Peters Township forces 7 turnovers, takes down Penn-Trafford

By: Andy Stanko
Friday, September 18, 2020 | 10:39 PM

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Peters Township had no preseason scrimmage or Week 1 game, but an early defensive score set the tone as the Indians forced seven turnovers and overcame a late Penn-Trafford (1-1, 1-0 Big East) rally to defeat the Warriors, 24-21, in a Class 5A nonconference game.

Senior defensive back Breylen Carrington had a night to remember, intercepting Penn-Trafford’s Ethan Carr four times and returning two for touchdowns. Carrington played only in the second half of last season because of an injury and played only offense in the Indians’ 2019 postseason run.

“I was happy to see him have a lot of success tonight because last year was very difficult for him,” Indians coach T.J. Plack said. “So tonight was awesome for him. We’ve had some good DBs here, and I think he did more in one game than our guys have ever done in one game.”

Penn-Trafford ran into trouble fielding the game’s opening kickoff as the Warriors were pinned at their own 10 yard-line. After losing 8 yards on the first two plays from scrimmage, Carr flung a pass from his own end zone that was intercepted by Carrington, who returned it 23 yards for a touchdown.

“It was great because we needed it because we didn’t have a scrimmage or a game,” Plack said. “We were worried about the first quarter. We wanted the ball first to get our guys used to the speed and then go against their offense, but our defensive guys and coordinators did a phenomenal job of game planning against these guys.”

On the ensuing possession, Penn-Trafford methodically drove 73 yards and tied the score with a 16-yard strike from Carr to Chase Vecchio with 6 minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“I felt that was a great response by the guys,” Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane said. “That’s a terrible start and a bad tone-setter, and then we had a really good drive to get down the field and put points on the board.:

Peters (1-0, 0-0 Allegheny 6) responded with a 73-yard scoring drive of its own, capped by an 11-yard TD run by Vincent Sirianni.

Neither team scored in the second quarter as mistakes and penalties weighed down opportunities for both sides. Carrington added a pair of interceptions to his total, sinking two Penn-Trafford drives in Peters Township territory.

“We moved the ball decently between the 30s,” Ruane said. “I think we had two really bad drive-killing penalties in the first half. We couldn’t seem to seize momentum. Credit Peters for that.”

The third quarter was more of the same with neither team able to capitalize offensively. After a defensive stop, Penn-Trafford muffed a handoff, and Austin McKinnon pounced on the football for Peters Township. An offensive pass interference penalty set the Indians back, and they settled for a 43-yard field-goal attempt that sailed wide left.

Carrington struck again with 7:36 to play in the third quarter, intercepting his fourth pass of the game and scampering 32 yards for his second TD to put the Indians ahead 21-7.

Early in the fourth quarter, Carr connected with Brad Ford for a 37-yard touchdown strike to pull the Warriors (1-1) within 21-14. Less than a minute later, Cole Darragh intercepted a Logan Pfeuffer pass and returned it 29 yards, barreling into the end zone to tie the score with 10:36 left in regulation.

“We turned the football over seven times, which is appalling,” Ruane said. “Our defense kept answering the bell and even scored a touchdown to tie the game up. Kudos to our defense. They do this every year for us and tonight was no exception.”

Peters Township converted a key third-and-8 on the following drive with Pfeuffer hitting Vincent Sirianni out of the backfield to flip field position and gain momentum. Several plays later, the Indians navigated into field goal range, and junior kicker Andrew Massucci split the uprights from 35 yards to give the Indians a 24-21 lead they would never relinquish.

“We’ve had guys who have played a lot of games with us and won a lot of games,” Plack said. “It’s a senior-laden team, and we have some really good juniors so I expected them to play like this.”

McKinnon intercepted Carr for Peters Township’s seventh takeaway on the ensuing possession, and an intentional grounding penalty thwarted Penn-Trafford’s last hope late in the fourth quarter.

“I’m just happy to start the season and get this one out of the way,” Plack said.

Watch an archived broadcast of this game at Trib HSSN.

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Peters Township