Observer-Reporter Athlete of the Week
Name: Nick Ponikvar
School: South Fayette
Year: Junior
Sport: Football
Ponikvar’s week: The 5-11 wide receiver led South Fayette with six catches for 157 yards and a touchdown in the WPIAL title game victory. It was his touchdown early in the second half that gave the Lions a two-touchdown lead they would not relinquish as South Fayette repeated as WPIAL Class AA champions with a 31-22 victory over Aliquippa at Heinz Field.
His 87-yard touchdown catch early in the third quarter gave the Lions a lead they would not relinquish.
“It was a great feeling to score at Heinz in a championship game like that and the way it came with us getting a two-touchdown lead was great for my team,” Ponikvar said.
The play: With the Lions leading by eight points at halftime, the second half opening kickoff pinned South Fayette back at its own three-yard line. Senior quarterback Brett Brumbaugh connected with Ponikvar on an five-yard out route. Ponikvar caught the pass near the sideline, broke a tackle and spun away from another defender before running for an 87-yard touchdown.
He admits that the play was not one of his favorites at the beginning of the season, but after a while, it became one of his more productive routes.
It showed when the Lions needed it the most. When the kickoff pinned South Fayette back, Aliquippa head coach Mike Zmijanac admitted that he felt great about the Quips’ chances to mount a comeback.
Ponikvar quickly put that feeling to rest.
“In the second half, when they scored right away, we got behind the eight ball,” Zmijanac said. “That changed the whole game.”
South Fayette head coach Joe Rossi agreed with Zmijanac’s assessment.
“It was a tremendous individual effort by (Ponikvar),” Rossi said. “The quarterback got it to him and the young man made a tremendous play. He shook two kids and opened up the game a little bit. We knew coming out if we could score and stop, we’d be in control.”
On the third play of the second half, Ponikvar caught the pass from Brumbaugh near the sideline and thought he would get tackled, but that didn’t happen. The rest will live on as one of the biggest plays in recent memory in a WPIAL title game at Heinz Field.
“I ran my five-yard out and most kids thought the play was dead, as did I,” Ponikvar said. “I thought I was going to go down, but I was able to break that first tackle and I saw that kid coming hard so I pulled a juke move and luckily, I was able to use my speed to outrun the safety to the end zone.”
Stepping up: Through the first two games of the season, Ponikvar caught only three passes. Ponikvar now has a team-high 45 catches for 874 yards and 10 touchdowns.
During the Lions’ playoff run last season, Ponikvar played sparingly and spent most of his times on special teams. Learning from seniors Justin Watson and Conner Beck proved to be invaluable.
With South Fayette (13-0) preparing for its PIAA quarterfinal game against Karns City (11-1), which is set for Friday night at 7 p.m., it is Ponikvar who has quickly become one of Brumbaugh’s top options in the passing game.
The junior was hoping to just catch a few passes at Heinz Field to extend the Lions’ winning streak to 29 games. His work load was a bit more than that.
“I knew they were going to try to match their athletes to our athletes and play man coverage,” Ponikvar said. “We practiced that a lot so I knew if I ran the right routes and gave the right head fakes with quick steps that I’d be able to get them off me. What the stat line showed was not what I expected to have.”
Compiled by Lance Lysowski