Leopards’ loss to Quips ‘devastating’
Belle Vernon did plenty of good things early in the game and again late, but Aliquippa dominated the middle and that carried the Quips to a 33-25 victory over the Leopards in a WPIAL Class 4A semifinal game Friday night.
Top-seeded Aliquippa (9-0) wiped away a 13-point second-quarter deficit by scoring 26 unanswered points. The Quips will play second-seeded Thomas Jefferson in the WPIAL title game next Saturday. Thomas Jefferson held off Plum, 20-17, in the other semifinal.
It will be Aliquippa无毛视频檚 13th consecutive appearance in the WPIAL finals.
The fourth-seeded Leopards were seeking a second straight trip to the championship game and coach Matt Humbert was confident his team could get back there and win it.
无毛视频淲e felt great going in,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淓ven with losing our starting free safety and tailback, we still felt we were on really good footing.
无毛视频淭he best way to catalog the loss was that it was devastating to us because we did feel this was our year. We wanted to get back in that game (WPIAL final) and to play TJ again. I felt terrible for our kids and our coaches.无毛视频�
Belle Vernon (6-2) started quickly, scoring on the game无毛视频檚 second offensive play, and leading 13-0 in the first quarter and 19-7 in the second quarter.
无毛视频淲e scored twice right off the bat, and then we had a wide open receiver and didn无毛视频檛 complete that pass,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淭hat would无毛视频檝e put us up right there with 19-20 points and maybe the outcome would无毛视频檝e been different.无毛视频�
Two short touchdown runs by Karl McBride, one set up by Belle Vernon quarterback Devon Whitlock无毛视频檚 fumble, gave Aliquippa a 20-19 halftime lead.
无毛视频淒evin is what makes the machine roll, we wouldn无毛视频檛 be here without him,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淗e had a nice little run for a first down and he got wrapped up and fumbled, and they scored off that.
无毛视频淭he key was us making mistakes. We made mistakes in the kicking game, we made mistakes defensively, we made mistakes offensively. I无毛视频檓 to blame, too. I wear this loss as much as anybody does.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 not trying to downplay Aliquippa. The idea that they无毛视频檙e a Single-A team, you can throw that out the window because they无毛视频檙e a solid football program and anyone who knows anything about high school football around here realizes that.无毛视频�
Vaughn Morris passed 26 yards to Dorius Moreland to make it 27-19 in the third quarter. Morris completed 13-of-27 passes for 214 yards.
Humbert tipped his hat to Aliquippa无毛视频檚 coaching staff.
无毛视频淭hey like to run the ball with the tight ends-fullback set. We felt like we really matched up well against that,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淭hen they came out in two-by-two and spread and threw the ball a majority of the time. We knew they could throw, but we weren无毛视频檛 expecting that was going to be their game plan.
无毛视频淜udos for them for realizing they probably would无毛视频檝e had a hard time running the ball on us and deviating from that.无毛视频�
Vernon Redd bolted 17 yards off left tackle in the fourth quarter to give the Quips a 33-19 advantage with 6:27 remaining.
Whitlock, who scored three touchdowns, rambled 39 yards for a score that pulled the Leopards to within 33-25 with 4:32 remaining. Aliquippa, however, was able to run out the clock.
Belle Vernon took a 6-0 lead only two plays into the game when freshman Quinton Martin raced 47 yards for a touchdown. Martin also had two interceptions on defense.
Whitlock gave Belle Vernon a 13-0 lead when he returned an Aliquippa punt 64 yards for a touchdown with 2:53 left in the first quarter. Whitlock finished with 151 yards rushing on 24 carries.
Aliquippa finally scored when Morris scrambled 12 yards for a touchdown in the first minute of the second quarter.
After the ensuing kickoff, Whitlock bolted 76 yards to the Aliquippa 3-yard line. He scored on the next play to give the Leopards a 19-7 lead, but Belle Vernon would not score again for more than 30 minutes of game time as turnovers proved costly.
McBride put the Quips in front with TD runs of two and three yards.
Belle Vernon blocked an Aliquippa punt in the third quarter and Martin returned his second interception to the Quips无毛视频� 40 early in the fourth quarter. However, the Leopards were unable to convert either of those big plays into points.
无毛视频淲e didn无毛视频檛 take advantage of opportunities,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淲e were able to get three turnovers. It really came down to we didn无毛视频檛 score one touchdown off those turnovers.无毛视频�
While Belle Vernon proved it was on a par with the Quips, that didn无毛视频檛 make the result any easier for Humbert and his squad to swallow.
无毛视频淭his is one of the toughest losses that I, personally, have had to deal with because I was just so confident in our kids,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淭hat game could无毛视频檝e went either way and when you lose a close one like that 无毛视频� that无毛视频檚 a tough one to deal with.无毛视频�
It was Humbert无毛视频檚 and his players无毛视频� first trip to Carl A. Aschman Stadium, a grass field known affectionately as 无毛视频淭he Pit.无毛视频�
无毛视频淭he field conditions weren无毛视频檛 great, but they weren无毛视频檛 terrible,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淚t was worth being able to play in that type of atmosphere. The best way to explain it is it无毛视频檚 like if you walked back into 1920. I don无毛视频檛 mean that in a negative way at all. It was cool. It was awesome. I felt the kids really enjoyed playing there.无毛视频�
Although he无毛视频檚 reluctant to turn the page, Humbert did admit the Leopards无毛视频� program is on stable ground and has high hopes again for 2021.
无毛视频淚 guess the remedy is just looking at next year,无毛视频� Humbert said. 无毛视频淭he nice thing is we return a lot of kids. Our entire linebacking corps with the exception of one player comes back. With Quinton there now we无毛视频檒l have three returning starters in the secondary. O-line-wise we无毛视频檝e got three guys back, and all but one of our receivers is back.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檝e also got a large underclassmen group coming up that really has everything. We无毛视频檝e got linebackers, receivers, quarterbacks, linemen. If we can expediate the learning curve with the young kids, I think we无毛视频檙e going to be solid.无毛视频�
The great strides Martin has made in his freshman year gives Belle Vernon a second dangerous weapon in addition to Whitlock next year.
无毛视频淨uinton was our tailback in our spread stuff and he started at receiver for us. But when Dane Anden got hurt, we pushed him into that (starting tailback) role and he did real well in the three games Dane wasn无毛视频檛 there. He无毛视频檚 a kid who has a ton of upside. It无毛视频檚 nice to have Devin but it无毛视频檚 nice to have Quinton as a complementary asset, as well.
无毛视频淭hat无毛视频檚 something to look forward to. But it still doesn无毛视频檛 cloud the fact that we thought this was the year for us to finally get that WPIAL title, and maybe even a little bit more.无毛视频�
(Rob Burchianti contributed to this story.)