Nov 25, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

What’s more impressive, an 18-year-old with a pilot’s license or making 22 tackles in the WPIAL championship game?

It doesn’t matter to Peters Township linebacker James Spratt what you choose, because he has accomplished both.

On the football field, Spratt had a huge night last Saturday, making stop after stop to help Peters Township come back from 19 points down to beat Pine-Richland 20-19 in the WPIAL Class 5A championship at Acrisure Stadium.

He’ll look to build on that momentum when the Indians play defending state champion Bishop McDevitt in the PIAA Class 5A semifinals 1 p.m. Saturday at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium.

Spratt got his start as a pilot through school.

Indians coach TJ Plack said Spratt was part of the Peters Township co-op with the Community College of Beaver County’s aviation education program.

Spratt has achieved enough hours to be a NHS/FAA Certificated Pilot with Instrument Rating.

He’s even had some teammates up in the air with him when he’s been flying a plane.

“I have several students who do the co-op with BCCC,” Plack said. “They spend their first three periods there (at BCCC) and then come to Peters Township. It’s a good program.”

Spratt was flying around the football field Saturday. Most of the night his task was to spy Pine-Richland’s dual-threat quarterback Aaron Strader and was there to make tackle after tackle.

“Being able to contain (Strader) was my main goal,” Spratt said. “Being able to stop him as close to the line of scrimmage as possible was really when I knew I made an impact on the game. Staying cognizant of him and his ability and reading what he was going to do was my main focus.”

Spratt also had a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter on Pine-Richland’s first possession after Cole Neupaver scored the go-ahead touchdown for Peters Township.

It was another moment where the senior came up big.

Spratt’s been a versatile player that’s done what has been asked. For example, he filled in at nose guard in the 2024 WPIAL championship game against Pine-Richland.

“Not many people know that he played nose guard last year in the championship at 190 pounds and now he’s making plays at middle linebacker,” Peters Township senior Lucas Rost said. “We know what we’re going to get from him and that’s relentless effort on every play.”

Spratt has a pair of Division I players on either side of him in the linebacking corps and he might join them as a future college player. Reston Lehman is headed to Pitt and Lucas Shanafelt to Stanford.

Coming into the year Spratt wasn’t on the radar for many colleges, but that’s changed. Though he doesn’t have an official offer, he has been contacted by Eastern Michigan, Colgate, Wagner and Holy Cross. He’s hopeful to continue his career at the next level.

“It’s definitely something that’s grown over the year, and my love for the game has multiplied greatly every single week,” Spratt said. “I know I do want to pursue football for the next four years. That’s been made clear to me in the last couple weeks.”

Spratt is happy to get at least one more game playing with Lehman and Shanafelt and the goal is to get two more together.

A win this weekend and they’ll play in the state championship game for the second time in three years.

“Lucas and Reston are my best friends in the world,” Spratt said. “Just to be able to go out there and play and knowing we have each other’s back every snap is great. It gives me peace of mind out there that I have my brothers next to me and they’re giving it their all. We play complimentary football. If they flush (the quarterback out of the pocket), then I’m there to clean it up.”