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Belle Vernon stopped Neumann-Goretti three times inside the two-yard-line in the final 90 seconds to win its first-ever PIAA football championship. The BVA defense held Saints to just 130 yards total offense, but had to turn back the District 12 champions with time running out. From a first-and-goal from the two, N-G picked up just one yard on the first two plays. Quarterback Mehki Wharton tried to sneak in on third down and got spun around with the his back to the goal. The 6-6 junior tried to stick the ball out to break the plane when the Leopards knocked it loose, ultimately recovered by BVA’s Aiden Johnson. Following penalties on both teams, the Leopards were able to kneel it down and run out the clock.
Belle Vernon took a 3-0 lead on Willie Schwerha’s 25-yard field goal in the first four minutes of the game. Two minutes later, the Saints’s Samuel Hobbs recovered a loose ball in the BVA endzone, the result of errant snap as the Leopards were punting. Hobbs then ran in the two-point play, putting N-G up 8-6. The score stayed that way until late in the third quarter, Braden Laux capping a 10-play drive with a 16-yard toss to Quinton Martin. BVA ran 19 plays in the third while the Saints had just four snaps.
The fourth quarter was all Nuemann-Goretti, including five fourth-down conversions over two possessions. But the Belle Vernon didn’t finally got off the field, thanks to the stops and Johnson’s fumble recovery. Belle Vernon picked off three passes in the first half but couldn’t get points off any of them. N-G’s final chance was set up by Belle Vernon’s only turnover, an interception by Yasir Williams coming on a pass off the hands of Colton Lee.
PIAA Championships at Cumberland Valley
3A Belle Vernon 9, Neumann-Goretti 8
1A Steelton-Highspire 22, Union 8
2A Southern Columbia 37, Westinghouse 22
4A Bishop McDevitt 41, Aliquippa 18
5A Pine-Richland 28, Imhotep Charter 14
6A St. Joseph’s Prep 42, Harrisburg 7