Penn Hills, Peters Township looking to survive and advance in WPIAL Class 5A semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, November 15, 2018 | 5:35 PM

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There’s only two episodes left in the WPIAL’s Class 5A edition of “Survivor,” and the there’s a tribal council set for 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Norwin between two tribes with completely different histories.

One Indian tribe grips the banks of the Allegheny River and spreads back through Pittsburgh’s suburban East Hills. The Penn Hills Indians are one of the WPIAL’s most notable programs with a rich football history, notable NFL alumni, a ton of postseason appearances and four WPIAL football titles. This season is another chapter in a book filled with gridiron glory.

The other tribe hails from down south, splitting the Allegheny and Washington County lines, and is poised to charge north looking for respect. The Peters Township Indians have long been a soccer school, racking up nine WPIAL boys soccer titles along the way. But up until this season, the football team hadn’t won a postseason game since 2003. The Indians have just cracked the spine on their history book and the ink is still wet.

“It’s been a soccer school, a basketball school and everything else; it’s good to put football on the map here and continue to move this program in the right direction,” Peters Township coach TJ Plack said. “We don’t want to be just a good football team, we want to be a good program.”

No. 3-seeded Peters Township (10-2) was crowned Allegheny Conference co-champion alongside No. 4 West Allegheny. The Indians knocked off Armstrong in the first round 35-7 and survived a thrilling 38-35 win over No. 6 Penn-Trafford last Friday.

“Our motto going into (last week’s) game was ‘Respond,’ ”Plack said. “What a game that was. Both teams responded the whole game, and we were just fortunate enough to have the ball last.”

For Peters Township to be successful, it will have to control the line of scrimmage. The offensive line is anchored by two all-conference selections in senior center Shane O’Connell and senior guard Ian Chaudhari. Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne is well aware of what Peters has up front.

“They’re offensive and defensive line play is really dominant, and they got some real good players up front,” LeDonne said. “They’re a lot faster than a lot of teams we’ve seen. We need to go out and win 11 battles each play, assignment football.”

The Peters Township Indians will need sophomore quarterback Logan Pfeuffer to play well to avoid to becoming one dimensional on offense. Pfeuffer has thrown for 1,879 yards, 23 touchdowns, eight interceptions and leads an offense that averages 33.7 points.

When Pfeuffer drops back, he’ll most likely be looking to all-conference junior wide receiver Josh Casilli (877 yards, 14 TDs) and junior Aidan McCall (162 yards, 7 TDs). Peters also leans on junior running back Ryan Magiske, who was named second-team all-conference and has rushed for 1,035 yards and 20 touchdowns.

“We knew last year that (Pfeuffer) was going to be our guy this year,” Plack said. “He was our scout team player of the year last year.”

Like Peters, No. 2 Penn Hills (12-0) dropped down from Class 6A this season after reaching the semifinals a year ago. The 17-8 loss to Central Catholic in the WPIAL Final Four went a long way to building the character for this year’s team.

“Any time you have a semifinal team dropping down like we did, expectations are really high,” LeDonne said. “Everyone has been talking about Penn Hills/Gateway since the time we dropped down to 5A. Peters (Township) is by far one of the best teams I’ve seen on film all year.”

The Penn Hills offense is a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare. If senior quarterback Hollis Mathis isn’t slinging the ball down the field to longtime friend Dante Cephas, then senior running back Terry ‘Tank” Smith is rolling over would-be tacklers. Penn Hills can beat a defense on the ground, through the air and with lightning-quick precision.

“It’s been humbling,” LeDonne said. “These guys have a lot of talent, and we’re putting them in position to make plays. We’re doing a good job of spreading the ball around.”

The Mathis to Cephas connection produced three touchdowns last week’s win over McKeesport. The Northern Conference champs jumped out to a 20-0 halftime lead in a convincing 34-7 win. Mathis, a Howard recruit, leads an offense that averages 41.2 points. Cephas is a Kent State recruit.

The Indians rank second in points scored behind top-seeded Gateway (49.4) in Class 5A. Mathis ranks seventh in the WPIAL in passing yards with 2,225, and has thrown 32 touchdown passes.

“With the amount of skill and athletes we have, any time we touch the ball, we can take it the distance,” LeDonne said.

Smith, another Howard recruit, sets the pace to the Indians offensive attack. He has rushed for 1,359 yards and 17 scores.

“He’s a complete package of size, speed, power, has good feet, and he’s tireless when he runs,” Plack said. “He’s somebody we talk about gang tackling.

“Hollis does a great throwing the ball and is probably the most complete quarterback that we’ve seen all year. We got our work cut out for us.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Penn Hills, Peters Township