Oct 30, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

For head coach Dan Knause and his current group of Hillers, this football season is four years in the making.

For Trinity as a whole, this has been a much longer time coming.

The second-seeded Hillers won their first conference title since 1986 and will have a home playoff game for the first time in 24 years – and only the second in 39 years – when they host No. 7 Aliquippa in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals tonight.

Trinity hosted Penn Hills in 2001 in the first round and lost 28-7. Before that the last home playoff game for the Hillers was in 1986 when they beat Derry 10-7 at College Field, currently Washington & Jefferson’s Cameron Stadium.

With how long it has been since the last home playoff game, expect a raucous crowd at Hiller Field ready to support a team that has already had a historic season.

“Ultimately you’re proud of the young men that committed to the process,” Knause said. “We call it “days in the dark” when no one is watching you, but you’re working hard. For our seniors it’s been hard work for four years since we first met them. It’s definitely enjoyable, but we haven’t celebrated much, because we’re on to the next task. The night we clinched the conference (at Laurel Highlands), we took a picture, but we didn’t celebrate too much, because we wanted an undefeated conference season and then we got that done. Now we’re focused on the next thing.”

Tonight’s game is a rematch of last year’s first round playoff game, which the Quips won 34-14 at Aliquippa.

Aliquippa has won at least one playoff game dating back to 2006. The last time the Quips did not win a postseason game was when Washington beat them, 7-0, in the Class 2A first round in 2005.

The Quips’ WPIAL-record streak of 16-straight finals appearances was snapped with a semifinal loss to Thomas Jefferson last year.

“We respect (Aliquippa) and told our kids that they grow up winners,” Knause said. “They win since the time they are young. They are expected to win and have a winning mindset. You see it on film. We respect that, but at the same time we respect ourselves and who we are and what we’re about. Our focus is on the process and becoming the best version of ourselves.”

Aliquippa quarterback Marques Council, a Yale recruit, has been ruled out for the season with a knee injury. Qa’lil Goode and Handsome Lynn have filled the spot in his absence.

Josh Lay Jr. is the team’s leading receiver with 27 catches and 457 yards and J.J. Work has a team-high 643 rushing yards.

The three losses for the Quips (6-3) were to Avonworth, New Castle and Montour, all playoff teams.

Trinity (6-4) battled through a brutal nonconference schedule that hardened it for conference games. Class 5A playoff teams Peters Township, Bethel Park and Moon were nonconference opponents

The Hillers went 1-4 out of conference, but led by senior quarterback Jonah Williamson and junior running back Owen Gardner they went undefeated in conference play.

Gardner has 1,114 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Williamson, a Harvard recruit, has been a dual-threat with 1,349 passing yards and 975 yards rushing. He’s thrown 19 touchdowns to eight interceptions and ran for 16 touchdowns.

“Owen is a dynamic back that has a great combination of strength and speed,” Knause said. “He’s one of those guys that can get hit and come out of the hit in a different gear and actually be faster. He’s a home-run hitter and also a bruising back. When you look at (Gardner and Williamson) they are similar in yards and give us a great one-two threat out of the backfield.”

Williamson’s top receiving threats are Ayvari Chandler with 25 receptions, Braden Berdar with 18 and Daniel Glass with 14. Berdar has seven touchdowns.

Seemingly, Trinity has been building for this moment and tonight they have a chance to create a lasting memory at Hiller Field.

“If you look at our breakout season in 2023, we played a really good Latrobe team, Thomas Jefferson, and McKeesport twice,” Knause said. “These kids were starting as sophomores and they’ve been battle-tested and last year we finished our season at The Pit (against Aliquippa). We’re to the point as a program where we’re getting knocked out by the blue bloods, but we know we’re there. We just have to get over the hump and attack the game and the plays one at a time.”