West Allegheny hangs on to eliminate Woodland Hills

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 10, 2018 | 12:57 AM

The Woodland Hills and West Allegheny football teams have developed a reputation for playing close and competitive games.

In six matchups between the Wolverines and Indians played since 2014, four of them were decided by seven or fewer points. Included in that series was West Allegheny’s one-point triumph in conference play this season.

So it came as no surprise the teams would play down to the wire again when they met Friday in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal at North Hills’ Martorelli Stadium.

West Allegheny senior tight end Isaac Longstreth was on the receiving end of a 9-yard scoring strike from junior quarterback Kam Kruze with 1 minute, 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The point-after kick from John McArdle put the Indians ahead by one.

Then the West Allegheny defense recovered a fumble at its 28 with less than a minute to play to seal a 14-13 victory.

“I didn’t expect anything different,” veteran Indians coach Bob Palko said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. There is just so much respect for those kids, just the way they play and how hard they play. But our guys find ways to make a play.”

West Allegheny (9-2) has a date in the semifinals with No. 1 Gateway. The Gators stopped No. 9 Franklin Regional, 35-0, to improve to 12-0.

“They are the heavy favorite. They are the defending champs,” Palko said. “We’re going to have to play better than we did tonight. Sometimes, people ask, ‘Why aren’t you doing this or that?’ We played against a pretty good (Woodland Hills) team that can run the ball. Now, we’ve got to go against a team that hasn’t lost in a while. It’s going to be a monumental task. But we’re going to put a game plan together and see what we can do.”

A 28-yard field goal from Charles Hanchett with 6:22 left extended No. 13 Woodland Hills’ lead to 13-7 and showed what fifth-seeded West Allegheny needed to do over the final half of the final quarter.

The Indians took the ball at their 27 and used four running plays to enter Wolverines territory.

Faced with a fourth-and-11 from the 50 and time winding down, Kruze found a diving Kyle Guilfoil over the middle for 14 yards and a first down.

Four more runs, highlighted by a 12-yard rumble by Kyle Marett, got West Allegheny inside the Woodland Hills 10 and set up the eventual winner. Longstreth stretched all of his 6-foot-1 frame to make the scoring catch in the back of the end zone.

“We all knew we had to make a play,” said Longstreth, who finished with two catches for 17 yards.

“The coaches called a perfect play for it. It was wide open. Kam called hut, threw the ball to me and I just had to make a play.”

The Wolverines had one last chance with 1:10 on the clock, and they moved the ball into Indians territory at the 43 on a 19-yard strike from Gavin Gurreri-Judson to Michael Coleman.

Gurreri-Judson then found Jayden Lucas over the middle for 15 yards. As Lucas shook off contact from a West Allegheny defender and attempted to gain a few more yards, he lost control of the football.

A scrum for the ball ensued, and Indians defensive back Drevon Baldwin made the recovery.

West Allegheny took a knee to run out the remaining time.

“We told the guys after the game that they left everything on the field, and that’s exactly what I asked them to do,” Woodland Hills coach Tim Bostard said.

Woodland Hills (5-7) had won four of five after a 1-5 start and shut out Mars in the first round last week to advance to face West Allegheny.

“This has developed into a really good rivalry with two good teams and two storied programs,” Bostard said. “You know that any time these two teams meet, you are going to have a battle.”

Both teams found it a challenge to put points on the board in the first half.

West Allegheny, pinned to its 1 at the 9:17 mark of the second quarter after long punt, drove into Woodland Hills territory before turning the ball over on downs at the 37 with 53 seconds to go until halftime.

The Indians used 15 plays to eat up more than eight minutes off the clock.

The Wolverines took advantage of the time they had left before the break. They raced down the field in five plays and got inside the West Allegheny 10 before breaking the scoreless tie on a Hanchett 24-yard field goal as time expired.

Each team scored a touchdown in the third quarter.

Nico Flati, who led West Allegheny with 97 yards on 14 carries, ripped off a 45-yard TD run at the 7:17 mark to put the Indians in the lead. McArdle’s PAT kick made it 7-3.

William Clark answered for Woodland Hills a little more than three minutes later as he found the end zone from 1 yard.

Clark and Anthony Meridith combined to rush for 130 yards for the Wolverines. Meridith finished with 76 yards, and Clark tallied 54.

Dante Flati added 62 rushing yards on nine carries for West Allegheny, which won its fifth game of the season decided by seven points or less.

“We’re just blessed to be able to do it for another week,” Palko said. “I’m really proud of the kids.”

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-388-5825, mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: West Allegheny, Woodland Hills