Second half, victory belong to Peters Twp.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Nick Courie (27) puts a hit on South Fayette quarterback Nico Lamonde (13) and forces a fumble that turned into a touchdown for Peters Township. The Indians play tonight at Upper St. Clair in a battle of unbeatens.
Nick Courie (27) puts a hit on South Fayette quarterback Nico Lamonde and forces a fumble that turned into a touchdown for Peters Township.
Reston Lehman (14) gathers in a South Fayette fumble and returns it for a 14-yard Peters Township. On the previous offensive possession, Reston hauled in a touchdown catch.
Richie Woods (22) fends off Nate Deanes (1) as he reaches for the end zone. Woods was stopped inside the 5-yard line but the Indians scored.
Peters Township’s Brendan McCullough hauls in a catch as South Fayette’s Dom Monz closes in. McCullough leads the WPIAL with 600 receiving yards. Peters Township plays tonight at Upper St. Clair in a battle of undefeated teams.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Nate Deanes (1) bolts 35 yards into the end zone for South Fayette's first score against Peters Township.
Dom Monz (2) makes the reception despite being heavily defended by Ethan Wertman (4) then bolts 67 yards for a South Fayette touchdown.
Dom Monz (2) sprints to the end zone after making the reception against defender Ethan Wertman. The score went for 67 yards.
Spence Hondru is off to the races after picking off a pass intended for Richie Woods (22). The Pick-6 went for 91 yards.
Nate Deanes
South Fayette’s Nate Deanes intercepts a pass and Peters Township’s Ethan Keener (5) is unable to contain him during conference action Friday night.
Eleanor Bailey/ The Almanac
McMURRAY – After three weeks of non-conference play, league games have officially begun in Western Pennsylvania. In a Class 5A Allegheny Six matchup Friday night, the Peters Township Indians came back to defeat South Fayette, 42-28.
South Fayette was leading 21-14 at halftime, but adjustments made by Peters Township gave them the upper edge. The Indians outscored the Lions 28-7 in the second half, making play after play to get them the win.
“We didn’t make any (adjustments),” head coach TJ Plack of Peters Township said. “We use a four-quarter game. … We knew we had the ball coming out in the second half. All we had to do is drive and put the ball in the end zone and play those last two quarters.”
“We thought our kids played hard at times,” South Fayette coach Joe Rossi said. “We hung in there for a little while, but we got to be much better.”
Peters Township opened the scoring with a three-yard touchdown run by Richie Woods with 9:50 left in the first to make it 7-0 with the made extra point. South Fayette took less than a minute to respond with a 35-yard run by Nate Deanes to tie the score at 7-7 with 9:05 in the first.
The Lions found the end zone once more that quarter on a 67-yard connection between Nico Lamonde and Dom Monz. The PAT was botched, however, leaving it 13-7 with 6:34 left.
With 1:13 in the first, the Indians took the lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Chris Cibrone to Brendan McCullough to make it 14-13.
What looked like another touchdown drive by Peters Township suddenly became points for South Fayette when Cibrone was picked off by Spence Hondru, who returned it 91 yards for a pick-six with 8:09 before halftime. Lamonde hit Wesmyn Wright on the two-point conversion to make it 21-14 going into halftime.
In the second half, Deanes grabbed two interceptions before either team scored, but it ended up being the Indians to score first on a Cibrone touchdown pass to Reston Lehman. Lehman scored again on the defensive side a few plays later, on a 14-yard fumble return, to make it 28-21 in favor of Peters Township.
Cibrone turned to his legs to score when he got a three-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to two scores in the fourth quarter.
South Fayette made it a one-score game again on a Deanes’ one-yard TD run, but Cibrone ran it in again from nine yards out to put the game away at 42-28.
“We have to be able to finish,” Rossi said. “It’s been that way all season. We haven’t finished. It’s up to us to get back to the drawing board.”
“A well-coached team,” Plack said about South Fayette. “A hard-fought game. Rossi does a great job over there in all aspects of the game.”
South Fayette (0-1, 2-2) looks to bounce back as it hosts Canon-McMillan at home for their next game. Peters Township (1-0, 4-0) will visit Upper St. Clair in another conference matchup.