Peters Township reflects on season after P-R loss
Indians finish as WPIAL runners-up
The high school football season did not end the way Peters Township planned. While the Indians had hoped to successfully defend their WPIAL title, they succumbed, 20-9, to Pine-Richland on Nov. 23 at Acrisure Stadium in the Class 5A championship game.
“We are obviously disappointed in the outcome, but realize that there were two real good football teams out there. One had to win and the other lose,” said Peters Township coach TJ Plack. “It was a hard fought game on both sides, similar stats both offensively and defensively for each team, and young men that put it all on the line.”
For the second year in a row, the Indians battled the Rams for the championship. They won their only district title in 2023 with a decisive win over Pine-Richland, 43-17, at Norwin Stadium. In the 2020 final, the Indians also lost to the Rams, who have captured nine championships in school history, five of them since 2018.
“They’re a good team,” Plack said. “On the stat sheet everything was relatively even. They were just able to make one or two more splash plays than us.”
Tanner Cunningham made most of those. He hauled in a 64-yard scoring strike from Aaron Strader to give the Rams a 10-6 lead with 68 seconds left in the second quarter. On defense, he recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass intended for Mickey Vaccarello in the end zone to thwart Peters Township’s attempt at a comeback with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter.
“We had our opportunity to tighten the game up,” Plack said. “We did not execute.”
Throughout the 2024 campaign, however, the Indians did execute.
Despite heavy losses to graduation from last year’s PIAA runner-up squad that finished 15-1 overall, Peters Township persevered. The Indians finished runner-up in the Allegheny Six Conference and avenged their one loss to Upper St. Clair, beating the Panthers, 7-3, in the district semifinals. Peters Township finished 11-2 overall this fall.
“Our goal was to improve every week, and we did accomplish that goal,” Plack “We lost some good players from last year’s team, but had guys more than capable of taking their place this season.
“The main difference we had to overcome this season was depth, not only in the starting lineup but also our scout teams. We were able to find guys to fit into some key backup roles and other guys began to flourish on the scout team.”
As he did in 2023, Nolan DiLucia thrived as quarterback for the Indians. The junior passed for more than 2,500 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushed for 530 more yards.
During the championship contest against the Rams, DiLucia completed 16 of 27 attempts for 161 yards and a 23-yard scoring strike to Eli Prado. DiLucia also rushed for 101 yards as he endured heavy pressure from the Ram defense that recorded four sacks and held the Indians to only one other score – a 29-yard field goal by Anthony Maiello that narrowed the gap to 10-9 at halftime.
Jay Timmons caught a 22-yard TD pass from Strader and Grant Argiro kicked a 47-yard field goal in the third quarter to complete Pine-Richland’s scoring. Argiro also kicked a 24-yard field goal to give the Rams the lead, 3-0, with 7:22 to play in the first half.
The Indians had several seniors step up during the season.
While Nick McCullough amassed over 1,000 yards receiving and Prado ranked second behind him, both played key roles on defense as did Vaccarello, a Stanford recruit, Darius McMillon, Nick Courie, Franco Muscatello and Zack Stromock. The Indians ranked among the top defenses in the WPIAL, allowing just 10 points per game.
Other key seniors on both sides of the line were Andreas Aboud and Caden Thompson as well as William Mitchell.
Plack acknowledged the contributions of the seniors, who have posted a 39-12 record over four seasons and played in two WPIAL finals.
“Every year, your senior class is hit with the realization that this was their last high school football game,” Plack said. “The last time suiting up and going into a week of preparation, and the last time taking the field together.
“As coaches, it is also a time that we realize we will no longer have these young men in the weight room, at fundraising events, walking the hallways with their jersey, seeing the determination in the eyes pregame or at halftime, and relying on them on Friday nights. They will miss their high school experience, and we as coaches will miss their contributions to our program.”
The track record of the seniors and those who played before will dictate the path of future players, including those moving up a grade in the program.
In addition to DiLucia, Reston Lehman, a major Division I prospect, is expected to keep the Indians in the mix among top 5A teams in 2025 along with Lucas Shanafelt and Lucas Rost.
DiLucia, Lehman, Shanafelt and Rost are juniors along with Peter Luke, Joey Wertman, Jackson Hardcastle, Ian Watson, Cole Neupaver, Jeremy Poletti, Matthew Artman, Eli Washington, Nick Perry, Mark Ripepi, James Spratt, Ryan Dougherty, Brian Moskal, Gabe Kita, Keenan Doran, Alex Klein, Parker Shaughnessy, Tanner Shaw, Max Cortes, Hayden Edmonds, Owen Taimuty and Maiello.
“The culture and expectations that were created years ago by our players is still upheld today,” Plack said. “It’s a big part of the resiliency of our program.
“The future holds a bunch of hard work and team bonding,” he continued. “We will be faced with new challenges and situations that our players will have to overcome. The expectation will forever be the same, 1-0.”