Peters Township rolls, stays on unbeaten path
McMURRAY – Folks who closely watch the Peters Township football team probably wondered how this powerful group would respond if they got punched in the face.
Friday night presented that opportunity as the Moon Tigers arrived at Confluence Financial Partners Stadium with clenched fists and a desire to engage in a brawl, in the football sense.
For three quarters or so, the Tigers were in the hunt and a thorn in Peters Township’s side, but the fourth quarter belonged to the hosts, especially Carter Shanafelt as he scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to help the Indians pull away to a 40-7 win over Moon in Allegheny Six play.
Peters moves to 2-0 and 6-0 overall and will see Mt. Lebanon next week in non-conference play.
“They are a very tough team,” Peters Township coach TJ Plack said referring to Moon. “We made some mistakes in the first half, fumbled the ball twice. But we found somethings that they were doing and we were able to capitalize in the second half.”
Peters Township, after multiple chances to extend their halftime lead in the third quarter, finally put some space between them and the Tigers when Vinny Sarcone blasted in from 12 yards out, capping a 53 yard march and giving the Indians a 19-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Indians finally put the game away when Nolan DiLucia found Shanafelt for a backbreaking 66 yard touchdown connection to give Peters Township a 26-7 advantage with 8:57 left in the game.
Shanafelt struck again with a 74-yard catch and run out of a middle screen pass to paydirt and a 33-7 lead a mere two minutes after his previous score.
Shanafelt decided he wanted to partake in the fun on defense when he intercepted a Andrew Cross pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown, making the score 40-7 at the 6:27 mark of the fourth.
Shanafelt finished with six receptions for 172 yards on the night. DiLucia completed 10 of 20 passes for 219 yards.
“We knew what we had to do, just stay consistent coming out of halftime,” Shanafelt added. “They stacked the box to stop the run and it opened it up for us to hit some throws.”
The always stifling Peters Township defense was again stout, holding the Tigers to 100 yards of total offense.
“They just work so tirelessly over there on the defensive side of the ball,” Plack added. “We’re tough and physical. Like I’ve said time and again, our guys on the backside can cover and come up and tackle the Wing T teams like this.:
The Moon defense made life miserable in the first half for the Indians offense, forcing two early turnovers that gave the Tigers (1-1, 3-4) early momentum.
Peters Township’s initial possession ended when Preston Blair fumbled near midfield after a 12 yard run that Moon recovered.
Though Moon did nothing with the possession, their special teams threw a blow when Nick Clemens blocked a DiLucia punt that was eventually advanced to the Indians 36.
The Indians defense responded in kind when they forced Moon to punt.
Peters Township moved the ball to near midfield when disaster struck for the Indians offense. Clemens again announced his presence when he gobbled up a botched exchange and rumbled 46 yards to the Indians 5.
Three plays later, Josh Bladel took it in from the three, giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter and putting the Indians behind for the first time since week 2 at Trinity.
Following an exchange of punts, Peters Township finally got it in gear when DiLucia decided to keep it himself and race 91 yards through a stunned Moon defense for a score. The extra point failed, leaving the Moon lead at 7-6 with 3:27 left in the half.
Peters Township’s defense forced another three and out and got the ball back to the offense with a little more than two minutes left in the half. The Indians used that time to take the lead when DiLucia fired home a four yard touchdown pass to Shanafelt with seven seconds left in the quarter, giving the hosts a 13-7 halftime lead.