Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, Peters Township eliminated

The aches with which Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Peters Township awoke on Nov. 4 summed up the sentiment of the three football clubs upon their elimination from the WPIAL playoffs.
The losses didn’t just signal the end of the season.
“Opportunity lost,” said Jeff Metheny after his Hawks succumbed to Penn Hills 30-28. “It’s a hard pill to swallow because these chances don’t come around that often. But, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We didn’t take care of the ball. We did not tackle well and we were not real physical.”
Not only did Penn Hills overpower the Hawks, they rendered two of their stars unusable in the critical second half. BP led 21-18 at intermission.
Tanner Volpatti left the contest with an injury to his left quad muscle at the start of the third quarter. He had gained 107 yards and had scored two touchdowns to that point. Volpatti ranked among the WPIAL rushing leaders and finished with 1,218 yards this season.
Johnny Doleno, the team’s second-leading rusher, left the game on a stretcher in a neck brace in the fourth quarter. He suffered a concussion. He has since recovered.
Of the loss of both Volpatti and Doleno, Metheny said, “they were big blows. It hurt because we rely on them.”
But the Hawks managed to hang in there until George Freeman ripped the ball away from a BP runner and bolted in the opposition direction for a 22-yard score. Dante Cephas also hauled in the second of his 45-yard-plus scoring grabs to seal BP’s fate.
In the loss, Luke Mattola scored twice for the Hawks, once on a 1-yard run and once on a 6-yard scoring strike from Anthony Chiccitt, who threw for 105 yards.
While BP finished the season at 8-2 after capturing the Southeastern Conference championship, rival Mt. Lebanon lost to North Allegheny, 38-14. It was the second loss to the Tigers (44-27) for the Blue Devils this season.
“The most critical thing in the loss was turnovers and poor special teams play,” Lebo coach Mike Melnyk said. “This led to great opportunities for NA to score and three of our turnovers were in the red zone, preventing us from scoring more points.”
Lebo, like BP, lost a critical player to injury as James Stocker left the game due to a shoulder sprain. He ranked among the WPIAL passing leaders with nearly 2,000 yards and 12 scores. Junior Seth Morgan finished the game and tossed a 22-yard TD to Lucas DeCaro.
Johnny Naylor accounted for the other score on a 6-yard TD run. Lebo scored twice in the second stanza and trailed, 21-14, at halftime.
Despite the defeat, Melnyk was proud of his team’s effort.
“Our kids never quit,” he said. “We were behind in many situations, like 21-0, but we came back to make it 21-14 by halftime. We did the same thing in many of our games this year and I was proud of that.
“I was also proud of the way our entire team stepped up in the face of many injuries. We never quit and the next man always stepped up. Those are great things to build upon for next year as well as many young kids got experience.”
Peters Township (6-5) likewise left room to grow after a 27-20 loss to Central Catholic.
In the see-saw battle, Andre Williams rushed for an 8-yard TD, Luke Mary returned an interception 62 yards for another score and Josh Casilli hauled in a 58-yard strike from Jake Cortes, who finished with 104 yards passing.
“We have a lot to be proud of and build on moving forward,” coach TJ Plack said. “We were blessed with a good group of seniors that provided leadership and modeled how to practice. Our offensive line, all first-year starters, got better as the year went on. We have a good group of young players that contributed both offensively and defensively.”