Nov 28, 2015 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – A coach’s biggest worry is seeing an offense become one-dimensional.

Joe Rossi didn’t worry. Not even when his senior tailback and two of his starting linemen were on the sideline because of injuries.

The Lions’ head coach knew South Fayette had the weapons to attack Aliquippa’s defense and had all the confidence in his sophomore quarterback to pull the trigger.

Despite a 44-38 loss to Aliquippa in the WPIAL Class AA championship game and its 44-game winning streak coming to an end Saturday, sophomore Drew Saxton proved to the Quips that the Lions’ passing game has life without Brett Brumbaugh.

Saxton threw for a WPIAL championship game-record 435 yards and his four touchdown passes helped the Lions twice overcome 14-point deficits. Senior running back Hunter Hayes missed most of the second half with an injury and the Lions were held to just 23 rushing yards on 20 carries.

“With the run game and the young backs out there, we went to the pass,” Rossi said. “He was probably close to a Heinz Field record with yardage. I’m not sure what he threw for, but he found some receivers and the receivers made plays.”

Saxton threw three touchdowns to tight end Ryhan Culberson and his 65-yard score to senior wide receiver Nick Ponikvar helped tie the score, 38-38, with just over four minutes remaining.

He accomplished the task against the Quips’ blitzing linebackers and was sacked eight times. One week after missing wide-open receivers in the flat, Saxton thrived checking down to his second or third options when the Quips took away his receivers downfield.

Facing 4th-and-goal from the 15-yard line, Saxton didn’t hesitate to throw a perfect strike over a single deep safety in the end zone, where Culberson was there to cut the deficit to eight points in the fourth quarter.

“(Their passing game) is the same as it always is,” Aliquippa head coach Mike Zmijanac said. “We had to score 44 points to beat them. They’re a terrific program with terrific players. I guess their sophomore quarterback took over for (Brett Brumbaugh) pretty well.”

Pugh ahead

Aliquippa running back Kaezon Pugh eclipsed 100 rushing yards in the WPIAL championship game for a second consecutive year against South Fayette.

He had 111 yards last year and trumped that total with 179 with two touchdowns Saturday to help the Quips rush for 147 yards and 501 total yards on offense.

“He’s about 30 pounds heavier and when he gets downhill he’s tremendous,” Rossi said. “We knew he’d get his a little bit. There were some of the slot counters and the passes we didn’t practice enough against and I take responsibility for that. That hurt us.”

The play

With South Fayette’s defense beginning to have success against Aliquippa, holding Pugh to 16 yards on six carries in the fourth quarter, Zmijanac turned to the double pass that led to the game-winning score.

It was the first time he called the play since the 2011 championship game against Jeannette and wide receiver Jassir Jordan made the throw to help the Quips finally beat the Lions after three losses at Heinz Field since 2010.

“After he caught it, I was very confident,” Zmijanac joked. “When the ball was in the air, I was praying for Thomas that he caught it. The kids made the play. It was a great pass and the kid broke open. Those are the kind of plays that if they don’t work you look stupid.”

Inexperience up front

The Lions were forced to turn to two underclassmen on the offensive line when they had to play without Nick Dabrowski and Zach Radinick. The result was eight sacks and little success running against a defensive line that already outweighed the Lions by 30-40 pounds.

“When you’re outmanned by 40, 50 or 60 pounds; a couple of our linemen went under 200 pounds,” Rossi said. “They were just trimming down because of the grind of the season, but they fight which is great. When you are down two linemen and you have to underclassmen in there, they got some sacks on us which is expected.”