By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – History is one thing, speed is something totally different.

In the end it wasn’t so much Aliquippa’s history as it was Aliquippa’s speed that ended Moniteau’s season, as the Quips (14-0) used big plays on both sides of the football to beat the Warriors (12-1) 32-7 Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

“Our kids fought hard,” Moniteau head coach Jeff Campbell said. “They battled until the end. They gave everything they had. But they are a great football team, hats off to them. They’re well coached. They were ready for us. I thought we left some things go and just made too many mistakes.”

The biggest thing Moniteau did wrong was turn the ball over. Five Kyle Armagost interceptions and an 0-for-8 performance on third down doomed any chance the Warriors had of pulling the upset and becoming the first District 9 Class AA team to beat a WPIAL Class AA squad.

“You can’t make that many mistakes,” Campbell said. “I’d really like to get the first win for a Class AA team against a WPIAL team, but it wasn’t in the cards tonight.”

The interception weren’t all Armagost’s fault, as the first District 9 quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season was under immense pressure from a quick Aliquippa front seven all night long and had at least three of the picks go off receivers hands. Two of the interceptions came in the Aliquippa end zone and two others set the Quips up deep in Moniteau territory. Davion Hall and Jyier Turner each had two picks with Celo Chavis adding the fifth.

“The kids played well,” Aliquippa head coach Mike Zmijanac said. “We caught a couple of breaks on some plays, but you have to catch some breaks if you are going to win at this level.”

Aliquippa wasted little time showing their dominance scoring 19 points in the first 12:31 of the game including a pair of Dravon Henry touchdown runs.

The 5-foor-11, 185-pound sophomore scored on first-half runs of three and 49 yards before adding a 30-yard touchdown in the second half. He finished the night with a game-high 105 yards rushing on 12 carries.

“He’s a good player,” Zmijanac said. “We have five sophomores playing in case no one has noticed.”

Oh, they’ve noticed. Another one of those sophomores, Terry Swanson, added 98 yards rushing on 18 carries and scored the other first-half touchdown on a 3-yard run.

But to Moniteau’s credit, the Warriors didn’t give up being down 19-0 and tried to make it a game when Armagost connected with his favorite target, Ethan Pry, on a 59-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter to cut the Aliquippa lead to 19-7. Pry had three catches for 106 yards.

“They are a good team,” Zmijanac said. “You aren’t 12-0 for no reason.”

Moniteau then had a golden opportunity to get back in the game when a low snap on a punt forced punter Kaylan Kenney to take off running with the ball before being corralled at the Aliquippa 47-yard line with just under three minutes to play in the half.

The Warriors quickly moved the ball to the Quips 30-yard line on a 17-yard Armagost to Pry pass. But Armagost lost two yards on the next play – a play he fumbled the ball on with Chester Gladd saving the day temporarily for Moniteau – and the Warriors were then flagged for a false start putting them back at the Quip 37-yard line before Armagost lost two more yards on a run before getting nine back on a third-down scramble. But his fourth-down Hail Mary pass on the next-to-the-last play of the half was picked off in the end zone by Turner ending a threat that could have turned the game around considering the Warriors were slated to receive the second-half kickoff.

“I thought if we scored at the end of the half to make it 19-14 and came out and got the ball we’d have had them on the run,” Campbell aid. “If we didn’t make the mistakes we did …”

Aliquippa put the game away midway through the second half when Henry scored on the 30-yard touchdown run following an 18-yard punt return by Turner. Then Desmond Hardy finished off the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.

Moniteau had one last chance to score, but Armagost was again intercepted in the end zone by Turner with 9:22 to play, and the Warriors never saw the ball back as Aliquippa moved from its own 20-yard line to the Warrior three in 13 plays before taking two knees to finish the game.

“It’s hard to play that game after playing at Heinz Field (the site of last week’s WPIAL Championship game),” Zmijanac said. “Nothing against Clarion, but it’s not Heinz Field. We didn’t have as much focus this week, but we practiced well/. We were ok. With us starting five sophomores on offense, we are going to make some mistakes.”

Aliquippa did make a few mistakes including being called for 11 penalties totaling 82 yards.

“Maybe it was a little nerves,” Zmijanac said. “Maybe it was the cold or the altitude.”   

Armagost finished the night 4-for-20 for 139 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions. He also ran for 35 yards on nine carries. He finished the season with 2,168 passing yards and 25 touchdowns and 1,301 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns and his career with 4,484 passing yards and 44 touchdowns and 3,052 and 42 scores.

Pry had three catches for 106 yards and the score and ended the year with 47 catches for 1,102 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Aliquippa will face Tyrone next week in the PIAA semifinals.

Editor's note - Matt Mullen contributed to this story

ALIQUIPPA 32, MONITEAU 7

Aliquippa 12 7 7 6 – 32

Moniteau 0 7 0 0 – 7

Score by Quarters

First Quarter

A – Dravon Henry 3 run (kick failed), 8:01

A – Terry Swanson 3 run (pass failed), 2:00

Second Quarter

A – Henry 49 run (Robert Kish kick), 11:29

M – Ethan Pry 59 pass from Kyle Armagost (Armagost kick), 7:41

Third Quarter

A – Henry 30 run (Kish kick), 7:52

Fourth Quarter

A – Desmond Hardy 5 run (Kish kick), 10:22

TEAM STATS

                                                            AL                               MONT

First Downs                                        17                                7

Rushes-Yards                                      55-290                         21-88

Passing Yards                                     86                                139

Passes: Comp-Att-Int                         6-10-0                          4-20-5

Total Yards                                         376                              227

Punts-Avg.                                          4-27.5                          5-30.0

Fumbles-Lost                                      2-0                               2-0

Penalties Yards                                   11-82                           8-53

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing – Aliquippa: Dravon Henry 12-105, Terry Swanson 18-98, Tyrik Hayes 8-40, Kaylan Kenney 2-36, Desmond Hardy 4-20, Devon Walker 4-13, Mikal Hall 2-minus 10, Team 5-minus 12. Moniteau: David Campbell 3-40, Kyle Armagost 9-35, Dustin Geagan 8-10, Andrew Armagost 1-3.

Passing – Aliquippa: Mikal Hall 6-for-10, 86 yards. Moniteau: Kyle Armagost 4-for-20, 139 yards, 1 touchdown, 5 interceptions.

Receiving – Aliquippa: Kaylan Kenney 2-33, Hassahn Thompson 1-43, Donovan Cobb 1-12, Terry Swanson 1-3, Devon Walker 1-minus 5. Moniteau: Ethan Pry 3-106, Dustin Geagan 1-33.

Interceptions – Aliquippa: Davion Hall 2, Jyier Turner 2, Celo Chavis.