Peters Township quarterback DiLucia wins Willie Thrower Award
Eleanor Bailey
Peters Township quarterback Nolan DiLucia won the Willie Thrower Award Saturday.
The award was given out at a luncheon in New Kensington and it recognizes the top quarterback in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He was selected by a panel of 69 voters that included WPIAL head coaches, media members from the Pittsburgh region and on-field officials.
The other finalists were: Carson Bellinger of Avonworth; Joey Felitsky of North Catholic; Ethan Hellmann of Upper St. Clair and Aaron Strader of Pine-Richland.
The award was named after New Kensington native Willie Thrower, the first Black quarterback in NFL history, who played for the Chicago Bears in 1953. Thrower helped lead the former New Kensington High School to WPIAL titles in 1946 and ’47, and a runner-up in 1945.
DiLucia, who led Peters Township to the WPIAL Class 5A championship, is the second consecutive quarterback from Washington County to win the award. Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg won it last year.