WPIAL Football Brackets
Avonworth’s Jax Miller ran for 291 yards and four touchdowns leading the Antelopes to their first-ever outright WPIAL football title, beating Wash High, 28-6. The Little Prexies stuggled to move the ball all day and could not find a way to stop Miller who carried the ball 43 times for the winners. Wash High’s season ends at 13-1, one win shy of an eighth district championship. Avonworth’s win is their first title in 60 years. The Antelope’s shared the 1959 crown with Union following a 13-13 tie.
Playing in its first-ever WPIAL football title game, Peters Township fell behind 21-10 early in the third quarter. The Indians’ second-half rally came up one point short, losing to Gateway, 21-20. Two longs touchdown passes in the first half put the Gators up 14-10. Derrick Davis’ 70-yard sprint early in the third set up Jay Johnson’s one-yard score that proved to be the difference. Ryan Magiske scored twice for Peters Township. Andrew Massucci kicked two field goals and two extra points, but the Indians couldn’t convert a crucial fourth down in its own territory late. Peters Township’s season ends at 12-2. Gateway, also 12-2, won its seventh WPIAL football title, the second in three years.
PIAA Football Brackets
Dylan Mallozzi ran for two scores while quarterback Shane Stump threw for one touchdown and ran for another Friday night, leading Thomas Jefferson to a 28-13 win over three-time defending PIAA champion Cathedral Prep. Mallozzi ran 27 times for 151 yards, capping the opening drive with a one yard run. Then, trying to run out the clock, the senior running back scampered untouched 33 yards in the last two minutes to seal the win, the Jaguars’ first against the Ramblers after three straight playoff losses. Unbeaten Thomas Jefferson moves to next weekend’s state semifinals against Lampeter-Strasburg, a 35-21 winner over Berks Catholic in Friday’s District 3 championship game. The PIAA 4A semifinal game will be played Friday, 1 pm, at Hollidaysburg High School. We’ll have the game on WJPA-FM (95.3) and online. Listen Here!