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Moon headed to 1st WPIAL final since 1998 after topping Penn Hills in semis

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Friday, November 19, 2021 | 10:23 PM

Heinz Field hadn’t been built the last time Moon made the WPIAL football finals, but the Tigers are headed there now.

No. 1 seed Moon used a familiar combination of gritty defense, a physical running game and one long touchdown run to defeat No. 5 Penn Hills, 14-9, in a WPIAL Class 5A semifinal at North Allegheny. Some might try to call it an ugly win, but the Tigers certainly won’t. The win takes them to the WPIAL championships for the first time since 1998.

Ending that 23-year wait became a mission for a senior-heavy roster that went 2-8 just three years ago.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy,” said senior captain Ben Bladel, who had two sacks. “We have worked so hard for this moment. I don’t think I’ve worked for anything harder, honestly, in my life. Doing it with my brothers and people that I love is just so awesome.”

Moon (12-0) will play No. 2 Penn-Trafford (10-2) in the Class 5A final at 6 p.m. Saturday. Penn-Trafford defeated Pine-Richland, 24-6, in the other semifinal.

“It’s just a relief you can finally say, ‘Hey, we’re going to Heinz Field next week,’” said Moon coach Ryan Linn, in his fifth season. “It’s one of those things I tried not to talk about it. … Now, we’re going to Heinz Field. We get to practice on Thanksgiving. It’s all those things you wanted to say for three or four weeks, now you can finally say it.”

In 1998, Moon defeated Blackhawk, 34-7, in the WPIAL Class AAA final at Three Rivers Stadium. However, the Tigers have struggled at times in the two decades since.

The semifinal appearance was Moon’s first since 2003 and the Tigers made it count. Dylan Sleva and Jeremiah Dean scored rushing touchdowns, and Caden Newhouse intercepted a pass deep in Moon territory with two minutes left as the Tigers defense made one final stand.

The interception was the third of the game by Moon’s defense.

“We had a talk yesterday and someone brought up the fact that you can’t win a championship unless you make it there,” said Sleva, another senior captain. “That kind of put our feet where we’re at right now. … Now we’ve got to finish the job next week.”

Needing a touchdown to win, Penn Hills took possession at Moon’s 46-yard line after receiving a punt with 4 minutes left. The Indians moved 11 yards in three plays and had second down at Moon’s 35 when sophomore quarterback Julian Dugger was hurried into throwing an interception.

Dugger, while chased by defensive end Joe Cotton, tried to connect with older brother Jaden Dugger downfield. Instead, Newhouse caught the errant pass at Moon’s 10-yard line with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left.

That all but sealed their win.

“I had pulled everyone in for a little huddle and I said, I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want this to be our last defensive drive for this group ever,” Bladel said. “So, let’s shut them down, and we’ll get another one next week.”

Penn Hills finished with only 158 yards from scrimmage, with 67 coming on one third-quarter run by Amir Key. But Moon’s offense wasn’t explosive either. The Tigers rushed for 204 yards on 38 carries and passed for 20 yards, but they threw an interception and were stopped on a fourth-and-3 in the fourth quarter.

“I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty,” Linn said. “I’ll take a win in this situation.”

A few miscues hurt Penn Hills’ chances, and some of them led quickly to Moon points. The Indians had a snap go over their punter’s head, threw three interceptions and had a few costly penalties. One flag for an illegal man downfield negated a first-quarter touchdown.

“Moon played mistake-free football,” Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne said. “You’ve got that many seniors on the football field who’ve been playing together for that long, Coach Linn has developed a heck of a program over there. Hopefully, that will be us two years from now with our sophomore class.”

Dean finished with 101 rushing yards on eight carries, including a 59-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that gave Moon a 14-3 lead. His TD run came one play after Penn Hills’ threw its second interception.

Penn Hills found the end zone later in the third on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jaimere Brown. Two plays earlier, Key broke the 67-yard run to set up the touchdown.

Sleva scored Moon’s first touchdown on a 7-yard run early in the second quarter to lead 7-0. The run capped a four-play, 16-yard drive after Penn Hills’ botched punt gave the Tigers a very short field.

Penn Hills’ only first-half points were a 43-yard field goal by Charlie Rosemeyer just before halftime.

“A win is a win, even if it’s an ugly win,” Bladel said. “I wouldn’t call it ugly. Defensively, it was one hell of a game in my opinion.”

Watch an archived broadcast of this game on Trib HSSN.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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