Peters Township can’t pass up ground game in win

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Peters Township's Nick Courie bursts past South Fayette's Noah Mathias (19) on a three yard touchdown run that opened the scoring for the Indians on their home field on October 11.

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

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Peters Township's Lucas Rost breaks into the South Fayette secondary for a run to the 44 on a first quarter drive for the Indians on their home field on October 11.

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

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Peters Township's Eli Prado sprints for a first down in Lion territory as the Indians drove against visiting South Fayette in the second quarter of the October 11 game.

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

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Indian quarterback Nolan Dilucia sprints for a 34 yard touchdown late in the third quarter that put Peters Township up 38-3 over visiting South Fayette on October 11.

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

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Peters Township's Nolan Dilucia hoists the ball as he heads for the endzone on a 34 yard touchdown run that put an exclamation point on the Indians' 38-3 domination of the visiting South Fayette Lions on October 11.

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

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South Fayette's Aiden Martincic (18) pulls in a Drew Welhorsky pass and is met by Joey Kreuer (24) on a play that earned the Lions a first down at the 39 as they struggled in the third quarter against Peters Township's defense at Confluence Financial Partners Field on October 11.

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

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By Joe Tuscano

For the Observer-Reporter,

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

McMURRAY – For those who made the trip here Friday evening, they thought they were going to be treated to a quarterback display rarely seen in these parts.

Nolan DiLuca of Peters Township, who came into the game with 1,818 total yards and Drew Welhorsky, who entered the game with 2,104 total yards, were Nos. 2 and 3 in Class 5A in passing yards.

On this night, however, it was the running game of the Indians that made all the difference for Peters Township.

Peters Township scored four times from ground level to annihilate South Fayette, 38-3, in the Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference Friday evening.

The win moved the Indians to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference. South Fayette fell to 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the conference. The Lions have lost two in a row after starting the season with six straight wins.

The victory probably assures Peters Township a spot in the playoffs while South Fayette might have to get the nod from the WPIAL football committee as a wild card.

“Our No. 1 is running the football and playing good defense,” said Peters Township head coach TJ Plack. “We’re not going to run the ball for 300 yards. We’re pretty even, running and throwing the ball. We have three runners we like, although one wasn’t with us tonight.

Nick Courie scored twice on short runs, DiLucia threw for one score and ran for another and Darius McMillon scored his first offensive touchdown of the year, an 8-yard jaunt.

Peters Township used the pass but it was the running of Courie that hurt South Fayette.

The 5-9, 185-pound senior running back scored twice with identical three-yard runs to give the Indians a 14-0 lead.

“Nick had a great game for us,” Plack said. “We knew he had great vision. He’s always done a good job. He showed up tonight.”

Courie’s best effort was a three-touchdown game against Canon-McMillan.

“I knew coming into the game, they knew we could run the ball,” said Courie. “I knew coming into the game, we were going to run the football. We set the tone.”

Anthony Maiello made it 17-0 with a 34-yard field goal right before the end of the first quarter.

South Fayette recovered a fumble on a punt and that set up a 34-yard field goal by Luke Gillen midway through the second quarter. Gillen would try a 49-yard field goal near the end of the half but Peters Township blocked it.

The Peters Township defense sacked Welhorsky three times and had just as many opportunities slip away from them.