Nov 1, 2019 3 min read

McMURRAY – If Peters Township was looking ahead to a rematch with Moon, it sure did not look like it Friday night.

The Indians spent much of the evening orbiting the Mars Planets to the tune of 47-6 in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 5A football playoffs.

Peters Township will get a chance next week to atone for its lone loss as it will face the Moon Tigers in a rematch of a contest the Indians lost, 21-13. Moon defeated Franklin Regional 35-7 to finalize the sequel between the two teams that shared the Allegheny Eight Conference title.

Peters Township improves to 10-1 while Mars shuttled home to Butler County with a final record of 6-5.

“That’s a real good program over there,” Peters Township coach T.J. Plack said following the victory. “I’ve been around them at different places when they were coming up in Double- and Triple-A. They’ve got some good ballplayers, for sure. Glad we got out to a fast start and our defense played well again.”

Part of that good start was getting quarterback Logan Pfeuffer untracked early. The junior responded completing 16 of 19 passes for 327 yards. He completed passes to six different receivers.

Pfeuffer credited his teammates, especially his offensive line that allowed him time to put up solid passing numbers.

“They’ve been great all year up front,” Pfeuffer added. “They’ve stepped it up all year and I’m really proud of them.”

Senior Josh Casilli was his favorite target with six receptions for 114 yards and two scores. Breylen Carrington provided a solid second option in the passing game with four catches totaling 85 yards.

“We were glad to get him involved tonight,” Plack said in reference to Carrington.

The Indians were control from the opening moments and were never threatened. After forcing a Mars punt, Pfeuffer found Casilli running free behind two Planet defensive backs for a 61-yard scoring connection and an early 6-0 lead.

Mars looked to find some life later in the first quarter when Notre Dame recruit Michael Carmody sacked Pfeuffer and recovered his fumble on the Peters Township 18-yard line. But the Indians snuffed out any chance the Planets had when Casilli intercepted a Jonathan Quinn pass at the 5. Peters Township then rode the legs of Ryan Magiske from there as the Indians marched 95 yards in seven plays. Five of them were Magiske runs. The last one was a six-yard scoring run that made it 12-0 late in the first quarter.

Magiske added scoring runs of 21 and 3 yards in the second quarter to break the game open for the Indians. He finished with 134 yards rushing on 13 carries in the first half and did not touch the ball again in the second.

“The line did a great job blocking, for sure,” Magiske noted.

Adrian Williams added a 13-yard scoring run and backup quarterback Sam Miller capped a scoring drive in the fourth quarter with a 17-yard run.

Mars running back Teddy Ruffner scored from 12 yards midway through the fourth to avert the shutout. He finished with 84 yards on 11 carries, most of which came against the Indians reserves in the second half.

Plack said he liked what he saw from his players.

“As you can see, they’re happy, but they know what is next,” the coach said.

Magiske added that he is looking forward to the rematch with the Tigers.

“It’ll make us practice that much harder for sure,” he said in reference to preparation for the rematch.