NA clinches playoff berth with last second victory over Norwin
North Allegheny traveled to Penn-Trafford High School on Friday night to take on the Norwin Knights in a Quad County Conference thriller on Friday night. In a game that was win-and-in, both teams played their hearts out. The Tigers were able to put together a last-second drive ending in a successful two-point conversion to win the game 22-21 and clinch a spot in the WPIAL 6A postseason.
NA got the ball to start the game and drove the ball right down the field, going 57 yards in the five plays, finishing with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Brady Brinkley to Mason Brown to make the score 7-0. Norwin punted on their opening drive before an interception. The teams traded punts before the Knights got the run game going.
From two minutes left in the first quarter to early in the second quarter, Norwin drove the ball 74 yards on ten plays (all run plays) to tie the game up when Max Ritz ran the ball in from three yards out to make the score 7-7. With 3:20 remaining in the half, Norwin looked to get some points before halftime, but an interception from Mason Brown stopped any thought of that, and the Tigers took over in plus territory. NA ended up punting the ball away, and the Knights ran the clock out with the game tied 7-7 at the half.
Norwin got the ball to start the third quarter and once again got the run game going. The Knights went 14 plays, 69 yards, all run plays with Ritz finishing the drive again to make the score 14-7. North Allegheny responded on the next drive, going 60 yards in five plays and finishing off with a Ben Kern 25-yard bubble screen from Brinkley to tie the game 14-14 going into the fourth quarter.
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The Tigers drove the ball to the Norwin 22-yard line to start the final quarter, but a fumble gave the Knights the ball back with 6:56 on the clock. Ritz once again found the paint, this time a big play from 58 yards away, and Norwin had a 21-14 lead with 4:27 remaining.
A good return from Kellan Frank set up NA on their own 45-yard line to start a drive down seven. During the drive on a fourth-and-nine, a pressured Brinkley lobbed up a pass to Kern, who made a great play for 16 yards to keep the drive alive. NA drove to the Norwin 21-yard line when Brinkley connected with Gavin Ust to make the score 21-20. Coach Art Walker rolled the dice and went for two. On the conversion, Brinkley hit Max Dehainaut in the end zone to give North Allegheny the 22-21 lead.
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Norwin had 65 seconds to work with when they got the ball, but Ritz was sacked and fumbled. Henry Sheridan recovered the fumble and the Tigers took three knees to put the game away.
Brinkley finished 19-for-32, 216 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 27 rushing yards. Anthony Sisinni had 42 rushing yards. Brown led NA receiving with seven catches for 96 yards. For his offensive efforts along with an interception, Brown was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.
Dehainaut led the North Allegheny defense with 11 tackles. Frank had 10 tackles while Grant Girty and Tydes Alualu each had eight.
North Allegheny improved to 5-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference. Norwin falls to 5-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Tigers will have the week off before returning to action on Friday, November 14th when they travel to Canon-McMillan to take on the Big Macs at 7 p.m. in the WPIAL Semifinals. This game will be broadcast live on the North Allegheny Sports Network.
FOOTBALL SUMMARY VS. NORWIN, 10-30-26
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Allegheny | 7 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 22 |
| Norwin | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
