Aliquippa beats McKeesport in OT classic, earns 14th straight trip to WPIAL finals

By: Adam Brewer
Friday, November 19, 2021 | 11:08 PM

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Friday night was the first time since 1959 that the McKeesport and Aliquippa football teams faced each other.

It was definitely worth the wait.

Quentin Goode threw a play-action touchdown pass to a wide-open Jayace Williams on second-and-goal from the 9-yard line in the second overtime as the Quips made it back to the WPIAL championship game for the 14th consecutive season with a 27-21 victory over the Tigers in an instant classic in the Class 4A semifinals Friday night at Canon-Mac Stadium.

“We were content to kick a field goal there and set something up in the middle for our kicker,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said. “But one of our coaches said it might be the perfect time to fake the run and see if Quentin can find an open guy. It was all about execution. Our tight end ran up the middle and caught the pass. Kudos to those kids and the whole offense for making that play work for us.”

The Quips (10-1) improved to 16-1 in the semifinals since 2003 and will be looking for their 18th district title and first since 2018. Aliquippa faces No. 1 Belle Vernon, a 21-7 winner over Thomas Jefferson in the other semifinal, at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Heinz Field.

“We played them last year (in the semifinals),” Warfield said. “They are an excellent program with a good coaching staff. They have their playmakers and we have to contain them. For us, we have to play mistake-free football and tackle better. I got mad respect for Belle Vernon.”

The Tigers (9-3) were the hard-luck losers despite being undersized up front. McKeesport, which drops to 2-6 in the semifinals since 2005 and couldn’t advance to the finals for the first time since 2016, fought the whole night and into overtime but came up short.

McKeesport led 14-0 midway through the first half, then held a 21-14 edge going into the fourth quarter.

“It was a game of inches and we didn’t have some plays go our way,” McKeesport coach Matt Miller said. “It was a battle between two good teams, and they made the plays at the end for the win.”

In the first overtime, Aliquippa, which improves to 6-5 versus McKeesport, turned the ball over on downs at the 3-yard line. McKeesport ran three plays to set-up a 24-yard field goal by Milton Campos, but the kick barely went wide left and the intense contest continued into a second extra session.

After the Tigers fumbled on their drive in the second overtime, the Quips found the game-winning score on the play-action pass to send the Aliquippa fans into a frenzy and the No. 2 seed to Heinz Field.

After McKeesport was only able to pick up one first down on its opening drive of the game, Aliquippa quickly took control and got into the red zone after picking up five first downs. The one key conversion on the drive was a pass interference call against the Tigers in the end zone on fourth-and-11 at the 29-yard line.

Despite the lengthy drive, the Quips failed to score as Tiqwai Hayes fumbled the ball into the end zone and Shayne McGraw recovered for the No. 3 Tigers.

The Tigers grabbed a 7-0 lead four plays later when Bobbie Boyd took an inside handoff and went nearly untouched up the middle for a 47-yard touchdown with 2:04 left in the first quarter.

McKeesport doubled its lead to 14-0 on its next drive when quarterback Caleb Reist faked an inside handoff and took the ball off tackle for a 34-yard score with 9:35 left in the second stanza.

Reist recorded an interception on defense to end an Aliquippa drive, but McKeesport went three-and-out and had a short punt. Seven plays later the Quips broke through and Jon Tracy took a 2-yard plunge into the end zone to cut the deficit to 14-7.

The Quips got the ball right back on the ensuing kickoff, as a squib kick bounced off one of the blockers for the Tigers and Jon Sparrow recovered the loose ball.

On fourth-and-1, Hayes broke loose and tallied a 25-yard touchdown to knot things up at 14-14.

The only score in the third quarter was made on defense by the Tigers, as Boyd stepped in front of a pass by Goode and recorded a 65-yard pick-six to give McKeesport a 21-14 lead.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Aliquippa countered and Hayes collected a 2-yard plunge into the end zone to make the score 21-21 with 9:19 left in regulation. The freshman tailback toted the rock 39 times for 218 yards.

“Tiqwai battled back from the fumble in the first quarter and didn’t blink the rest of the game,” Warfield said. “He is a solid back and he gets stronger as the game goes along. He is a physical runner that loves running in between the tackles. We knew we had to run the ball and slow down their rushing attack. Our defense was great in the second half and they read their keys against their flexbone.”

Boyd was the leading catalyst for the Tigers on offense, running for 129 yards on 20 carries.

Both teams turned the ball over on downs later in the fourth, and Aliqiuppa’s Emmanuel Gyadu-Mantey had his 43-yard field goal blocked on the final play of regulation to set up a wild overtime.

“They have a big front, but our line was solid and we ran good stuff at them,” Miller said. “All in all, our offense couldn’t get that last score. The defense was so good for us. We were out-sized there too. It just came down to the fourth quarter and overtime.”

Tags: Aliquippa, McKeesport