Pine-Richland waltzes into WPIAL Class 6A football title game

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 9, 2018 | 10:36 PM

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Pine-Richland’s celebration for earning a spot in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game began before halftime with a team dance on the sideline on Friday night.

The Rams seemed to be in a defensive battle through one quarter with Mt. Lebanon, but a 39-point second quarter left no doubt.

No. 2 Pine Richland beat No. 3 Mt. Lebanon, 46-16. The Rams will play No. 5 Seneca Valley for the WPIAL championship next Saturday at Heinz Field.

It will be the Raiders’ second trip to the championship game in three years. The Rams won the WPIAL and PIAA titles last season.

“Feels great (that) I’m finally going to Heinz,” Pine Richland quarterback Cole Spencer said. “Hopefully, we get it done there.”

The game resembled the two teams’ first meeting of the season, when the Rams jumped out to a 28–0 lead en route to a win less than a month ago.

Pine Richland’s Andrew Kristofic, a Notre Dame commit, had two sacks and a fumble recovery in the first quarter.

The Rams’ Luke Meckler turned Kristofic’s fumble recovery into the game’s first score on a 14-yard run. It was Meckler’s first of two touchdowns. He also broke loose for a 75-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Meckler had 114 rushing yards.

“That’s our mentality, that’s our culture around here,” Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz said. “We play fast, and we want to put them away when we can. I think we had a similar game last year against Bethel Park where we were able to jump on them in the second quarter. That’s one of our goals. We want to finish the first half strong and start the second half strong.”

Spencer had a hand in four touchdowns, one on the ground and three passes to D’avay Johnson, Shane Cafardi and Luke Miller. Spencer also had 106 passing yards on 12 of 16 attempts on a night when the weather conditions weren’t ideal for throwing.

“Weather shouldn’t matter in the game,” Spencer said. “We practiced in it. It rained kind of all last week, so we got some work in there.”

Rams linebacker Josh Rechenberg scored on a 57-yard interception return.

Mt. Lebanon’s offense failed to pose a threat in the first half and turned the ball over three times.

The Blue Devils were able to score a 30-yard field goal by Casey Sorsdal in the third quarter after a blocked punt, the only major mistake by the Rams all night.

Mt. Lebanon backup quarterback Evan Jones threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Tim Walters and a 11-yard score to Seth Morgan.

“There was a point in the season when we were 3-5, and we hadn’t clinched the playoffs or anything,” Mt. Lebanon coach Mike Melnyk said. “To win the last three games and beat Central Catholic to get the third seed was huge for us. To win the first-round game was huge for us, but Pine-Richland is the defending state champions for a reason. The experience of playing for our kids in this game is good. That’s who we want to become.”

Shawn Annarelli is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mt. lebanon, Pine-Richland