North Allegheny defeats Central Catholic, wins second 6A title in two years

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Ethan Spozarski | November 19, 2023

For the second straight year, both North Allegheny and Central Catholic battled it out for the 6A title and it was as close as expected.

Central Catholic’s Xxavier Thomas opened up the game with a 99-yard kickoff return. Unfortunately, The Vikings missed the extra-point, but led 6-0. 

XXAVIER THOMAS OPENS THE GAKE WITHA 99 YARD KICK RETURN TOUCHDOWN. @PCC_FOOTBALL leads @nafootball_tfl 7-0 with 11:46 in Q1. Wow@PFNBackyard @PaFootballNews

— Dean Shazer — the son (@DeanShazer2) November 18, 2023

North Allegheny did not waste any time. Kushner threw a long TD pass to Khiryn Boyd to take the lead 7-6. 

The scoring streak continued when Central Catholic would get a TD from Cole Sullivan. The Vikings led 13-7, only eight minutes into the first quarter.

The Central Catholic defense then would force the Tigers to turn the ball over on downs. The North Allegheny defense did the same and forced the Vikings to punt the ball as well. 

The Kushner Boyd connection struck again, this one from 57-yards out and the Tigers took the lead, 14-13 with under a minute left in the first quarter. 

Elijah Faulkner scored a short rushing TD off of a long Peyton Wehner, Peter Gonzalez reception. The Vikings took the lead back 20-13. This would be the last time Central Catholic led in the game.

Kushner ran for a 39-yard touchdown, followed by a James Donaldson diving interception allowing the Tigers to get the ball back and Kushner got his second rushing TD. The Tigers now led 28-20 with 6:58 left in the first half. 

KUSHNER AGAIN. This time from 7 out.
6:58 left in the first half. @nafootball_tfl 28@PCC_FOOTBALL 20@PFNBackyard @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/5hc0j9UuB8

— Dean Shazer — the son (@DeanShazer2) November 19, 2023

Tyree Alualu continued the great Tiger defensive efforts, as he forced a fumble, then recovered it to give North Allegheny the ball once again. Kushner on that drive got his third rushing touchdown in the quarter and game with only 28 seconds left in the half. 

North Allegheny received the second half kickoff and held onto the ball for 10+ minutes with the drive resulting in a blocked field goal. A few plays later Faulker found the endzone for a second time cutting the lead down to seven.

After only two drives, this game went to the fourth quarter. 

North Allegheny opened up the fourth quarter with a field goal putting the lead back at 10. However, that lead was cut back down to three when Vernon Settles caught a pass in the endzone for the Vikings. 

The ball was kicked back to North Allegheny with just under five minutes left in the game, and Kushner for the fourth time and put the dagger in the VIkings. Despite, the Vikings driving down the field and scoring, the Tigers recover the onside kick and became back-to-back 6A WPIAL champions. 

NORTH ALLEGHENY IS YOUR 6A WPIAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER IN BACK TO BACK YEARS. @nafootball_tfl 44@PCC_FOOTBALL 41@PaFootballNews @PFNBackyard pic.twitter.com/cEru2yPsof

— Dean Shazer — the son (@DeanShazer2) November 19, 2023

With this win North Allegheny heads onto the PIAA. 6A State playoffs and will host their first round game.

ROUND 1:

NORTH ALLEGHENY vs MCDOWELL

Either Friday or Saturday November 24th or 25th

Game Photos:

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