty that they see or have to deal with, football is an escape for some of them. I try to make sure that they all keep their grades up in school and continue to become better human beings.”
Pine-Richland 28 Imhotep 14 – If anyone outside of the Pine-Richland coaching staff and players thought the Ram offense would totally dominate a very, very good Imhotep defense they had to peer into the future to reach that conclusion. Even then, the coaches and players probably didn’t think that every drive would end up in the Tep red zone. Six Pine-Richland drives went for three touchdowns, two inside the five, and one to the Panther 14 which ended the game. A bad snap on 4th down and a missed field goal was what happened when the Rams failed to score with the ball inside the 5-yard line.
Imhotep had the scoring bookends. The Panthers drove 88 yards to get on the board first and lead 7-0. Tep also scored last to draw within 28-14 with 7 minutes remaining, but they never saw the ball again.
The game was tied at 7 coming out of the half. That’s when the game turned for good in Pine-Richland’s favor. On the second play from scrimmage, Ryan Palmieri intercepted a pass and raced 40 yards to give the Rams the lead for good. “He made a house call,” said Ram head coach Jon LeDonne.
Palmieri with the help of a dominate offensive line were the keys to the game. You see, Palmieri is the Ram quarterback too. Palmieri rushed for 195 yards and two TDs. He threw for 127 yards and a touchdown by completing 9 of 10 passes. He also scored a third touchdown with his pick six.
It was the Rams 12th straight win after starting the season 1-3. The key to the success from game five on? Ryan Palmieri. He took over the quarterbacking duties and the Rams have been sailing on cloud nine ever since. This was Pine-Richland’s 3rd championship in 4 tries. Imhotep is now 1-6 in the finals.
Quotes of the game were from two of Pine-Richland’s offensive linemen. Ryan Cory said when asked when they knew they had Imhotep, “play one when we gained ten yards.” Jacob Beam said this about Palmieri, “who wouldn’t want to block for him, he’s such a leader.”
Belle Vernon 9 Neumann-Goretti 8 – A desperate goal line stand as time was winding down propelled the Belle Vernon Leopards to their first ever PIAA football championship over another newcomer to the state title game, the Saints of Neumann-Goretti.
With the ball on the 6-inch line, a quarterback sneak by the Saints was stuffed and somewhere along the line the ball squirted loose. Aiden Johnson came out of the pile with the ball to give the Leopards the hard-fought triumph.
An early field goal by Belle Vernon gave them a 3-0 lead, but a little later a bad snap on a Leopard punt resulted in the punter chasing the ball and hurting his knee as he stopped to pick up the ball. As he lay on the ground in the end zone wreathing in pain, Samuel Hobbs picked up the ball for a Neumann-Goretti touchdown. Hobbs scored on the 2-point conversion to give the Saints an 8-3 lead that held until late in the third quarter.
That’s when Braden Laux lofted a little pass to Quinton Martin for a 16-yard touchdown and what turned out to be the game. Right now, Martin is the #1 recruit in Pennsylvania for the class of 2024. The Belle Vernon defense was the key to the game and the main ingredient on that defense was Steve Macheska. He could not be blocked and made many a play against a good Neumann-Goretti offense. Apparently, he used to play defense on a hockey team, so defense is his forte.
The quote of the post-game interviews came from Matt Humbert, Belle Vernon’s head coach, “during that timeout at the end (before the N-G turnover fumble at the goal line) there was this weird feeling. It was like there was this weird aura over the field. I don’t know if it was the football gods, but it was surprisingly calm.”
St. Joes Prep 42 Harrisburg 7 – This game was over at halftime. The Hawks scored on all five of their first half possessions to take a 35-0 lead into the intermission. St. Joes averaged over 18 yards per play in those first two quarters. The Mercy Rule went into effect for the second half. Samaj Jones, who is only a junior, was the game’s offensive MVP. He completed 9 of 10 passes for 264 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also ran for 89 yards, including a 65-yard TD run on the game’s initial play. Josiah Trotter was the defensive MVP as he was all over the field making tackles. If one just watched Trotter on defense, the person with the ball would soon come into focus. It was the St. Joes Hawks’ 7th title in nine tries. Harrisburg is now 0 for 3 in the championship game.
The quote of the game was from Trotter as he said, “I thank God for what we went through last year (losing to Mt. Lebanon in the title game). That made us feel like we had something to prove this year, it gave us that fire.”
Finally, making the new venue experience even greater was the PFN staff. Mike, who explained some Xs and Os in the games that the casual fan wouldn’t know. Jason is like a walking high school football encyclopedia and he takes the best pictures. Ed and Dan working behind the scenes with their computers is just amazing. Shane and Bruce are so fun to talk to with their knowledge and inside info. They do some great work with videos and pictures. Hollywood is always pleasant and is never without a football story to tell, plus he does some fantastic interviews. Then there’s Bill. The guy who can barely walk at times because of arthritis in his ankle, gets up and wonders the sidelines the next day chalking up 8 more miles. He molds all these PFN personalities into a pretty successful media form, whether its reporting on games, recruiting, or streaming a weekly show. Can’t wait for next year!!!
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