Playoff berth on the line as Valley heads to East Allegheny for Allegheny Conference showdown

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 | 6:06 PM

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Neither East Allegheny nor Valley minced words about the significance of their meeting Friday night in the regular-season finale.

Really, there’s no reason to. The stakes are clear: The winner earns the fourth and final playoff berth in the Class 2A Allegheny Conference. The loser will stay home during the postseason.

A week before the playoffs begin, it’s already “win or go home.”

“Both teams are going to feel like they made the playoffs in a way because there’s no difference in a game this week or next week,” East Allegheny coach Dom Pecora said. “It’s the same. We’re playing in a playoff game, essentially.”

Added his counterpart at Valley, Muzzy Colosimo: “It’s nice to play that last game of the year and have something on the line.”

The playoffs carry enough meaning on their own, but both programs have added motivation for qualifying.

Valley (3-6, 2-3) last appeared in the WPIAL playoffs in 2013, and when Colosimo took over in 2014, the former Greensburg Central Catholic coach hoped to build a program that could a win a WPIAL championship the way GCC did in 2009.

The Vikings finished on the cusp of the postseason in 2016 before ultimately missing out because of tiebreakers despite a 6-3 record.

“It’s very important because it’s the end for a lot of us seniors,” senior running back/linebacker Deonte Ross said. “We win, we get another step closer to fulfilling our dreams. If we lose, it ends right there and we never get that chance again. It’s a lot (of motivation). All of us players have been working hard. We knew this was going to come to this, and we’ve been working our butts off day in and day out to prepare for Friday.”

East Allegheny, meanwhile, sits in what Pecora calls “the hotbed of WPIAL tradition,” surrounded by perennial playoff qualifiers like Gateway, McKeesport and Woodland Hills.

The Wildcats (5-4, 2-3) took a step toward establishing themselves as a program by making the playoffs each of the last two seasons, getting their first postseason victory in 17 years last fall. A win Friday would give them three consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in school history.

“(If we win), I think it would easily be the second-biggest win in my six years,” Pecora said. “It’s a big one, I can’t even lie.”

One of the reasons for Pecora’s statement is that East Allegheny wasn’t predicted to be a playoff team at the start of the season after the graduation of numerous key starters, including star T.J. Banks, now at West Virginia. But after an 0-2 start, the Wildcats put themselves in playoff position with a five-game winning streak before dropping their last two games.

Already proud of his team’s accomplishments, Pecora said a playoff appearance would “make it special.”

“I think it shows we have a program, not a team,” he said. “There’s not many stable programs. You see some teams pop up for a couple years and then go away. Outside of your powerhouses, and we know which 10 or 15 I’m talking about, I think it goes in cycles. … I don’t want a cycle. I want you to see East Allegheny on the schedule and know it’s not going to be an easy game. I want to build consistency.”

Valley began the season with high hopes of advancing to the postseason, but after a season-opening win over Burrell, the Vikings dropped their next five.

The Vikings got themselves to the win-and-in contest against East Allegheny thanks to a come-from-behind 22-20 win against Summit Academy two weeks ago, where they scored the tying touchdown and winning 2-point conversion midway through the fourth quarter.

“The thing we’ve been talking about for four years is not quitting and having the intestinal fortitude to come back and take something that you feel belongs to you,” Colosimo said. “We were favored to win by a lot, and I think sometimes our kids think it just happens. They found out that they really have to work for it. It was the way we did it … the kids felt they were going to win, and when they start doing that, then you know you’ve turned it around.”

Colosimo called the East Allegheny game like “looking in the mirror.” The Wildcats feature a hard-nosed style led by dual-threat quarterback Dan Kasmier.

Valley, which Pecora said is “loaded” with talent, will counter with its senior-oriented lineup of Ross, who is approaching 1,000 rushing yards; quarterback Tyler Green; Noah Hutcherson, who has more than a dozen sacks; and star two-way lineman David Schuffert.

“There’s excitement because we’re working real hard to get this win on Friday,” Ross said. “It’s a little bit nervous because you never know what’s going to happen, but it’s also exciting, too, because you get to play in (something) like a playoff game, basically.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: East Allegheny, Valley