Quaker Valley shuts out Aliquippa to claim 1st WPIAL championship

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 18, 2017 | 2:06 PM

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The improbabale finalists came away with an even less likely championship.

Quaker Valley scored the only points of the game on a second-quarter safety and won the school’s first WPIAL title 2-0, knocking off perennial power Aliquippa in the WPIAL Class 3A final Saturday at Heinz Field.

The Quakers’ (12-1) story was one no one could have imagined at the start of the season.

Needing a coach with less than a week before camp, longtime track coach and QV alum Jerry Veshio took over the senior-laden squad. Even after a 9-1 regular season that secured only the program’s sixth playoff appearance in 62 years, a QV title seemed unlikely with top-seeded Aliquippa (12-1) on the other side — a team that beat the Quakers, 22-7, during the regular season.

“When I met these guys, it was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon Aug. 7. We went out on the field for the first time for about an hour, and they impressed me so much with how cerebral they were with this game,” Veshio said. “From that day, I knew, especially this senior group, was really made of something special.”

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What proved to be the special group for Quaker Valley was their defense, which forced five turnovers and scored the only points of the game after a punt pinned Aliquippa deep in its own territory.

On a second-down play starting at the 5-yard line, Issac Guss was able to track down Aliquippa running back Xavier Harvey on a sweep to the right side. Guss got a hold of Harvey’s ankles, allowing his support to swarm the back and keep him from getting the ball out of the end zone.

“Any time you’ve got the offense backed up there, you always want to be a little bit but not too aggressive. You know safety is in the back of your mind,” Quakers senior quarterback/linebacker Ricky Guss said.

“They blew it up on the inside; (Harvey) had to bounce it out. … That’s part of the reason why our defense has been so successful. When we clog up the middle, we have very fast, athletic guys on the outside who can make tackles like we did today.”

While the Quakers’ defense was sure with its open-field tackling, the Quips’ offense was their own biggest enemy.

Aliquippa turned the ball over five times and was penalized 20 times for 190 yards, many of them procedure penalties and holding calls that forced them into long-yardage situations. The Quips also had a pair of first-quarter chances in the red zone after Quaker Valley fumbles, but they fumbled the ball each time inside the 20.

“Any loss is frustrating, but I think we didn’t overcome our own mistakes and terrific play by Quaker Valley,” Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said. “Obviously, (not scoring early) hurt a lot. We made some mistakes down there, and it was one of those games where whoever was ahead had the advantage.”

In total, Aliquippa’s offense outgained Quaker Valley, 180-55. The Quakers were able to make up for that difference, however, because of Aliquippa penalties and an edge on special teams. QV averaged 28.6 net yards on their seven punts, while Aliquippa only backed QV up an average 19.8 yards on its six punts.

Aliquippa’s own stellar defense was its usual self and never allowed Quaker Valley’s offense beyond the Quips’ 28-yard line. But as time wore on, it became apparent the Quakers might be able to escape without an offensive score, and Ethan Moore’s interception at the Aliquippa 25 with 34 seconds remaining sealed a historic win.

“With these guys, I’ve really been through it all in my football career,” QV senior linebacker Andrew Seymour said. “You can’t explain the feeling when you give everything you’ve got and you come out on top, and it’s for a WPIAL championship for the first time in school history.”

Avante McKenzie led Aliquippa with 74 yards on 23 carries, and William Gipson was 12-for-19 passing for 109 yards. Harvey and Dajour Fisher had interceptions, as the Quips defense didn’t allow a completion on 12 Quaker Valley passes.

Ricky Guss had 44 yards on 21 carries for Quaker Valley, and junior Ryan Jackovic had a pair of interceptions for the QV defense. The game was the first 2-0 final in the 102 years of WPIAL championship games.

Quaker Valley now has a week off before facing the winner between District 10 champ Sharon and District 6 champion Forest Hills in the PIAA semifinals at a site and time to be determined on the weekend of Dec. 1-2.

Matt Grubba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mgrubba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Grubba_Trib.

Tags: Aliquippa, Quaker Valley