Seeking first state final appearance, Avonworth to meet undefeated Wilmington

By: George Guido
Thursday, November 28, 2019 | 6:00 AM

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It’s been quite a season of firsts for Avonworth.

Among them: First outright WPIAL title, first time to 14 victories, first PIAA playoff game.

Now another first will take place Thursday morning as the Antelopes will practice for the first time on a Thanksgiving Day.

Coach Duke Johncour will have his team out for an 8 a.m. practice on Thursday, a final prep for Friday’s Class 2A PIAA state semifinal. The Antelopes and Wilmington will match 14-0 records at Slippery Rock High School at 6 p.m.

Many playoff games have a taken place across Keister Road at Slippery Rock University, but The Rock has a home playoff game Saturday against Sheperd.

Avonworth is coming off a strong performance in the WPIAL title game, a 28-6 victory over Washington.

“I think it’s still sinking in,” Johncour said with a laugh. “There were police cars waiting for us when we got off the interstate coming home, then fire trucks escorted us up the hill to the school.”

But it was quickly back to work Monday to prepare for perennial state contender Wilmington. The Greyhounds have won four straight District 10 titles and have made the PIAA title game each of the last two seasons. Wilmington has lost to Southern Columbia both times.

Since leaving the WPIAL in the 1990s, the Greyhounds have won 12 District 10 titles. The school won WPIAL honors in 1987 and ’88 and copped a state title in 2008 over Philadelphia’s West Catholic.

After legendary coach Terry Verilli retired two years ago following 40 seasons and 314 victories, defensive coordinator Brandon Phillian moved up and has maintained the program’s astounding success.

The coaching transition was seamless.

Said Phiilian: “We’re still running the Wing-T, and we have two running backs that can attack from both sides of the formation. I was very fortunate that each of the assistants stayed on with me, signaling the continuity to compete at a high level.”

Johncour is familiar with Wilmington’s philosophy after coaching for six years in District 10 at Grove City High School.

Last week, the Greyhounds defeated District 9 champ Ridgway-Johnsonburg, 45-27. Running back Daniel Miller scored three touchdowns and Ethan Susek added two. Wilmington collected 479 offensive yards – 426 on the ground.

There were questions coming into the season after the Greyhounds were hit with graduation losses to eight starters on each side of the football.

“Our offensive line had a number of new faces,” Phillian said. “But we knew they could play physical and understand the schemes that are the keys to our success.”

Phillian knows his team has to find a way to stop Antelopes running back Jax Miller, who carried 43 times for 291 yards in the WPIAL championship game. Miller had four 1-yard scoring runs for Avonworth.

“Jax is so outstanding. He’s the total package,” Phillian said. “He has size and speed and runs behind a very strong line.”

While Avonworth has a passing attack that has garnered nearly 2,000 yards and a stellar receiving corps, it was hard to go away from Miller last Saturday.

“We can get the ball to a lot of players, but they were unable to stop Jax and we didn’t want to get away from that,” Johncour said.

The winner of Friday’s semifinal will face the winner of the Southern Columbia-Richland game for the state title at 1 p.m. Dec. 6 at Hersheypark Stadium.

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