Colon leads No. 2 North Allegheny past No. 5 Mt. Lebanon in Class 6A battle

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 22, 2018 | 12:45 AM

A lightning delay of more than an hour was not enough to slow Percise Colon.

The North Allegheny junior running back scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to go along with a first-half score as the second-ranked Tigers rolled over fifth-ranked Mt. Lebanon, 34-3, Friday night in Class 6A action in the South Hills.

“I just realized that God gave me a gift,” Colon said. “That gift is that I’m able to run fast.”

Colon finished with 115 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and added a 32-yard touchdown reception as the Tigers (5-0, 4-0) remained undefeated on the season. Teammate Ben Maenza added 133 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Alfonso Cantu had a 42-yard touchdown run.

The Blue Devils (2-3, 2-2) have dropped two straight.

North Allegheny’s convincing victory came following a lightning delay that began as the teams were preparing to begin the second half and lasted about 80 minutes.

North Allegheny led 14-0 at that juncture, but Mt. Lebanon’s Casey Sorsdal kicked a 39-yard field goal to open the second half.

That was all the Blue Devils got.

“I thought the defense did a great job holding them to three points after that delay — I thought that was a win,” North Allegheny coach Art Walker said. “We knew we had to answer, and I’m proud that we did.”

The answer came in the form a big play from Colon. With the Tigers facing fourth-and-8 at the Mt. Lebanon 32-yard line, quarterback Ben Petschke dumped the ball off to Colon in the left flat. Colon picked up several blockers en route to his second touchdown of the game and a 21-3 North Allegheny lead.

The Tigers then put the game out of reach with a 62-yard touchdown run from Maenza and an 82-yard scoring scamper from Colon as the rain continued to pummel both teams.

“It didn’t matter what the conditions were,” Colon said. “We’ve worked hard and that just made us want to play harder.”

Turnovers and penalties plagued the Blue Devils. Mt. Lebanon turned it over three times and committed 11 penalties that cost them 108 yards.

“We moved the football, we just shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” Mt. Lebanon coach Mike Melnyk said. “We’ll get those things fixed and be a better football team.”

Cantu opened the scoring with a 42-yard touchdown run at 10:32 in the first to give North Allegheny the early lead.

It was nearly two quarters before either team scored again. The Tigers recovered a Mt. Lebanon fumble at the Blue Devils’ 24-yard line, and Colon capped the short drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 44 seconds to play in the half. Then the rains chased the teams inside before the game resumed more than an hour later.

North Allegheny plays host to Seneca Valley next week, while Mt. Lebanon travels to Hempfield.

Jesse Geleynse is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny