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Montour Upsets Aliquippa 36-35

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, The Greatest Games Ever Played in PA High School Football History

| October 19, 2024

Game of the year?

Ever since the Aliquippa Quips and the Montour Spartans started playing each other again in 2018, Aliquippa had won every matchup. That changed on Friday night when Montour defeated Aliquippa, 36-35.

Montour senior linebacker Kaleb Platz intercepted Aliquippa junior quarterback Marques Council Jr’s pass attempt on the final play of the game.

Platz scored a rushing touchdown in the first half on a direct snap, completed a pass, caught a handful of passes, blocked an extra point, and had two interceptions in what was a stat sheet stuffing performance.

“We’ve been grinding all year waiting for this game,” Platz said.

After a turnover on downs by Montour, Aliquippa senior running back Tikey Hayes ran 81 yards for a touchdown in what was the first score of the game. Aliquippa went for two and was successful, and they took an 8-0 lead into the second quarter.

Then came three unanswered touchdowns from Montour. Senior wide receiver AJ Alston scored the first on a contested catch in the right corner of the endzone. Senior wide receiver Daniel Batch beat his man deep on what was senior quarterback Trey Hopper’s second touchdown pass. Platz made it 21-8 on his wildcat run.

 



Aliquippa sophomore running back Sa’Nir Brooks found the end zone to make it 21-15 with 3:06 left in the first half, and that remained the score into halftime as Platz secured his first interception of the night to halt a promising Aliquippa drive.

Brooks scored again less than five minutes into the second half, and the potential go-ahead extra point was blocked by Platz.

Aliquippa got the ball back but fumbled and Batch scooped up the fumble for Montour to give them the lead back, 28-21, into the fourth quarter.

One minute into the fourth, Council hit senior wide receiver Arison Walker for a deep touchdown, and Aliquippa completed a two point conversion to take a 29-28 lead.

Montour fumbled and Walker scored again, but the extra point that could have made it an eight point Aliquippa lead was no good.

Walker then intercepted a Hopper pass attempt with 6:40 left in the game.

Off the turnover, Aliquippa was forced to punt, but they forced a Montour turnover on downs to get the ball back with 3:15 remaining on Montour’s 33-yard-line.

On fourth down and three, senior linebacker Nino DiMichele sacked Council to give Montour the ball back with 2:08 left in the game, down 35-28.

With 34 seconds left in the game, junior running back Caden Halajcio scored a touchdown to bring Montour within one point.

An extra point would have tied the game, but Montour head coach Lou Cerro rolled the dice and trotted his offense on the field to go for two and the win.

It paid off, as Hopper found a wide open Alston across the middle to give Montour the 36-35 lead.

 


Aliquippa had time for three plays of offense, but it wasn’t enough as Platz’s second interception of the game sealed the deal for Montour as time expired. To our knowledge, this is Montour’s first win over Aliquippa since 1986. 

 



After suffering their second loss this season and first conference loss since 2019, Aliquippa looks to finish the season strong as they host Ambridge next week.

Montour is looking to pull off their first undefeated regular season since 2010 next week when they host West Allegheny.

 

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