Tigers Run Away From Trojans In 6A Non-Conference Clash
By: Jared Barton
The North Allegheny Tigers Football Team made the trip to Erie for the first time since 2010 and took care of the McDowell Trojans 43-24 Friday night.
After two three-and-outs by the Trojans, North Allegheny was set up with good field position at the McDowell 43 yard line. The Tigers needed only two Tyree Alualu rushes to find the opening points of the contest. The first rush was 21 yards and he capped the drive with a 12-yard scamper into the endzone.
On the ensuing drive, a bad Trojan shotgun snap resulted in a safety extending the lead to 9-0 with 5:26 left in the first quarter.
North Allegheny took advantage of a five-play, 50-yard drive set up by a four yard touchdown pass from Logan Kushner to Evan Lyon. NA led 16-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, McDowell capitalized on multiple North Allegheny penalties for the Trojans’ first points of the contest. A one-yard QB sneak from Blayze Meyers cut the NA lead to 16-7.
Evan Lyon runs away from defenders for a 45-yard touchdown reception.
Kushner found Lyon for a 45-yard touchdown on the next drive, putting North Allegheny back up 22-7. The two-point conversion attempt failed.
Roughly five minutes later, McDowell traversed 90 yards on 13 plays setting up a Meyers five-yard touchdown grab from Dom Beraducci. The Trojans almost found paydirt again before the half, but were stopped inside the 10 yard line on a leaping interception by Daniel Sellers with just seconds left.
McDowell had three chances for points inside the red zone in the early stages of the second half, but North Allegheny’s defense held strong, holding the Trojans to a 31-yard field goal by Alex Sontheimer and cutting the lead to 22-17.
On the ensuing kickoff, Lyon returned the ball 95 yards to the endzone extending the Tiger lead to 29-17. With his third score of the evening, Lyon was deemed Wright Automotive Player of the Game.
In the fourth quarter, Alualu closed the game out, scoring twice on the ground including a 53-yard rush with 4:28 left. Alualu finished the night with 154 yards on 13 carries and three total scores. Sandwiched in between the final NA scores was a McDowell three-yard touchdown run. by Porter.
Tiger junior Colman Craft ended the game with an interception. Liam Flaherty was the team’s leading tackler with 14 while junior James Donaldson registered 12 stops.
Kushner finished the game 7/9 for 117 yards and two scores. He also had 39 yards on the ground.
The Tigers improve to 3-0 on the season and are back in action on the road next Friday at Baldwin. You can listen to that game live on the North Allegheny Sports Network with pregame starting at 6:40 p.m. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.
Football Summary vs. McDowell, 9-8-23
| GAME SUMMARY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| North Allegheny | 16 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 43 |
| McDowell | 0 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
