Pine-Richland Manhandles Bethel Park, Advances to Third Consecutive WPIAL Championship
Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs
Blake Fuchs | November 16, 2024
Pine-Richland maintained control throughout their semifinal game against Bethel Park, easily winning 28-7 and advancing to their third straight WPIAL 5A championship.
Bethel Park had an interesting resume entering this game. The Black Hawks finished third in the Allegheny Six Conference, the strongest of the three 5A conferences in the WPIAL. Their two losses were by a combined seven points to the top two teams Upper St. Clair and Peters Township, and most of their wins that season had been blowouts. This included their first and second round matchups, winning two weeks ago against Greater Latrobe 42-7 as well as Woodland Hills a week ago 49-22. This was also a revenge game for Bethel Park, as the last time they played Pine-Richland was last year’s first round of the playoffs where they were blown out 51-6. Could they get back at the Rams for their big loss last year and get one step closer to winning their first WPIAL championship since 2008?
Similarly to Bethel Park, this semifinal game brought some parallelism to Pine-Richland. For starters, they had blown out the Black Hawks the year previously 51-6, so they were looking to do that again. The Rams also played their semifinal game last year in the same location as this year’s game-Martorelli Stadium, home normally to North Hills. This neutral site was the place where they orchestrated a last-second comeback win over Penn Hills, winning 16-9 off a game-tying touchdown by quarterback Aaron “Oobi” Strader, the extra point giving them the advantage to win. The top-seeded Rams had also blown out their last two opponents including their 42-0 quarterfinal victory over Franklin Regional. Their only loss came against 6A rival North Allegheny, a series of unfortunate events leading to a 28-21 final score. Pine-Richland was the clear favorite, but would Bethel Park have anything to disprove that?
Bethel Park started with the ball and there was be a quick score to open the drive. Unfortunately for them, it would not be the Black Hawks who got on the board first. On the second play of the game, senior quarterback Tanner Pfeuffer threw the ball into heavy traffic which was intercepted by Pine-Richland senior Tanner Cunningham, who navigated his way through would-be tacklers to get in for the score. Bethel Park didn’t have much success on their next drive, punting after 7 plays.
After two consecutive Bethel Park offensive drives, it was Pine-Richland’s turn to show what they were made of. They primarily stayed on the ground with junior running back Mac Miller, but the passing game was used to convert first downs. Both of them were made by Lawrence
“Jay” Timmons, who showed off his agility and speed on an 18 yard reception for the Rams’ first down of the two made. However, they were stopped on a 4th and 1 and turned the ball over.
The next time Pine-Richland’s offense had the ball, this mistake was not made. They marched down the field and capped the drive off with a slick 26 yard touchdown from junior Jalen Neals, who kept both feet on the edge of the end zone to go up two scores. This was followed up by a third touchdown, this one scored by Miller from 27 yards out. Bethel Park scored on neither of their drives, so at the half the score was at 21-0.
Pine-Richland deferred and got the ball at the start of the third quarter, but they must have felt bad for Bethel Park as Strader underthrew his first pass of the drive which was caught by Black Hawks senior Mitchell Paschi. Bethel Park capitalized on this opportunity with a 17 play drive that lasted just over 8 minutes, converting 5 first downs with Pfeuffer along with JaVaughn Moore and Princeton commit Ryan Petras, all three running the ball throughout. Moore got the Black Hawks their only touchdown of the game, scoring from 3 yards out with 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Most of the fourth quarter elapsed without any scoring, but Miller would put in the dagger with 3:11 left from 11 yards out. Bethel Park had nothing in response, and the Rams were able to easily take the win.
Bethel Park put up a valiant effort. Their season was commendable, but they just got outplayed by Pine-Richland. The defensive line was able to contain the run game for the most part, meaning the main offensive strategy for the Black Hawks was highly nerfed. It was a very clean game, only having one 10 yard penalty, but the inability to consistently score didn’t help. Additionally, having two long drives contributed to the loss since with less time on the clock meant less opportunities to come back. While their season is now over, Bethel Park can know that they certainly did better than last year. Winning two playoff games and having a record over .500 certainly helps with that.
Pine-Richland has done it again. This marks their third consecutive WPIAL championship appearance, looking to win against the team they lost to last time around-the Peters Township Indians. The offense looks to be firing on all cylinders with the run game from Miller being very good, and that’s in no small part to the Rams offensive line. Plus the passing attack is still solid, with Strader still developing as a passer but showing he can and should be the QB1. Two years ago when they won the WPIAL championship, Pine-Richland went on to win the PIAA championship as well. That is on the horizon, but first the Rams should focus on getting back at the team that cost them two straight WPIAL championships and make it 2 out of the past three years at Acrisure Stadium.
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