PT’s defense stands tall in the end
ALTOONA – Peters Township’s defense has been a force all season long, but it had to make one more stop during Friday’s game against Cocalico in the semifinals of the PIAA Class 5A football championship at Mansion Park.
The Indians were clinging to a 14-9 lead when the Eagles blocked a punt and had the ball with a first-and-goal at the 7. Cocalico gained five yards on three plays before facing a fourth-and-goal from the two.
The Eagles’ Dane Horning ran to the right but faced a wall of Peters Township defenders and was almost tackled before pitching the ball to Dane Bollinger, who was tackled short of the end zone and the Indians took over on downs and ran out the final seconds of the game for a 14-9 victory.
“That is a pretty good team over there, and they played with hearts of lions,” Peters Township coach TJ Plack said. “I don’t mess around with the defense. That’s above my pay grade. We play an aggressive style of defense where our reads are everything.”
Cocalico coach Bryan Strohl praised the play of his team and gave Horning credit for pitching the ball to Bollinger knowing the play was on fourth down.
“That was a very heads up play by Dane (Horning),” Strohl said. “He knew it was fourth down and tried to make a play. We have a tremendous group of kids, and I am proud of them with the way they fought back. We tried to make some adjustments at halftime. We weren’t going to leave anything in the playbook tonight. We missed a couple of plays early on, but there is so much that goes on in a game like this.”
Peters Township (15-0) continues its perfect season and plays Imhotep Charter next Friday at Chapman Field on the campus of Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg for the state championship. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“The moment can’t be too big, but we enjoy it, and we are excited to play another game,” Plack said. “We love playing, we love coaching, we love preparing and we have a great group of kids. I’m sad we only have one more game.”
The Indians faced several tribulations prior to kickoff as starting lineman Franco Muscatello was out for the game and the team bus had a flat tire just after leaving McMurray.
“He (Muscatello) was out but Matt Miller came in and did a great job,” Plack said. “He filled in nicely at guard. Matt went out at the beginning of the season with an ankle and knee and fought his way back. I forgot all about the bus. Hopefully, we get home.”
The Eagles (13-2) took the lead with 6:23 left in the second quarter on Todd Becker’s 24-yard field goal to cap an 18-play drive that took 8 minutes and 18 seconds.
Following Becker’s kick, the Indians marched down the field and took the lead on Nolan DiLucia’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Carter Shanafelt, who pulled in the pass while being double covered. Shanafelt was shaken up on the play and Anthony Maiello booted the extra point with 3:42 left in the second quarter.
Peters Township forced the Eagles to punt on their next drive and scored with 16 seconds left in the half as Thomas Aspinall caught a 14-yard pass from DiLucia and was able to keep his toe in bounds and Shanafelt came on to kick the extra point for a 14-3 advantage that the Indians took into halftime. Peters Township needs 27 seconds to march 44 yards into the end zone.
DiLucia was 15 of 25 for 161 yards with two touchdowns. Aspinall caught six passes for 54 yards and Shanafelt pulled in two receptions for 56 yards.
The Indians’ Vinny Sarcone gained 86 yards on 18 carries.
“We missed on some plays,” Plack said. “Especially, early in the game. We have to do a better job moving forward.”
The Indians couldn’t get much going offensively in the second half but Peters Township’s defense was up to the task.
“We have some great defenses in our league, and the other coaches know that, but there is no weakness on Peters Township’s defense,” Strohl said. “They have guys that can stop you up the middle, and if you try and go outside, their guys are very fast. Plus, they have a quarterback that can sling it, solid receivers and a running game. They are the complete package.”
Cocalico scored on the opening drive of the second half, as quarterback Josh Myer rolled out on a bootleg to his left and raced 25 yards into the end zone at 9:47 of the third quarter. The Eagles attempted the two-point conversion but the Indians stopped the run short of the end zone.
Myer ran 17 times for 78 yards.