North Allegheny overpowers Hempfield, earns top-2 seed in playoffs

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 12, 2018 | 10:30 PM

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An abundance of explosive offensive plays told the story for North Allegheny as the Tigers dominated host Hempfield, 49-27, on Friday night.

North Allegheny (8-0, 7-0), the second-ranked team in 6A, controlled the game from start to finish, scoring 42 unanswered points to start the game and never looking back.

By the time there were three minutes remaining in the second quarter, the starters for the Tigers were done for the night.

“We played backups in the first half, some guys that don’t always get a ton of reps,” North Allegheny coach Art Walker said. “Getting an opportunity for these kids to play meaningful football is important.”

Hempfield’s defense held down the Tiger offense a handful of times early in the night but were unable to prevent North Allegheny from cashing in on a plethora of big plays.

One such play came following a Hempfield punt to the 2-yard-line. On the first play of the drive, the North Allegheny offensive line opened a massive hole on the left side, allowing senior running back Ben Maenza to gallop 96 yards for a touchdown. Maenza gained 145 yards and scored two toucdowns on five carries.

“We’re not used to seeing that kind of speed,” Hempfield coach Rich Bowen said. “You can’t replicate that in practice, and it took us a while to get used to it.”

Despite the lopsided scoreboard, Hempfield junior running back Nathan Roby flashed some impressive carries, carrying 10 times for 127 yards and a touchdown for the Spartans (1-7, 0-7). The most points the Tigers had allowed before today was 21.

“We like everything about Nathan,” Bowen said. “We have a lot of juniors like him and sophomores on this team. We like a lot of our kids and now we’ve got to build for next year and work hard to win these last few games.”

For the Tigers, the was more than a win; it was an opportunity to secure home playoff games.

“By winning this game, we clinched a top-two spot in 6A,” Walker said. “So we got a bye and a home semifinal game. That was our main motivation, and our kids knew about that.”

Nathanael Gabler is a freelance writer.

Tags: Hempfield, North Allegheny