PT leaning on dominant defense
T.J. Plack admits some of the doubt that can creep in.
When you’ve been as close as the Peters Township High School football coach and the Indians have been to winning a WPIAL championship, it is only a natural feeling.
In 2019, a heavy downpour concealed the tears of a one-point, heartbreaking loss to Gateway in the district title game. One year later, Peters Township fell victim to a dominant Pine-Richland team in the same game.
“You’ve got to push it out,” Plack adamantly said about any doubts. “Can you win the big one could be in the back of your head.”
But top-seeded Peters Township (10-0), which has seemingly turned itself into a perennial playoff contender under Plack, will start another run at an evasive WPIAL championship Friday night in a Class 5A first-round game against No. 8 seed Franklin Regional (6-4) at Confluence Financial Partners Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
“Our goal was to get into the playoffs and get the best seed,” Plack said. “Now our goal is to win a WPIAL championship. To not overlook anybody. To win the next game in front of us. That’s all we talk about as a program.”
With a balanced offense and dangerous special teams units, Peters Township might rely most on its calling card for the last several years – an eccentric defense that has suffocated and stopped opponents all season.
Using a 3-3-5 formation, which includes five defensive backs and fewer defined defensive lineman and linebackers, the Indians have held teams to only 6.5 points per game, the lowest in the entire WPIAL. Only five other teams – Bishop Canevin, South Side Beaver, California, Washington and Steel Valley – are giving up fewer than 10 points per game.
Peters Township has four shutouts, allowed opponents to reach double digits only twice all year, those coming in the final two games, against Canon-McMillan and Bethel Park. Until what turned into a one-sided “shootout” in which Bethel Park scored 28 points, the Indians’ impressive points against numbers were even more staggering.
“We have a bunch of guys on the back end that can cover and tackle,” Plack said. “We aren’t big over here in Peters Township. Our defensive linemen aren’t your typical three techniques that are six-foot whatever and 280 pounds. Our guys are strong, explosive and active. Our outside linebackers have been long and athletic. It’s really all about your guys. It just fits us.”
Cornerback Eliot Schratz leads the team in interceptions (seven) and in tackles. The Indians largest starter on the defensive line weighs just 235 pounds.
Franklin Regional enters the postseason on a two-game skid with losses to North Hills and Penn-Trafford to end the regular season The Panthers did have a stretch in the middle of the season when they rattled off four straight victories by scoring at least 37 points in all four games.
What might make Peters Township’s defense so unflappable is the pressure taken off it by the offense, which uses a balanced attack that has failed to score fewer than 31 points in any game all season.
“I find it so astonishing,” Plack said of his defense. “How many years have we been top-5 in the WPIAL (on defense)? We changed our defense a few years ago. We have refined everything and it’s grown and grown every single year. Now, I think more people are realizing because our offense is improved. We are scoring. We are putting together drives and keeping our defense fresh.
“We have three really good units that all help one another. Defense and having a run game travel. That’s what it is. No matter what the weather, those things will be there.”
D-lightful The top six defenses in the WPIAL in terms of points allowed per game: 6.5 - Peters Township 8.1 - South Side Beaver 8.9 - Bishop Canevin 9.7 - Steel Valley 9.8 - Washington 9.9 - California
The top six WPIAL defense in the WPIAL in terms of points allowed per game:
6.5 — Peters Township
8.1 — South Side Beaver
8.9 — Bishop Canevin
9.7 — Steel Valley
9.8 — Washington
9.9 — California