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Aliquippa Races Past Selinsgrove to State Final

Tagged under: District 4, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| December 2, 2023

Ebensburg – The Aliquippa Quips are heading to the state championship for the third straight season.

The Quips winning WPIAL and state titles are nothing new, but head coach Mike Warfield reminded his team of the 41-18 loss they suffered to Bishop McDevitt in the state final last season.

“It feels okay,” said Warfield. “Like I just told the team, 12 months ago, we were in the same undefeated position but left that state championship game crying. So we need to get locked in; I’m proud of the kids and how they played tonight. I’m proud of the coaches and how they had the kids prepared. But this isn’t good enough. We don’t want to waste any seconds with these kids. We need to go back to work.”

Unlike last year, District 2’s Dallas Mountaineers will be waiting in Mechanicsburg at Cumberland Valley High School next weekend.

Dallas upset the reigning state champions 26-23 in double overtime – the Mountaineers won the 1993 state title over Washington 31-7 – and lost to Thomas Jefferson 46-7 in 2019.

“When you get to this point, every team is good,” Warfield said. “We can’t favor playing one team over another. I know Dallas is going to be prepared. So we need to make sure we’re ready to go.”

Aliquippa now has a chance to do something that no prior Quips team has done – go undefeated and win a state championship.

“No Aliquippa team has ever gone undefeated and won it all,” said Warfield. “That’s what we’re going to try and do; we know it’s going to be tough.”

One week following their 20th WPIAL title, Aliquippa didn’t have any lag or letdown, scoring on their first five possessions to open up a 32-13 halftime lead.

The Quip’s two-headed monster in the backfield of running backs Tiqwai Hayes and Jon Tracy combined to rush for a whopping 429 yards and five touchdowns.

“You never know who is going to explode,” said Warfield. “Jon Tracy didn’t have the game he wanted to against McKeesport. You could see it in his eyes tonight. He kept us alive; he made some great runs, including that last one. He’s very talented, and I’m proud of how he played tonight.”

Penn State recruit Hayes got the ball rolling for Aliquippa as he scored on a 24-yard run, capping an 8-play 92-yard drive; following a successful onside kick – it was Tracy’s turn as he scored on a 42-yard run less than a minute later.

 

Tiqwai Hayes rushed for 161 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns. He briefly left the game in the third quarter with an injury but returned to the contest.

Selinsgrove then got on the board with a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Mark Pastore late in the first quarter following a 14-play 63-yard drive.

The two schools continued the back-and-fourth into the second stanza as the Quips’ DeMarkus Walker hauled in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Quentin Goode, succeeding a 69-yard 7-play drive.

The Seals closed to within 18-13 with 5:39 to play in the first half when Selinsgrove went on another long touchdown drive with Ethan Miller’s 15-yard pass from Pastore. Tailback Tucker Teats ran a fake punt for a 16-yard gain during the 11-play 74-yard march.

 

Just over a minute later, Hayes scored for the second time as he ripped off a 54-yard run – on the Seal’s ensuing snap, they lost a fumble at their 9-yard line, leading to Quentin Goode’s 9-yard scramble three plays later, pushing the Aliquippa lead to 32-13.

“Early on, it was the unforced errors that cost us,” said Selinsgrove head coach Derek Hicks. “Not being able to recover the onside kick and giving them the short field with the bad snap. We handed them some points early on, and when you’re playing a team like Aliquippa, you can’t make mistakes, let alone unforced errors.”

In the third quarter, a slight rain began, and so did the turnovers. The Quips lost a fumble on their initial drive at their 40-yard line, which was the same play Hayes was shaken up on.

“I know Tiqwai pretty well,” said Warfield. “He was hurt slightly, but I knew he’d be back. I wasn’t going to keep him out when we knew he was healthy to go back in. It’s win or go home. I knew he’d be fine once he got back on his feet.”

Selinsgrove drove inside the ten before Miller coughed the ball up around the 5-yard line, with the Quips taking over at their 12.

Nine plays later, Tracy raced 40 yards for a touchdown; Arison Walker then intercepted a Pastore pass at the Seal’s 35-yard line, leading to Goode and Walker hooking up again from 24 yards out.

“Overall, I thought our secondary played well,” Hicks said. “I thought we were effective against the passing game, but Hayes is a 4-star Penn State recruit for a reason, and he lived up to that hype tonight. When he was out, Tracy came in, and he was just as good. He ran hard and was impressed with their patience in letting blocks set up. Their two running backs were as advertised and did a great job.”

