North Allegheny hosted the Hempfield Spartans in their Quad County Conference opener at Newman Stadium on Friday night. The defense was the star of the show once again, getting six sacks and forcing three turnovers as the Tigers dominated the previously unbeaten Spartans by a score of 56-13.

 

The first quarter was a feeling-out period for both teams, as they traded punts throughout most of the quarter. With 6:57 remaining in the opening frame, NA drove the ball 89 yards on 13 plays and got the scoring going when Brady Brinkley hit Bradyn McConneha on a screen pass from 19 yards out to give North Allegheny a 7-0 lead with 0:53 left in the quarter.

 

 

Hempfield quickly responded, getting a 55-yard completion from Spartans quarterback Dominic Detruf to Jack Kopas, then a 10-yard touchdown pass from Detruf to Aidan Steinbacher. The extra point was blocked, and the Tigers clung to a 7-6 lead after a quarter.

 

Three plays later, North Allegheny took the momentum back when Brinkley called his own number and scored on a 55-yard rushing touchdown to make it 14-6 Tigers.

 

 

The NA defense got another stop, and the Tigers put together an eight-play, 67-yard drive, finished by Brinkley on a quarterback sneak to expand the North Allegheny lead to 21-6.

 

 

After another forced punt, North Allegheny ran the two-minute drill to perfection, scoring with 52 seconds remaining in the half when Luke Rohan found the endzone from three yards out. NA led 28-6 going into halftime.

 

 

The second half was all Tigers as NA got the ball to start the half. They wasted no time going 57 yards in three plays, capped off by a 44-yard touchdown run by Rohan to make the score 35-6.

 

 

With the big lead, the North Allegheny defense started to feast. Eli Janowiak played takeaway intercepting Detruf, but the Tigers’ offense couldn’t get points out of it. The next possession, Cameron Kushner took things into his own hands, intercepting a Detruf pass and taking it 35 yards to the house to expand the NA lead to 42-6. Anthony Sisinni added a 5-yard touchdown run to make the score 49-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

 

Hempfield was able to get on the board in the final frame with a 23-yard touchdown run from John Michael Lamda to make the score 49-13. North Allegheny capped the scoring with a Brandon Schantz five-yard run, and the Tigers rolled to a 56-13 victory in their conference opener.

 

Rohan was named the Wright Automotive Player of the game with nine carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Brinkley finished 9-for-18, 123 passing yards and a touchdown. Brinkley also had 86 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Korry Pitts led the Tigers in receiving with three catches for 56 yards.

 

Lincoln Hoke led the Tiger defense with five tackles and a sack. Rocco Colaizzi had four tackles while Kushner and Nathan Blechma had three. Blechma had two tackles for loss as well.

 

North Allegheny improves to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Hempfield falls to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference. The Tigers return to action next Friday when they travel to Norwin to take on the Knights at 7 p.m. This game will be broadcast on the North Allegheny Sports Network.