PT takes to air, soars past Moon
McMURRAY – After a loss to rival Canon-McMillan last week in a non-conference game, the Peters Township High School football team looked to rebound as it returned to Class 5A Allegheny Eight Conference play.
After that game, Indians coach T.J. Plack joked that he wished his quarterback, Logan Pfeuffer, who threw for more than 300 yards against the Big Macs, had thrown for 450. Well, at halftime against Moon this week, Pfeuffer was on pace for that total, and his biggest benefactor was Josh Casilli.
The duo combined for a trifecta of touchdown passes in the first half, and Peters Township bounced back with an impressive 33-21 victory over visiting Moon Friday night.
“We saw some matchups that we liked,” said Plack. “They started bringing the safeties down, and that’s a green light for us. I told these guys, I don’t care how we do it. We need to come out of here with the W.”
The Indians (3-1, 5-2) scored early and often, converting four of their first five possessions into touchdowns. While Ryan Magiske scored the first touchdown, the attention became focused on Pfeuffer’s long passing to Casilli, who had been held in check a week ago against the Big Macs.
Not so this week.
After using the ground game and some short passing to take a 6-0 lead on Magiske’s 1-yard run, Peters Township turned to the long aerial game. The Indians scored on back-to-back offensive plays as Pfeuffer threw passes downfield to Casilli, first converting on a 37-yard strike and then a longer toss down the sideline for 61 yards, with the speedy Casilli outracing his defender.
The two scores extended the lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Moon (1-3, 2-5) clawed back on a nice individual effort from Jamal Littlejohn, who hauled in a screen pass, juked and then outran defenders to go 46 yards to get the Tigers on the scoreboard. Moon’s defense then forced a punt and had another drive going, but two penalties backed up the Tigers and led to another punt.
Peters Township took over possession at its own 10 with just 2:08 to play in the half, but neither the field position nor scant time on the clock proved to be an obstacle to scoring again. And it was Casilli again stepping up, first stretching out to bring in a 40-yard toss from Pfeuffer, then another bomb of 39 yards for their third touchdown of the half.
Casilli had five receptions for 186 yards in the opening half.
“He’s a tremendous competitor,” said Plack.
The second half played out a bit differently, as Moon actually outscored Peters Township, 7-6, and it could’ve been worse, but a block in the back penalty nullified a Tigers touchdown that could’ve made the score 27-21. Moon blocked a punt late in the game to cut its deficit to 12 points but ran out of time and possessions.
“They made some plays,” said Plack. “We turned the ball over and cost us some momentum. Our guys hung in there and took some body punches. Moon doesn’t quit either.”
Casilli was held to one catch in the second half but the damage had been done. He finished with six grabs for 192 yards. Pfeuffer completed 16 of 21 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns, and Magiske rushed for 135 yards on 14 carries in a balanced offensive attack for the Indians.
“It all starts up front,” said Plack. “We have a lot of weapons. We’re blessed.”