Aliquippa led 45-13 after three quarters.

The first of three fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Seals came when Miller scored on a 1-yard run with 10:53 to play following a 40-yard drive.

Twenty-six seconds later, Jon Tracy capped a remarkable evening when he raced 93 yards for a touchdown. Tracy ran for a game-high 268 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns.

“This game was a huge bounce-back game for me,” Tracy said. “I felt like I didn’t do what I was supposed to do last week. Personally, I felt like I should have been scoring and touching the ball more. Tonight, I got the ball more and was able to show what I could do. That 93-yarder had me gassed. It was great blocking by my teammates. Tiqwai and I assist each other well. He hits them up and middle, and I care for the outside stuff.”

Selinsgrove scored the game’s final touchdowns as Tucker Teats scored on a 2-yard run, and Ethan Miller scored his third touchdown when he found pay dirt on a 2-yard run against the Quips junior varsity defense.

“They’re a tough team; they reminded us a lot of Jersey Shore that we played a couple of years back,” Warfield said. “They gave us a run, and tonight they had a couple drives. Their running backs and their quarterback are good players. I have a lot of respect for their coach. He’s a good man.”

The Seal’s offense was no slouch either, as both Teats and Miller rushed for over 100 yards, with Teats carrying the ball 27 times for 107 and Miller 18 times for 145.

“Both of those guys had nice games,” Hicks said. “Miller is a tough nut; he runs hard, and everything he does is full speed. Tucker gutted it out tonight. He was playing on a bum hamstring he hurt last week. You could see sometimes tonight he didn’t have the burst he normally does on that leg, but he’s a senior and gritted it out, and I thought he played very well.”

Selinsgrove concludes an outstanding 2023 campaign at 13-1-1.

“This group is special,” concluded Hicks. “I told them after the game that they finished at 13-1-1, which is, I believe, the second-best record in school history. The number of individual team records they set for the football program is outstanding. It’s a great group of seniors. They worked hard – everything they got, they earned.”

Game Highlights:

Aliquippa 52 Selinsgrove 32

Score by Quarters

Aliquippa – 12 20 13 7 – 52
Selinsgrove – 7 6 0 19 – 32

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

A – Tiqwai Hayes 24 yd run, (kick failed), 8:46 – 6-92

A – Jon Tracy 42 yd run, (pass failed), 7:56 – 3-46

S – Mark Pastore 1 yd run, (Carter Young pat), 2:26 – 14-63

Second Quarter

A – DeMarkus Walker 27 yd pass Quentin Goode, (pass failed), 10:43 – 7-69

S – Ethan Miller 15 yd pass from Pastore, (kick blocked), 5:39 – 11-74

A – Hayes 54 yd run, (rush failed), 4:09 – 4-80

A – Goode 9 yd run, (Walker from Goode), 2:45 – 3-9

Third Quarter

A – Tracy 40 yd run, (rush failed), 5:36 – 9-88

A – Walker 24 yd pass from Goode, (kick good), 3:23 – 4-35

Fourth Quarter

S – Miller 1 yd run, (Young pat), 10:53 – 9-40

A – Tracy 93 yd run, (kick good), 10:27 – 2-94

S – Tucker Teats 2 yd run, (kick failed), 7:11 – 8-56

S – Miller 2 yd run, (kick failed), 3:30 – 4-48

Individual Stats

Rushing: A – Hayes 13-161, Tracy 16-268, Goode 1-9, Clester Longmire 1-0, Jayace Williams 1-15, Cameron Lindsey 1-3, Tekoah Gilbert 1-2, Avery Coleman 2-4, Keon Lee 4-0. Totals: 40-462. S – Tucker Teats 27-107, Miller 18-145, Pastore 8-(-31), Brett Rice 2-3. Totals: 55-224.

Receiving: A – Lindsey 1-1, Josh Lay 1-16, Walker 3-63, Cincre McCraken 1-10. S – Miller 2-39, Gavin Bastian 6-67, Caleb Hicks 2-26, Teats 1-31,

Passing: A – Goode 6-for-10, 80 yards, 2 TD. S – Pastore 11-for-17, 163 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT.

Interceptions: A – Justus Starks, Arison Walker.

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