Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is usually the one putting on a show.
This time, though, it was all North Allegheny, as Smith-Schuster watched from the stands with students and Steelers outside linebackers coach Joey Porter as the Tigers dominated Norwin.
North Allegheny capitalized off Norwin’s mistakes, including two fumbles and a blocked punt, gliding to a 56-14 win Friday night in a WPIAL Class 6A matchup. The Tigers had the edge in the trenches and kept the pressure on Norwin junior quarterback Jack Salopek, who completed 8 of 21 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown and was sacked four times.
“The defense bailed us out and did a phenomenal job of balancing that run game and trying to hold Salopek to limited yards and not let him hang in the pocket,” North Allegheny coach Art Walker Jr. said.
North Allegheny utilized both pocket-passing junior quarterback Ben Petschke and dual-threat senior quarterback Gunnar Fisher in the win. Petschke completed 6 of 11 passes for 54 yards and a touchdown and Fisher ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Fisher’s first score of the game came on North Allegheny’s first possession, a 6-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead.
“It’s a very good step in the right direction,” Fisher said after the Tigers moved to 2-0. “We wanted to start off on a win streak and we did just that.”
Later in the first quarter, Norwin lined up in the Wildcat formation and senior wide receiver-linebacker Gianni Rizzo powered through defenders for a 3-yard touchdown run, though the Knights missed the extra point.
As the Tigers settled into a groove, though, the floodgates opened. North Allegheny had 356 yards of offense despite tallying 135 yards in penalties.
North Allegheny senior Dante Caputo blocked a punt and the Tigers got the ball on the 1, with Fisher punching in another touchdown to take a 14-6 lead with eight minutes to go in the second quarter. The Tigers got another short field as Norwin senior Ezekiel Houser was swarmed and couldn’t get a punt off, with North Allegheny senior running back Ben Maenza later breaking free for a 21-yard touchdown run.
Maenza rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns.
“We spread things out more than we have the past couple weeks,” Walker said. “I don’t think they’ve seen that out of us, some of the things we did on the outside, some of the jet sweep stuff, opened up Ben with that and kind of got Ben going through the middle and got quarterbacks running a little bit. And [junior] Luke Colella running the ball, and hitting a couple passes. I just think we tried to go as balanced [as we can] and take what they were giving us.”
A Knights fumble later set up a 20-yard touchdown pass from Petschke to senior receiver Joey Porter Jr. in the back corner of the end zone. A 22-yard touchdown run by Colella made it 35-6 at the half and another Knights fumble took away Norwin’s chance to answer.
In the third quarter, Norwin narrowed the deficit to 35-14 after quarterback Jack Salopeck threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Rizzo and the Knights got the 2-point conversion. After an interception by North Allegheny junior defensive back Percise Colon, Maenza polished off the Tigers’ ensuing drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, keeping the Knights at arm’s length.
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“I was proud of the way we came out in the second half,” Norwin coach Dave Brozeski said. “We talked about challenging each other and we wanted to execute. Obviously, the score ended up not the way we wanted. We’ve got to watch the film.”
North Allegheny nabbed two more rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Sarah K. Spencer: sspencer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @sarah_k_spence.
First Published: September 1, 2018, 2:08 a.m.
