Quick start helps Peters Township blow by Penn-Trafford

By: Paul Schofield
Friday, November 8, 2024 | 12:01 AM

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If Peters Township coach T.J. Plack had any worries his team would come out flat in its WPIAL playoff debut after a week off, the Indians quickly took away those doubts.

The returning Class 5A champions scored on their first two drives, did a good job stuffing Penn-Trafford’s running game and rolled to a 42-13 quarterfinal-round victory Friday at Confluence Financial Partners Stadium.

The win puts the Indians (10-1) in the semifinals against Upper St. Clair at a date, time and site to be determined. Penn-Trafford finished the season 9-3.

Turnovers again proved costly to the Warriors. The Indians intercepted four passes and recovered a fumble.

“That’s a very good football team, and their quarterback is as advertised,” Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane said. “They took away our run and forced us to throw. We were somewhat successful, but when you throw the ball, bad things can happen.”

Peters Township quarterback Nolan DiLucia completed 10 of 17 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown and intercepted a pass. He hit his favorite target, Nick McCullough, for a 72-yard touchdown on the Indians’ second offensive play of the game.

“I’m very happy that, you know, just with the bye week and having two weeks off, I was obviously worried about how we would come out,” Plack said. “You always hear teams come out flat, but I thought our kids were focused. They were all businesslike, and I thought they did a great job offensively. We had that quick score, and we settled in.”

Peters Township made it 14-0 early in the second quarter on DiLucia’s 5-yard score.

Penn-Trafford jump-started its offense when Landyn Stikkel ran through two tacklers on a fake punt to keep a drive alive.

The Warriors moved to the Indians 33. Then a bad snap cost them 15 yards and a Derek Carr pass was intercepted by Mickey Vaccarello and returned 48 yards to make it 21-0.

“We practiced against that play all week,” Vaccarello said. “The scout team ran that play all week and it was an easy read, and it worked out great.”

Penn-Trafford struck quickly to trim the lead to 21-7. Quarterback Jonny Lovre connected on a 27-yard pass to Nick Ponko and then hit Ponko on a 34-yard touchdown.

But Peters Township struck back as DiLucia hit McCullough on a 24-yard scoring strike for a 28-7 lead at halftime. McCullough had four catches for 107 yards.

Penn-Trafford put together a long drive in the third quarter. Starting at the Warriors 14, it marched to the Indians 39. But McCullough ended the drive when he picked off Lovre in the end zone.

Lovre completed 14 of 25 passes for 187 yards.

“We tried a double move, and they didn’t bite,” Ruane said. “Maybe that wasn’t the right call, but they made a great play.

“We moved the ball; we just couldn’t finish. They deserved to win. There were a lot of flaws, and I take full blame for that.”

Peters Township tacked on two more scores. DiLucia hit Eli Prado on a 20-yard slant, and Nick Courie scored 3-yard run.

Penn-Trafford scored late thanks to a 47-yard run by Tasso Whipple, who finished with 78 yards rushing. Carr connected on a 3-yard pass to Jack Weishaar on the final play of the game.

“Their strength is to run the ball, and our defensive strength is to stop the run,” Plack said. “I thought our defense did a great job taking them out of what they like to do.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Peters Township