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North Allegheny Falls to St. Joe’s Prep in 6A Final

Tagged under: District 12, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| December 10, 2023

Mechanicsburg – North Allegheny gave St. Joe’s Prep their best effort, but in the end, the Tigers fell to the Hawks 45-23 in the PIAA 6A final.

Making their first state final appearance since 2012, coupled with a WPIAL championship -North Allegheny has a lot to be proud of with their 2023 campaign.

In the end, the Tigers fell to a St. Joe’s Prep squad that featured 19 players with at least one Divison 1 offer and saw the Hawks win their eighth state title and second in a row.

“We wanted to be in the game, fight, and battle,” said North Allegheny head coach Art Walker. “I’m proud of my guys’ effort and how they fought for the entire game. They’re good everywhere: on offense, defense, and special teams. It’s a tough thing to prepare for. We’re extremely proud of our guys for making it to this point. We’re disappointed that we didn’t win it, and we should be. We set a standard to get here and win. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. We’re still proud of our guys. It was a magical season.”

Prep quarterback Samaj Jones, a Cincinnati recruit, had a hand in five touchdowns as the Hawks built a 24-0 first-half lead.

St. Joe’s took the football and the lead when Jones scored on a 1-yard run following a 12-play 72-yard drive to open the contest.

Later in the first quarter, Jones ran a read-option 41 yards for a touchdown, giving the Hawks a 14-0 lead after a quarter.

“I haven’t seen a guy run the zone read and pull it that late in person in a long time,” Walker said. “He’s darn good at that; we thought we had the back dead to rights, and then he pulls the ball out. But he’s good, a physical downhill runner. He’s the best we’ve seen, and a guy like that is hard to emulate.”

On the initial snap of the second stanza, Isaiah West scored on a 22-yard run – a few plays later, Anthony Sacca intercepted a Logan Kushner pass that was deflected, and Skyler Sholder booted a 41-yard field goal, giving Prep a 24-0 lead.

North Allegheny would get their offense moving in the second quarter and scored their first touchdown on Logan Kushner’s 5-yard run following a 7-play 58-yard drive.

Any momentum the Tigers may have had disappeared on the next snap from scrimmage when Elijah Jones caught a short pass from Samaj Jones and raced down the far sideline for an 80-yard touchdown.

“Their team speed on both sides of the ball is tough to defend,” said Walker. “You can’t take it all away at once.”

The Tigers would score again, driving 59 yards in ten plays with Peter Notaro connecting on a 34-yard field goal.

Brandon Rehmann then returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the Tigers’ 12-yard line before finishing off the drive with a 13-yard pass from Jones with 1:07 left in the first half.

St. Joe’s led 37-10 at halftime.

Mid-way through the third quarter, Prep put the mercy clock into effect when Jones scored his third rushing touchdown of the night from four yards out following a 78-yard drive.

Samaj Jones rushed for 124 yards on 12 carries while completing 14-of-17 passes for 233 yards and five total touchdowns.

North Allegheny fought to the end, scoring a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Daniel Sellers capped an 11-play 80-yard drive with a 1-yard as the senior made his lone carry of the evening a special moment.

“Sellers is a special player,” Walker said. “He’s one of the best two-way guys in the state. Richmond has a gold mine. This was an impressive year by him.”

With just over five minutes to play, Khiryn Boyd caught a 52-yard touchdown pass from Kushner against the Hawks reserves to close the scoring.

Logan Kushner completed 11-of-28 passes for 185 yards with a touchdown and an interception while rushing for 76 yards and a score – he also caught one pass for 34 yards. Boyd caught five passes for 94 yards with a touchdown.

“What Logan has done for us in three years has been remarkable,” said Walker. “He’s been one of the best quarterbacks I’ve had since I’ve been a head coach.”

North Allegheny finishes their season with a 13-2 record and a WPIAL championship.

“The last thing I wanted to do is sound like I’m crying the blues about something,” Walker concluded. “I get it. There’s definitely some frustration. You work hard to get here, then you almost step back and say, “Wait, who are we playing? They have a full team where nobody goes both ways. We’re a community high school team with guys going both ways. But that’s how things are in states right now, and we have to deal with it.”

Game Highlights:

 

St. Joe’s Prep 45 North Allegheny 23

Score by Quarters

North Allegheny – 0 10 0 13 – 23

St. Joe’s Prep – 14 23 8 0 – 45

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

SJP – Samaj Jones 1 yd run, (Skyler Sholder pat), 7:45 – 12-72

SJP – Jones 41 yd run, (Sholder pat), 4:15 – 5-62

Second Quarter

SJP – Isaiah West 22 yd run, (Sholder pat), 11:53 – 5-41

SJP – Sholder 41 yd field goal, 9:17 – 5-11

NA – Logan Kushner 5 yd run, (Nick Van Winkle pat), 6:04 – 7-58

SJP – Elijah Jones 80 yd pass from Jones, (Sholder pat), 5:52 – 1-80

NA – Peter Notaro 34 yd field goal, 2:23 – 10-59

SJP – Brandon Rehmann 13 yd pass from Jones, (kick failed), 1:07 – 2-12

Third Quarter

SJP – Jones 4 yd run, (2-point good), 5:45 – 9-78

Fourth Quarter

NA – Daniel Sellers 1 yd run, (rush failed), 7:40 – 11-80

NA – Khiryn Boyd 52 yd pass from Kushner, (Van Winkle pat), 5:17 – 1-52

Individual Stats:

Rushing: NA – Kushner 14-76, Boyd 1-19, Liam Flaherty 3-16, Tyree Alualu 6-4, Sellers 1-1. Totals: 25-116. SJP – Samaj Jones 12-124, Erik Sanchez 8-44, Taj Dyches 5-25, West 2-23, David Washington 1-20, Khaseem Phillips 4-8, Rehmann 1-0, Team 1-(-1). Totals: 34-243.

Receiving: NA – Boyd 5-94, Evan Lyon 2-39, Kushner 1-34, Brady Meyer 1-26, Alualu 1-18, Flaherty 2-8. SJP – Elijah Jones 4-119, Rehmann 5-72, Sanchez 1-18, Washington 3-13, Rameir Hardy 1-11.

Passing: NA – Kushner 11-for-28, 185 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, Lyon 1-for-1, 34 yards. SJP – Samaj Jones 14-for-17, 233 yards, 2 TD.

Interceptions: SJP – Anthony Sacca.

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