North Hills grinds out victory over Shaler

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 19, 2018 | 11:09 PM

It’s no surprise what North Hills does offensively.

And it’s no surprise who does it for the Indians.

Senior Tyler Brennan, who lined up predominately as the quarterback in the wildcat formation for North Hills, carried the ball 32 times on the night, piling up 152 yards rushing and scoring all three touchdowns for the Indians in a 21-7 road win over Shaler.

“I’m very comfortable with that formation, but whatever coach (Pat Carey) says goes,” Brennan said. “I feel we have a strong front six, with the linemen and the tight end, we just try and run the ball down people’s throats.”

Brennan said another big factor with the running attack is the Indians can dominate the time of possession.

The game was tied 7-7 at halftime, and North Hills had the football for over 18 minutes in the second half.

“It eats the clock away a lot of the times,” Brennan said. “We had a couple of long drives tonight and that’s part of our game plan. We can keep the ball and control the game and it’s hard for the other team to get momentum.”

One of the long drives in the second half ended when Dan Wagner’s 33-yard field goal attempt was partially blocked. But on the ensuing drive, Tyler Tomasic intercepted Darin Mizgorski and returned it to the Titans 30-yard line. Brennan, who had a 24-yard scoring run late in the second quarter on a fourth-and-1 play, gave North Hills the lead for good with a 3-yard run.

Brennan would add another 3-yard score in with under a minute to play to give the Indians the 14-point victory.

North Hills trailed 7-0 after Mizgorski hit Matt Bendel with a 6-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.

Mizgorski completed 12 of 26 passes in the game for 159-yards, but only one completion and 16-yards came after halftime.

Tomasic, along with the interception, also saw time as the wildcat quarterback for North Hills and the diminutive sophomore also found success running the ball. Listed at 5-6, Tomasic carried the ball 19 times and finished with 100-yards in the win.

North Hills gained 292 of it’s 306 yards on the ground, with 162 of those coming in the second half.

“I always tell our front line give us two or three seconds to get through,” Brennan said. “From there, me, Tyler (Tomasic) and whoever else can get to the secondary and from there we always say it’s over. ”

The three scores give “Touchdown Tyler” 17 rushing touchdowns (18 total) on the season. Brennan, who missed three and a half games with a leg injury, scored multiple touchdowns for the fourth time this season.

The loss dropped playoff hopeful Shaler to (3-6, 2-4) on the season with a big home conference game next week against Fox Chapel.

The Indians (6-3, 5-1) have bigger goals in mind.

“The win made things really tight,’’ Brennan said. We have Mars, Penn Hills and us playing for the conference title. If we knock off first place Penn Hills, we got ourselves a conference tie.”

If Mars beats Hampton in week nine, and North Hills can upset No. 2 Penn Hills, then all three teams would end up tied for the top slot in the 5-A Northern Conference.

Bob Orkwis is a freelance writer.

Tags: North Hills, Shaler