Pine-Richland Dominates Greater Latrobe in Assertive 42-0 Win
Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Blake Fuchs | October 12, 2024
Gibsonia-The unbeaten streak continues for Pine-Richland who easily handled opponent Greater Latrobe 42-0.
This year has been a successful one for the Rams. Clinching both a WPIAL playoff spot and the 5A Northeast Conference last week after a 31-21 win against Penn Hills was great news, and their previous games before that have been smooth sailing, with blowout wins against conference opponents Fox Chapel and Plum. With their eyes set towards the future on the playoffs, this would hopefully be an easy win for them.
On the other side of the ball, Greater Latrobe has had a mixed bag of a 2024 campaign. They sat at a 4-3 record, but that didn’t paint the entire picture. Their 4 wins are against 2-5 Connellsville, 2-6 Plum, 1-5 Norwin, and 2-5 Armstrong. Even worse, last week’s game against 2-5 Kiski Area was an embarrassing 36-13 loss. They are still in the hunt for a wild card 5A Big East Conference win, and a victory against the unbeaten Rams would be huge.
If there was any indication of how this game would go, the two sides agreed on 10 minute quarters instead of the original 12 minutes, shaving an extra 8 minutes off the whole game clock. Whether Greater Latrobe was expecting to lose badly and wanted to get it over with or Pine-Richland also wanted to get things done early is unclear, but perhaps a combination of both led to the reduction in game time.
To start out, things did not necessarily go Pine-Richland’s way. Their first drive from scrimmage would lead to a fumble off a jet sweep attempt between quarterback Aaron “Oobi” Strader and wide receiver Eli Wentz, which the Wildcat defense pounced on. This would give Greater Latrobe prime field position inside the 30 yard line. They would primarily stick to the run game due to the season-ending surgery to Penn State junior commit Andy Tatsch, using the legs of quarterback John Wetzel and running back Brady Prohovic. However, Pine-Richland’s defense was able to stop the Greater Latrobe offense on the one yard line, which was good and bad, considering the possibility of a safety. But instead of handing the ball off to their workhorse junior running back Mac Miller, Strader would take to the pass attack, something that was used minimally the previous week against Penn Hills. The first pass was incomplete, but the second connected with senior Tanner Cunningham, who outran the cornerback covering him to go 99 yards for the score. Message sent loud and clear.
Compared to previous games, Pine-Richland had a more balanced offense in terms of play calling. Establishing the run game with Miller then going to passes seemed to be their main strategy. Strader threw the ball much more than in previous games, including the 99 yard passing touchdown and a follow-up 10 yard touchdown throw, keeping his eyes downfield on the option to connect with junior Tyler Hays to extend their lead to 14 and a 20 yard pass to Jalen Neals to add on another 7 points to finish the half. Neals has been a more consistent part of the Pine-Richland after subbing in for the injured Miller for Pine-Richland’s game against North Hills, and now has seen reps in a small rotation with Miller for runs as well as time as a receiver, such as on the 20 yard touchdown. His route which included a spin move to get open on the score shows he has what it takes to be a contributing factor in the Rams offense.
Lawrence “Jay” Timmons was the main target for Strader during the game. Timmons had an interesting game, especially after his standout game last week against Penn Hills. He had a couple missed opportunities for a big play in the third quarter, with a touchdown chance that slipped through his hands followed by a near interception which looked nearly identical to the dropped touchdown. However, Timmons would quickly redeem himself with a 33 yard reception to set up the Rams inside Greater Latrobe territory followed by a 12 yard receiving touchdown to put Pine-Richland up 28-0. Timmons would then force a fumble off a Hetzel run and recover the ball, taking it 68 yards for a scoop and score, his second defensive touchdown this year after a pick six in the previous week’s game. Timmons has cemented his place as a valuable asset in the Rams offense and defense, and his field presence has been elevated as of recently.
After the Timmons fumble recovery, the mercy rule went into effect and the starters on both sides would be phased out. While the Greater Latrobe offense wasn’t able to get too much going, it’s not to say they didn’t try. Wetzel showed a strong ability to run the ball, the Marshall commit took the majority of the snaps himself and if had not lost the ball to Timmons, would have had a solid run for about 20 yards. Prohovic also had a similarly solid game, being able to grab chunks of yards up the gut on occasion. While there weren’t many first downs gained by the Wildcats, they still had a commendable offense and it’s unclear how much the passing game would have been used with Tatsch.
Even with backups playing, Pine-Richland was still able to get some points on the board. Freshman Carson Campbell would replace Strader under center, and was able to complete multiple passing attempts that were albeit short but still good throws nevertheless. It was a good opportunity for Campbell to get some in-game reps in, as fellow freshman Cooper Stiscak had been checking into the game previously. Senior Dayne Wilden would score the final points of the game. Wilden normally plays just on the defensive side of the ball for Pine-Richland, but he would take a 23 yard handoff for six, knifing past a couple defenders to get in.
Penalties were a slight issue for both sides. The game was relatively clean, but in a couple instances a team would get a flag that would set them back. The most notable instance was a second quarter field goal attempt by Grant Argiro that originally was supposed to be a 29 yard attempt, but an illegal formation call on the offensive line would move the ball back five yards, which would be enough for Argiro to have a rare miss slightly to the left of the uprights.
Greater Latrobe wasn’t expected to win the game, but they still showed some effort and won’t be punished too badly for the loss. Since this was not a conference game they still sit at 1-3 in the 5A Big East Conference behind Gateway and Kiski Area, but there is still a slight chance they could sneak into the WPIAL playoffs as a wild card. They play two conference opponents in the Gators and third place Big East team Penn-Trafford, so there could still be a possibility for a playoff chance. Not a big possibility, but it’s still there.
Pine-Richland came out and did what they needed to do. Blanking their opponent and winning by over 40 is a success, but things are not done. Next week is their first away game since September 20th, and it will be against hated 6A rival North Allegheny. The Tigers are a top team in the WPIAL by the fact there are seven teams in the section and only them and Central Catholic are competitive, but they did lose to the Vikings on September 27. Central Catholic’s only WPIAL loss was to Pine-Richland Week 1, so that should be optimistic for the Rams. They finish the year with a home game against conference opponent Shaler, where they will most likely handle business against the 2-6 team. Either way, Pine-Richland is gearing up for a deep WPIAL playoff run, likely getting a top 4 seed and a first round bye along with a quarterfinal home game, so they should be fully in playoff mode after next week.
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