Aliquippa scores late TD, deals Trinity heartbreaking playoff loss
On this Halloween night, Aliquippa pulled a trick on everybody.
Quips quarterback Marques Council, who was ruled out for the season with a knee injury, suited up Friday for their Class 4A quarterfinal game at Trinity.
And it was not a treat for any of the Trinity faithful Friday night.
Council launched a 40-yard touchdown pass to Josh Lay Jr. with 20 seconds remaining in regulation and No. 7 Aliquippa dealt Trinity a heartbreaking 21-14 loss in the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals Friday night.
“He came to me last week before the Ambridge game and told me that if we make the playoffs he thought he could play,” Quips coach Mike Warfield said. “I said ‘Okay. If you’re right mentally, let’s do it.’ We put him through some drills just to make sure, because we didn’t want to put him out there unless he was 100-percent physically and mentally.
“That was an impressive ball he threw to Lay. He did what we asked him to do. He looked the safety off because they were doubling him. Josh ran a good route and he dropped in a dime.”
The touchdown finished off a nightmare fourth quarter for the Hillers, who were hosting a playoff game for the first time in 24 years.
Prior to the game-winning score, Trinity lined up to punt but a bad snap forced punter David Gill to fall on the ball near midfield.
That gave Aliquippa good field position and they took advantage for the winning score.
Trinity got one final possession, but Hillers quarterback Jonah Williamson was sacked to end the game.
Another bad sequence happened earlier in the fourth when Trinity lined up for a field goal, but back to back false start penalties put them out of field goal range. Instead, Trinity went for it on a fourth and long and Williamson was sacked.
“You have to finish drives,” Trinity coach Dan Knause said. “At the end of the day, I told these kids, I’m grateful for them and that I’m sorry, because as head coach I own this loss. It’s not on the kids. Their effort and everything was there, we just didn’t make the plays needed to win. That responsibility is on me, not the kids.”
Two plays later Aliquppa’s’ Akiva Woods was standing in the end zone after a 71-yard touchdown run, which tied the game at 14-14.
The Hillers could not end Aliquippa’s streak of seasons with a playoff win that dates back to 2006. The last time Aliquippa lost a first round playoff game was against Wash High, 7-0, in 2006.
The game was tied 7-7 at halftime.
Trinity went into the break on a high note after a huge goal line stand and they parlayed that into a lead.
On a fourth down play, Williamson scrambled left, then rolled back to the right, buying enough time to find a wide-open Owen Samogala for a 24-yard touchdown, which gave the Hillers the lead.
“We definitely had the momentum for the while, but we knew we needed more to finish them,” Knause said. “We just didn’t execute when we needed to.”
After Samogala’s touchdown Aliquippa drove down to the Trinity 15, but the Hillers defense held. The Quips had a false start that set them back five yards, lost a yard on a run on first down, and then three consecutive incompletions forced a turnover on downs.
It was the second of three straight impressive stands by the Hillers defense.
The first came just before halftime.
Aliquippa got inside the one-yard line in the final minute of the first half, but Trinity stuffed running back JJ Work on two straight plays. Aliquippa was out of timeouts and the half ran out before they could snap it on fourth down.
The third came after a Trinity punt in the third quarter that gave the Quips the ball near midfield, but it didn’t go anywhere.
Trinity defensive back Phillip Whitlock made a diving interception at the Aliquippa 41.
Aliquippa got the ball to start the game and drove straight down the field in seven plays with its running game. JJ Work finished it off with a 13-yard touchdown and the Quips led 7-0 early in the first quarter.
Trinity responded with an impressive drive of its own to knot the game up.
Owen Gardner gashed the Quips on a couple of runs and Jonah Williamson finished it off with a seven-yard touchdown run.
The defenses stiffened up after the first two possessions.
Trinity forced a fumble by Work on Aliquippa’s next drive and recovered near midfield.
The Hillers were unable to take advantage of the turnover. They stalled at the Aliquippa 41-yard line and punted away.
Council, a Yale recruit, entered the game in the second quarter.
A blustery wind blowing from left to right kept passing at a minimum. Aliquippa attempted only two passes in the first half and Trinity threw only once.
Friday was the final game for Williamson as Trinity quarterback. A four-year starter and Harvard recruit, he helped Trinity win its first conference title since 1986.
“I’m going to miss him,” an emotional Knause said. “We had a lot of early morning film sessions during camp and I didn’t want this to end for him or any of these kids tonight.”