North Allegheny routs Canon-McMillan, earns rematch with Pine-Richland

By: Shawn Annarelli
Friday, November 1, 2019 | 10:38 PM

Canon-McMillan’s football team looked like it was in a horror movie, and it didn’t have much in the way of answers against nemesis North Allegheny.

The Tigers were relentless Friday night in their 48-7 win over the Big Macs to advance to the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals. It was a welcome win after North Allegheny lost by 28 points to Pine-Richland in its regular season finale.

“After how last week went, the only way to get that out of your mind is to play another game, play well and win,” North Allegheny coach Art Walker said. “We’ve regrouped. We’ve refocused. It’s a brand-new season, and we are fortunate to earn the right to play seven more days of football.”

No. 3 North Allegheny jumped out to a quick lead on the game-opening drive, which ended with quarterback Ben Petschke sneaking it into the end zone.

No. 6 Canon-McMillan lost fumbles on two of its next three plays, and Petschke responded by carving up the Big Macs defense through the air.

Petschke had 140 passing yards and four touchdown passes by halftime. He threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Luke Colella and connected with a returning Khalil Dinkins — he missed the last three weeks of the regular season — for passing scores of 3, 15 and 76 yards.

Dinkins had four receptions for 105 yards.

“Khalil is definitely a great weapon, and we missed him not just offensively, because he does a lot on defense and does a lot of unselfish things on special teams,” Walker said. “We had some guys out, so getting him back is a bright spot. I’m excited for him that he had opportunities to make plays.”

North Allegheny fullback Brady Leczo also had a 10-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 41-0 at halftime.

The Big Macs were led at quarterback by Deuce Lyons, who made the second start of his career at quarterback. He finished 7 of 15 passing for 79 yards and an interception.

Lyons’ 43-yard pass to Blake Joseph in the third quarter set up the Big Macs’ only score, an Isaiah Chandler 1-yard touchdown run.

“He hadn’t practiced at quarterback in more than a year until a few weeks ago,” Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans said. “He’s poised. He has potential to run the ball. He missed a few and made a few throws. We won games with three different quarterbacks this season, and Deuce very well might be our future.”

Joseph, a senior, led Canon-McMillan with eight touches and 95 yards from scrimmage.

Evans played his seniors for most of the game.

“No disrespect to North Allegheny, and no disrespect to our younger kids,” Evans said. “I wanted our seniors to play for as long as they could. … Those kids battle. I’ll always be proud of them.”

North Allegheny will play rival Pine-Richland in the semifinals.

“All three phases have to be better against (Pine-Richland),” Walker said. “There’s a lot of teams that would want to play next week, and we’re fortunate we are, so we have to make the most of this opportunity.”

Tags: Canon-McMillan, North Allegheny