Tigers hold off St. Frances Academy in opener
by: Jonathan Spina
North Allegheny hosted the St. Frances Academy Regional Panthers out of Baltimore, Maryland in their Week 0 game to open the football season. The Tigers jumped out to a nice lead early and the defense made enough plays late for NA to come away with the 22-20 win.
After neither team scored on their first possession, it looked like North Allegheny’s second drive would stall out as well, but Logan Hughey recovered a muffed punt and the Tigers took the momentum. NA drove 33 more yards and cap the drive with a Liam Flaherty 3-yard touchdown run to take the early 7-0 lead. Near the end of the first quarter, St. Frances Academy found momentum forcing a fumble and getting a short field. The Panthers ended their drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Samir Edwards. The two-point conversion was stopped, and the Tigers kept the 7-6 lead after a quarter.
North Allegheny immediately responded, putting together a 12-play, 48-yard drive that was capped off by a Brady Brinkley quarterback sneak. The Tigers extended their lead to 13-6. Things really started to go NA’s way as the defense got another three-and-out. The offense went right back to work and Jackson Failla found Colman Craft on a crossing route from 11 yards out giving North Allegheny a 19-6 lead. The defense forced another punt and NA got a 40-yard return from Nick Humphries with 57 seconds remaining in the half. The drive ended with a Peter Notaro 40-yard field goal and North Allegheny took a 22-6 lead into the locker room.
Both teams played great defense in the third quarter with no points allowed by either side. The frame was highlighted by a Connor Frank interception returned 39 yards to put NA’s offense in a great spot. St. Frances Academy made a goal-line stand to end the quarter and things looked to shift in the Panthers’ favor. St. Frances Academy put together a 12-play, 98-yard drive that ended with an Auston Jones 21-yard touchdown catch and NA’s lead was trimmed to 22-12. North Allegheny was forced to punt again, and the Panthers took advantage with Samir Edwards catching his second touchdown of the day. St. Frances Academy got the two-point conversion making the score 22-20. North Allegheny ran some clock but was forced to punt late in the fourth and Notaro did a beautiful job pinning the Panthers at the five-yard line. St. Frances Academy would be forced to go 95 yards in 1:11 with no timeouts to take the lead, but it was all taken away when Korey Pitts sealed the game with an interception and all the Tigers had to do was kneel the clock out and escape with a 22-20 win.
Craft was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game. He finished with two catches for 40 yards and a touchdown. Brinkley had 10 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown. Kyle Langdon led the defense with eight tackles, three of them in the backfield.
North Allegheny improves to 1-0 with the win. The Tigers will be at home again next Friday when they host the Gateway Gators at 7:30 p.m. That game will be broadcast live on the NA Sports Network.
Football Summary vs. St. Frances Academy (MD), 8-23-24
| GAME SUMMARY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| St. Frances Academy (MD) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 20 |
| North Allegheny | 7 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
