Upper St. Clair too much for Peters Township
Upper St. Clair lost to Peters Township in the WPIAL Class 5A football semifinals the last two seasons and it looked as if it wanted to take out the frustration of those results on the Indians Friday night.
The Panthers were dominant from start to finish on their way to a 44-0 victory in the Allegheny Six Conference opener.
It was Upper St Clair’s night basically from the start.
On the second play from scrimmage, Peters Township quarterback Luke Wagner was strip-sacked by Upper St. Clair linebacker Sam Bunn and Ryan Robbins pounced on the ball for a fumble recovery at the Indians’ 18-yard line.
Four plays later John Banbury punched it in from two yards out and the Panthers (1-0, 6-0) had a quick 7-0 lead.
Peters Township (0-1, 2-4) went three-and-out on its next drive and punted to the Upper St. Clair 47.
On the Panthers’ first play of its next drive, Josh Snyder threw a strike to wide receiver Evan Smirniw to the Indians 15.
But the Panthers failed to score.
A holding penalty negated a Snyder rushing touchdown and Cam Smith missed a 36-yard field goal wide left.
Talen Stauffer entered at quarterback for Peters Township following the missed field goal and the Indians achieved a first down for the first time, but Jaden Blair was stuffed on a third-and-1 forcing another Indians punt.
Upper St. Clair took over at their own 43 and quickly struck for a second time in the quarter.
Snyder unleashed a bomb to Beckett Mayfield who caught the ball and fell into the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 14-0 with 1:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Upper St. Clair continued its onslaught in the second with a 53-yard drive that ended on a Luca Cory two-yard touchdown run. Smith’s extra point made it 21-0 Panthers.
Peters Township’s offensive woes continued with another fumble 15 seconds later, which was recovered by Bunn.
The Panthers cashed in the turnover when Snyder pinballed off a couple Indians defenders on his way to a 15-yard touchdown.
Cory added a 5-yard score for the Panthers’ third touchdown of the second quarter and the Smith extra point made it 35-0, putting the game into mercy rule for the second half.
Upper St. Clair forced a third turnover before halftime when Bunn recovered his second fumble.
Banbury got his second touchdown in the third quarter on a 9-yard run, which expanded the lead to 42-0.
A safety on a bad snap for Peters Township made it 44-0 and closed the scoring.