Peters Township claims WPIAL crown
Indians rebound from a 19-point deficit
Panic may be a great entry for a daily Wordle puzzle, but it’s never an applicable five-letter word found in the vocabulary of the Peters Township High School football team.
The sudden sensation of fear did not overwhelm the Indians even when they found themselves trailing top-seeded Pine-Richland (11-2) by 19 points at halftime in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game played Nov. 22 at Acrisure Stadium. No, the Indians calmly collected themselves and roared back to score a 20-19 victory.
“I wasn’t concerned at halftime,” said Peters Township senior captain Nolan DiLucia. “I love this team. I have faith in this team. I have their backs and they have mine.”
Peters Township head coach TJ Plack agreed. He said that he dispensed no Knute Rockne rousing words at intermission.
“I promise you it was nothing that I said. I just knew that we were not going to go out like that,” he said. “We could feel sorry for each other or we could adjust and get back out there.”
Win or lose, DiLucia knew the Indians would outwork the Rams in the second half.
“I knew exactly what we had to do when we came out at halftime and that we would work hard. We just stuck to what we could control. If we didn’t come out with the win, I know that we would work our butts off.”
Cole Neupaver certainly did that. The senior tailback rolled up 101 of his 107 rushing yards in the final 24 minutes. Seventy-four of them came on a touchdown run that put the Indians on the scoreboard with 7:47 to play in the third quarter and set the rally in motion.
“That was a huge turn of events,” Neupaver said. “It gave us a ton of energy.
DiLucia agreed. “(Neupaver) got us back into it and he kept getting us back,” he said. “We just had to give him a little bit of room and he’d do the rest.”
After DiLucia connected with Reston Lehman on a fourth-down conversion, Neupaver struck again. Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, he carried defenders on his back as he pushed the pigskin over the goal line for a 22-yard rushing score.
Another four-down completion from DiLucia to Lucas Rost, set up Neupaver’s third touchdown. His one-yard plunge into the end zone tied the game and Anthony Maiello’s extra point made it 20-19 with 4:50 remaining.
“(Neupaver) got us some momentum there,” Plack said of his first score. “In football, it’s a game of momentum,” Plack said. “We got right back into it there and it just kept snowballing, snowballing and snowballing,” he enthused. “It was awesome.”
Things were not so great for the Indians in the first half. Pine-Richland held Peters Township’s potent offense (33.5 points per game) to just 38 yards. Meanwhile, the Rams rolled up 205 yards and 19 points.
Ohio State commit Jay Timmons capped Pine-Richland’s opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown run at the 7:04 mark in the first quarter. At 10:55 of the second stanza, Aaron Strader tacked on a 3-yard score. Both of the 2-point conversion attempts by the Rams failed, however.
With 4:13 remaining in the first half, Strader completed a 23-yard scoring strike to Khalil Taylor and Brody Walkowski connected on the extra point to expand the Pine Richland lead to 19-0.
“We did absolutely everything wrong and got beat up in that first half,” Plack said. “I can say I was surprised (by our comeback) but I really wasn’t because we are resilient.”
Peters Township’s defense, which has recorded five shutouts this fall and allowed 7.8 points per game, was stout, particularly in the second half as the Indians limited the Rams to 54 yards of offense
James Spratt led the charge. He racked up 22 tackles, recovered a fumble and shared in one sack. Lehman, a Pitt recruit, followed with nine tackles, a forced fumble and a sack.
A Villanova commit, DiLucia added eight tackles and Rost managed seven. Gabe Kita forced a fumble and had a sack to go along with four tackles.
Another defensive highlight occurred when Jeremy Poletti picked off a pass at the 5-yard line that prevented a potential score on Pine-Richland’s second possession of the game.
With the win, Peters Township improved to 13-0 overall and advanced to play Bishop McDevitt (11-1) in the PIAA semifinals on Nov. 29 at Mansion Park Stadium.
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The triumph was also the second WPIAL title in three years. Peters Township, which played in the 2019 and 2020 and 2024 finals, won a district championship in 2023, beating Pine-Richland, 43-17.
“This is the school’s second one now and I’m part of both of them,” said DiLucia. “It feels amazing to bring the trophy back to Peters Township. It’s legendary and I’m just so happy to be with this team and know these brothers got my back for life.”
DiLucia is leaving a legacy at Peters Township. He headed into the PIAA semifinals having passed for 2,352 yards and 21 touchdowns this season. In his career, he has passed for 8,565 yards, ranking him third in the district all-time.
“He’s a tough, tough, tough leader,” Plack emphasized. “Hopefully we get one more game with him. I don’t want to see him go, not because he’s a great football player on both sides of the ball but because he’s a great kid, student and fine young man.”