Nov 11, 2022 3 min read

Logan Kushner capped a 79-yard drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak midway through the fourth quarter that gave North Allegheny a 7-0 win over Canon-McMillan in the Class 6A semifinals Friday night.

The wins ends North Allegheny (10-1) into the championship game next Saturday at Norwin High School against Central catholic, a winner over Mt. Lebanon.

Canon-McMillan’s season ends with a 5-6 record but the Big Macs’ defense played near-perfect football for more than three quarters.

North Allegheny began the game’s only scoring drive at its own 21-yard line after a Canon-McMillan punt with 9:55 remaining. Eight plays later, Kushner reached the end one. A key sequence in the drive with a 26-yard run on a jet sweep that was followed by a personal foul penalty against Canon-McMillan that put the ball inside the Big Macs’ 10.

North Allegheny squandered numerous scoring opportunities in the first half. The Tigers missed three field goals and lost a fumble inside the Big Macs’ 15-yard line.

Canon-McMillan’s offense suffered a huge blow on the game’s first play from scrimmage when running back Jake Kasper, who had more than 1,400 yards on the season, went down with an injury and did not return to the game.

Without him, C-M was held to 28 net rushing yards and only five first downs.

The Big Macs did get the better of play in the third quarter. They started a drive after an NA punt at the Tigers’ 47. A 16-yard quarterback sneak by Mike Evans put the ball inside the NA 20, but the Big Macs went backward after that and punted from midfield.

On the next possession, NA had a muffed snap from center on a punt and turned the ball over at its 45, but again the Tigers’ defense stiffened as the Big Macs struggled to generate much offense.

Steel Valley 46, McGuffey 13

Steel Valley quarterback Cruce Brookins rushed for six touchdowns, powering the top-seeded and undefeated Ironmen to a 46-13 victory over McGuffey in a Class 2A quarterfinal game at Campbell Field.

Brookins scored on runs of 63, 8, 27, 3, 17, and 44 yards, finishing the game with more than 300 rushing yards.

McGuffey (8-4) scored the game’s first touchdown but after that it all Steel Valley (10-0).

Kyle Brookman scored on a 14-yard run a little more than two minutes into the game to give McGuffey a 6-0 lead.

Brookins then scored twice in the first quarter and two more times in the second to forge a 27-6 advantage for Steel Valley at halftime.

Brookins scored his fifth touchdown during the third quarter and Donald Barksdale added a 10-yard TD run to make it 40-6.

Brookins added his sixth scoring run before McGuffey capped the scoring with a 52-yard touchdown pass from Phillip McCuen to Tristan McAdoo. It was the first time since the season opener that Steel valley defense had given up more than one touchdown in a game.