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TIGERS CRUSH INDIANS BEHIND HUGE SECOND QUARTER, 42-0

(10/26/12)North Allegheny scored 36 second quarter points en route to a 42-0 blowout victory over the North Hills Indians on Friday night at Newman Stadium.  On senior night, it was a pair of seniors who led the way offensively for the Tigers as quarterback Mack Leftwich threw for 241 yards and five touchdown passes, four of which going to receiver Gregg Garrity.  Garrity caught 10 of Leftiwich’s 12 completions on the night for 216 yards and was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game. 

After the North Hills offense was held to a three-and-out on their opening possession, the Tigers moved the ball on their first drive for 55 yards on six plays, punctuating the drive on a six yard rushing touchdown by Leftwich.  The North Allegheny PAT failed and the Tigers led 6-0 with 7:01 on the first quarter clock.  While the defenses for both teams controlled the remainder of the quarter, the Tigers special teams made the first big play of the second quarter.  With a 4^th and 11 at the North Hills 19-yard line, Indians punter Wayne Carney had his kick blocked by Ben Schweiger and the ball was eventually recovered by Sean Idowu at the NH 27-yard line.  Three plays later, the Tigers were in the end zone when Leftwich hit tight-end Zach Lyon for a five-yard touchdown pass to increase the Tigers lead to 12-0 with 10:47 to go in the first half.  Moments later, Leftwich found Lyon again for a two-point conversion to bring the score to 14-0, Tigers 

From that point on, it was the Leftwich to Garrity show.  Thanks to continued excellent field position courtesy of the Tigers defense, North Allegheny would score four more touchdowns before halftime, all on passes from Leftwich to Garrity to take a commanding 42-0 lead.  The Tigers dominant second quarter ended with NA outgaining North Hills, 199-to-minus 39 yards.   

With the mercy rule invoked, NA’s 42-0 lead would hold as the final score.  The only true threat from North Hills was turned away on an interception in the end zone by Brett Neugebauer on a Brian Johnson pass early in the fourth quarter to solidify the Tigers shutout. For the game, North Allegheny outgained North Hills 327-74.

The Tigers finish the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record while the Indians fall to 6-3 overall.  Both teams are headed toward the playoffs and will wait to see who they will be playing in the first round when the WPIAL brackets are released on Monday night.  As the only undefeated team in Class AAAA, the Tigers have all but secured the top seed in the bracket.  While the opponent is unknown, North Allegheny will host a first round playoff game next Friday night at Newman Stadium.  You can listen to all of NA’s playoff games live via the internet on the North Allegheny Sports Network.      

GAME SUMMARY
NORTH ALLEGHENY - 42   NORTH HILLS - 0

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

NORTH ALLEGHENY

NORTH HILLS

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NA GUNS FOR TOP SEED, LOOKS TO SHOOT DOWN RIVAL INDIANS TONIGHT

(10/16/12) The North Allegheny Tigers (8-0) can lock up the top seed in the Quad-A playoffs next week with a victory over the rival North Hills Indians (6-2) tonight at Newman Stadium.  Along with the Tigers, the Indians have already clinched a playoff spot and could better their seeding when the WPIAL brackets are released on Monday night if they can pull of the upset.  Playoff seeding aside, these two teams would love nothing more than to capture bragging rights over their bitter rivals with a win.  North Allegheny claimed a victory in the most recent meeting, with a 17-0 shutout over North Hills last season.

That shutout loss to North Allegheny a year ago finished a 4-5 season for North Hills and marked the first time since 1998 that the Indians had missed the playoffs.  Led by head coach Jack McCurry, who is in his 35^th season at North Hills, the Indians are back in the post-season thanks to a trio of running backs that have run through opponents with different styles.  Senior Tyler Reddick possesses good speed and balance that has helped him to 340 yards and three total touchdowns this season.  Senior Jordan Blackman is a shifty runner whose slick moves have aided him to 298 yards and eight total touchdowns.  Then there’s the Indians leading rusher, Josh Hulbert, who has carried the ball 111 times for 643 yards and 11 touchdowns.  As a unit, they are dangerous.  However, it has been rare this season where all three have been healthy.  Bit by the injury bug all season, it appears all three could be healthy tonight when the Indians face the Tigers.

The Indians offense, as is typically their style, will use a lot of motion and misdirection to keep defenses off-balance.  In addition, North Hills will sometimes use the Wildcat Formation to take the pressure off of first-year quarterback Brian Johnson.  The senior signal caller is an outstanding athlete who had been playing AAU basketball before joining the football team last fall.  Johnson is a natural athlete, but his passing skills are raw.  This will make it difficult for the Indians if they find themselves in long downs and distances.

North Hills would love to run the ball effectively and keep the Tigers high powered attack off the field as much as possible.  North Allegheny averages 39 points per game and put up a healthy 55 points on the scoreboard last week against Shaler.  The Tigers have proven extremely difficult to stop because of their well-balanced offense.  Quarterback Mack Leftwich has thrown for 1, 380 yards and 18 touchdowns this season, while adding another 255 yards on the ground and four scores.  With Leftwich spearheading the passing game, the tough yards in the rushing attack have been primarily provided by senior Alex DiCiantis.  The two-sport athlete, who is also a wrestler in the winter, has enjoyed plowing through opponents for 863 yards and 11 touchdowns.  However, the players who do the real manhandling on offense are linemen Patrick Kugler, Nick James, Jeremy Gonzales, Duke Lundahl and Taylor Nikithser.  Not to be outdone, fullback Nick Cully often leads the way for DiCiantis and tight-ends Zach Lyon, Kevin Edwards and Skyler Cox handle the blocks along the edges.  While they are a sure-handed group when passes are thrown their way, receivers Brendan Coniker, Elijah Zeise, and Greg Garrity also enjoy throwing the downfield blocks that help spring loose ball carriers for the long distance runs. 

Along with a top-flight offense, the Tigers boast a ferocious defense that swallows up opponents in a hurry.  North Allegheny allows only five points per game and gives up yards grudgingly.  Last week, the Tigers saw their consecutive streak without allowing a touchdown come to as the NA reserves allowed a late touchdown to the Shaler starting offense, stopping the impressive streak at 25 consecutive quarters. 

Like the Tigers, North Hills takes pride in a gritty defense that is sparked by middle linebacker Anthony Danko.  The senior stands at just 5-10, 185 pounds, but he plays much bigger than his size and patrols the field from sideline-to-sideline.  Lineman Andrew Ungerman is another handful up front.  Despite losing to the Tigers 17-0 last year, one thing the Indians did do fairly well was slow down the NA offense.  They’ll need to do that again if they hope to pull off the upset tonight.  The Tigers will try to do the same thing they’ve done all season long, and that is dominate. 

North Allegheny hopes to conclude the regular season with a perfect record and secure the top-seed in the Quad-A bracket with a win tonight.  Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm at Newman Stadium.  Pre-game coverage begins at 7:10 pm on the North Allegheny Sports Network with Randy Gore and Rick Meister.   

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Any questions or comments should be directed to Athletic Director
Bob Bozzuto at:  bbozzuto@northallegheny.org