North Allegheny Bests Pine-Richland in Section Opener
By: Bob Orkwis
Coming off a season-opening win on Saturday, North Allegheny welcomed Pine-Richland to Newman Stadium for the start of Section 2-3A play. After falling behind in the first quarter, the Tigers rebounded for a solid 10-5 victory over the Rams.
It was a scoreless first period until the final minute, when Pine-Richland scored twice. Kooper Huffman (11:07) and Callan DeGrands (11:57) staked the Rams to a 2-0 lead.
Freshman Brandt Hoffman cut the lead in half off an assist from Mason Brown, before Nick Jones scored at (6:02) of the second quarter to make it 3-1 Pine-Richland.
North Allegheny would score eight of the next nine goals, including three late second-quarter markers to take a halftime lead.
Hoffman netted his second and third goals of the season at (10:20), Colt Gibson added his first goal of the year at (11:15) and when Brown scored 32 seconds later, the Tigers had a 4-3 lead at intermission.
DeGrands tied the game at 4-4 for Pine-Richland, but the Tigers’ surge continued.
Sawyer Catchen regained the lead for North Allegheny with his second goal in as many games, spinning out from behind the net and beating a double team. Evan Wade made it 6-4 for North Allegheny, and Brown scored off an assist from Johnny Castillo to put the Tigers up 7-4 after three quarters.
Wade scored his second of the game from Adam Bradley just 10 seconds into the final stanza, and when Charlie Jones added his second of the year off an assist from Hoffman at (3:01), North Allegheny had built a 9-4 lead.
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DeGrands finished off his hat trick for Pine-Richland before Wade bagged his third goal of the night from Gibson to make the final score 10-5 North Allegheny.
Sophomore Sam Walters was solid in between the pipes for the Tigers, finishing with 17 saves, including thirteen in the first half, to pick up the win for North Allegheny (2-0,1-0).
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Gibson, the senior captain, secured three ground balls to pace the Tigers.
The loss dropped Pine-Richland to (0-3,0-1) on the season.
With a hat trick, Wade picked up the Wright Automotive Player of the Game Honors. The sophomore transfer now has five goals and an assist in his first two contests as a Tiger.
North Allegheny hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to Butler on Thursday night for a section contest, before visiting State College on Saturday for an inter-district tilt. The Tigers are back at Newman Stadium on Monday, facing Everest Academy in a game set to start at 3:15. That matchup will be broadcast live on the North Allegheny Sports Network.
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BOYS LACROSSE SUMMARY VS. PINE-RICHLAND, 3-24-26
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine-Richland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| North Allegheny | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
