North Allegheny hosted the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings on Friday night in a battle of the top two-ranked teams in the WPIAL. NA put up a valiant effort, but two third-quarter touchdowns ultimately were the difference as the Tigers fell by a score of 21-6.

Both teams traded punts on their first two possessions. With North Allegheny backed up on their own two-yard line and forced to punt, Central Catholic got the ball on the NA 40-yard line. The Vikings would drive 40 yards in four plays, capped off by a Roman Thompson touchdown to give Central Catholic the 7-0 lead after a quarter of play.

Defense continued to dominate the second quarter until 6:03 left in the half when the Tigers started a drive on the Central Catholic 37-yard line. North Allegheny took advantage of a roughing the passer call to get into field goal range, and Ethan Maravich converted a 28-yard field goal to make the score 7-3.

The Vikings looked to be driving to go up two scores when Lincoln Hoke poked the ball free and Mason Brown recovered it to keep the score where it was. The Tigers’ offense could not take advantage of the turnover, and the score was 7-3 going into halftime.

The Vikings struck quickly in the third quarter, scoring three plays into the period when Thompson scored from 10 yards out to make the score 14-3. After the teams traded punts again, Central Catholic hit a big play from Jayden Alexander, who broke off a 53-yard touchdown run to make the score 21-3 going into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers would sustain a drive that was 15 plays, 72 yards and took over seven minutes, but would have to settle for another Maravich field goal, this one from 25 yards out to make the score 21-6. The Tigers made one last effort with 4:11 left in the game, driving 67 yards to the Vikings’ four-yard line, but the Central Catholic defense made the stop, and NA fell 21-6.

Luke Rohan led the Tigers in rushing with 40 yards. Brady Brinkley finished 15-for-29 with 122 passing yards. Ben Kern led all NA receivers with six catches for 45 yards.

Eli Janowiak led the North Allegheny defense with 12 tackles. Hoke had 10, along with a forced fumbl,e while Owen Urschler and Nate Orlando each had eight. Urschler also had two sacks and a tackle for loss.

For his efforts, Maravich was named Wright Automotive Player of the Game.

North Allegheny falls to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Central Catholic improves to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The Tigers will be back at Newman Stadium next Friday when they host Mt. Lebanon at 7:30 p.m. This will be Hall of Fame night and Homecoming and the game will be broadcast on the North Allegheny Sports Network.