Head Coach Art Walker wins 250th career game with 28-21 victory over Mt. Lebanon

Posted on: by Jonathan Spina

North Allegheny traveled to Mt. Lebanon High School looking to bounce back from their loss a week ago. The Blue Devils would make it interesting at the end, but the Tigers defense made the final play to give NA the 28-21 win. The win was Head Coach Art Walker’s 250th of his career.

Mt. Lebanon got the ball first and put a solid drive together. Faced with a 4th and two from the 50-yard line, the Blue Devils elected to punt. The Tigers got a 19-yard punt return from James Donaldson and North Allegheny’s offense was in business. On the second offensive play, Brady Brinkley ran the ball 63 yards to the house and the Tigers took the early 7-0 lead. The rest of the first quarter saw three-and-outs for both teams.

The Tigers put a drive together to start the second quarter, but it ultimately stalled and they had to punt. The kick was blocked and recovered by Mt. Lebanon on NA’s 19-yard line. The Blue Devils took advantage of the short field and got into the end zone to tie the game. The Tigers responded by going seven plays, 67 yards in four minutes with Brinkley finding Donaldson from six yards out. The Tigers had the lead back at 14-7. Mt. Lebanon put together a 10-play, 61-yard drive on the next possession but couldn’t come away with points before the half came to a close.

In the third quarter, the Tigers looked to Luke Rohan to take control of the game.  The junior got three straight carries with the third going 43 yards for a touchdown with 5:20 left in the third quarter. NA led 21-7.

The Tigers’ defense then forced a three-and-out. On the punt, Korry Pitts came off the edge unblocked and got a hand on the punt, putting North Allegheny in a first-and-goal situation. On the next play, Rohan again found the end zone to expand the Tiger lead to 28-7. The Blue Devils responded with a 44-yard touchdown pass trimming the NA lead to 28-14 heading to the final stanza.

After an interception, Mt. Lebanon looked to cut the North Allegheny lead to one possession. They drove to the Tigers’ 30-yard line before Pitts came up with another big play, intercepting a pass from Blue Devil quarterback Patrick Smith. Lebo found the end zone again with 3:27 remaining in the game on a two-yard touchdown pass to make the score 28-21. The Blue Devils had one final opportunity to tie the game with 32 seconds remaining, but Kyle Langdon forced a fumble recovered by Colin Moore and North Allegheny came away with the 28-21 victory.

Pitts was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game with a blocked punt and interception at crucial moments in the contest. Rohan led the Tigers in rushing with 148 yards and two touchdowns. Brinkley had 79 passing yards and 50 rushing yards.

Kyle Langdon led the NA defense with 14 tackles. Dylan Langdon had 10 tackles, two of them for loss. Conner Frank had nine tackles while Lincoln Hoke had eight tackles, with two coming in the backfield.

North Allegheny improves to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in conference. Mt. Lebanon falls to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the conference. The Tigers are back on the road next Friday when they travel to Canon-McMillan for another Quad County Conference game at 7:00 p.m. This game will be broadcast on the NA Sports Network.

Football Summary at Mt. Lebanon, 10-4-24

GAME SUMMARY
SCORE BY QUARTERS1234FINAL
North Allegheny7714028
Mt. Lebanon077721