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By Rich Rhoades
PITTSBURGH — It’s Black Friday this weekend
in Pittsburgh, but it won’t be a Christmas shopping trip to the
big city for the Moniteau Warriors.
The newly crowned and unbeaten District 9
Class AA champions will play their first-ever state playoff game
when the 11-0 Warriors take on Pittsburgh City League’s Oliver
Bears Friday night at Cupples Stadium with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Oliver, the same team that the Brockway
Rovers beat in last year’s state opener 44-14, enter the game
with a 3-7 record. The Bears actually lost their first seven
games before finishing the regular season with three straight
wins.
Those wins were crucial. Since Oliver is
just one of three Class AA teams in District 8, the Bears
beating Langley and Westinghouse in Week 8 and 10 secured them
the state playoff berth.
Head coach Tim Keefer’s team beat
Westinghouse, 34-6, to clinch the state berth back on Nov. 4 and
hasn’t played since.
Oliver doesn’t have any big stat players.
Junior Shakeem Cox has passed for 342 yards and two touchdowns,
but he’s also caught 13 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns.
On defense, he’s the team’s top tackler and also leads the team
with eight sacks. Senior Leandre Harrison has passed for 519
yards with two touchdowns while rushing for 180 yards.
Senior Jocquet Foster has rushed for 377
yards and five touchdowns and has seven sacks on defense. He’s
also caught 15 passes for 204 yards. Also for the Bears, senior
Demarai Kirk (15 receptions, 259 yards) and sophomore Kevin
Griffin (17 receptions, 118 yards) are receiving targets.
Moniteau got big games from its stars last
week as quarterback Kyle Armagost and running back Dustin Geagan
led the way with 100-yard running games against Karns City.
They’re both over 1,000 yards for the season. Geagan is up to
1,462 yards with 15 touchdowns while Armagost has rushed for
1,150 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Armagost has passed for 1,741 yards and 18
touchdowns. His 99 yards passing last week put him over 4,000
for his career, making him the 13th District 9
quarterback to reach the milestone. Armagost’s top receiver is
Ethan Pry. He’s caught 37 passes for 842 yards with nine
touchdowns.
The Warriors have shined defensively this
year as well. Senior
end Joey Deal has a whopping 27 sacks and has made 7.2 tackles
per game. Junior linebacker Andrew Armagost leads the team with
12.7 tackles per game with 17 sacks. Kyle Armagost has made 9.2
stops per game from his linebacker spot.
Friday’s matchup is the eighth time
District 9 has met a District 8 team in the state playoffs. Last
year’s Brockway win was the first in Class AA with the first
seven games in Class AAA. District 8 owns a 5-3 advantage with
Brockway, Bradford (over Perry in 2003) and Clearfield (over
Brashear in 2008) winning games for District 9.
In Class AA, District 9 teams are 4-20 in
PIAA playoff games. Brockway last year, Karns City (over North
Star in 2008), Brockway (over Slippery Rock in 2002) and
Brookville (over Wilmington in 1994) are the District 9 winners.
Friday’s winner meets the WPIAL champion
next week at a site and time to be announced. Aliquippa and
Jeannette, both 12-0 and ranked No. 2 and 4 respectively by the
Pennsylvania Football News, square off in the WPIAL Championship
game at Heinz Field Saturday at 5 p.m.
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