PT boys hope to keep the magic going in WPIAL finals
Minutes after an overtime win over Mars in the WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball semifinals Tuesday, Peters Township coach Joe Urmann stood outside the locker room with a squirt gun in his hand.
It’s become a fairly new tradition to have a postgame water battle as part of the victory celebration.
“I started it a couple weeks ago, but they got some retribution with some cups of water, so (Tuesday) I came with an umbrella and a water pistol and was able to get back at them,” Urmann said. “I’m pretty pleased with the locker room celebrations.”
The celebrations are a part of a “magic” that Urmann said is around the Indians.
It’s hard to measure, but if one’s in the presence of it, they know.
The hope is that the feeling sticks around for at least one more night.
Peters Township (18-7) faces Chartiers Valley (22-3) in the WPIAL Class 5A championship, 7 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center.
“Our kids just have a belief right now,” Urmann said. “A little bit of positive mojo that you love as a coach and it’s hard to bottle that up. It’s really hard to describe it, but right now we have a little bit of it and we’re just trying to enjoy it.”
The championship game will be a rematch of a nonsection game on Feb. 1, which Chartiers Valley won 71-57. It was a one-point game at halftime, but the Colts had a big third quarter, outscoring the Indians, 24-15, to take control.
Chartiers Valley standout senior guard Jayden Davis had 38 points in the win. Dylan Donovan scored 22 for Peters Township, the same number of points he had in the 58-52 semifinal win over Mars.
The Colts, much like the Indians, enter the finals riding high. They upset No. 1 Montour, 47-44 in their semifinal. It was Montour’s first loss of the season.
Chartiers Valley had lost twice to Montour in Section 4 play this season, 66-60 and 78-67.
This is the second time in the last three years Peters Township has made it to a WPIAL final. The Indians lost 70-65 to Penn Hills in 2023.
Donovan and Nick McCullough both saw action off the bench that night and most of the players on the roster were at least in attendance for that game.
“It’s not a totally new experience for them to go play at the Pete,” Urmann said. “We had an opportunity to play at PPG Paints Arena this year too. Arena games are a lot different for high school kids, so it’s nice that we do have that experience to lean on. Hopefully it will serve us well on Saturday.”
Peters Township has the distinction of having both the boys and girls teams making it to a WPIAL final.
There are two sets of siblings that have a starter on each team: Natalie Wetzel and her younger brother Jake Wetzel and Nick McCullough and his younger sister Taylor McCullough.
If the Peters boys win it’ll be their first title since 2009 and second overall.
The belief is there that another water battle will happen in the locker room after the game Saturday.
“It comes down to our commitment,” Donovan said. “We all care so much and at practice we bring it. We all just want to win so bad.”