Alex Tecza ran for nearly 200 yards and scored four times leading Mt. Lebanon to a 47-7 win over Central Catholic in the WPIAL 6A Football Championship game. The senior scored on runs of 2, 59 and 25 yards and caught one of three Joey Daniels scoring passes, a 23 yard toss late in the first half. Brandon Anderson ( 5 yards) and Eli Heidenreich (28 yards) caught the others. Daniels finished the night 11-of-13 for 135 yards. Heidenreich also ran 67 yards for the game’s final score, sending the title tilt into the 35-point mercy rule. Mt. Lebanon will host District 10 champion McDowell Friday in the PIAA 6A quarterfinals. Game time is 7 pm.
With a victory in its first title game appearance since claiming the 2000 title, Mt. Lebanon moved into a tie for sixth place all-time Central Catholic, Rochester and West Allegheny, all with eight titles. Bob Palko was the head coach at WA for all of the Indians’ titles and now joins Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak as the only WPIAL coaches to win nine.
Semifinal games were played Friday night for the other classifications including the 4A Belle Vernon/Thomas Jefferson game on WJPA. Devin Whitlock scored on back-to-back offensive plays for Belle Vernon, leading the Leopards to the 21-7 win over the defending champion Jaguars. Whitlock scored on runs of 22 and 79 yards late in the first quarter. Belle Vernon will play Aliquippa next Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field and on WJPA-FM (95.3). WPIAL Brackets PIAA Brackets
WPIAL Semifinals
5A Moon Area 14, Penn Hills 9
5A Penn-Trafford 24, Pine-Richland 6
4A Belle Vernon 21, Thomas Jefferson 7
4A Aliquippa 27, McKeesport 21 2OT
3A Central Valley 51, Elizabeth-Forward 0
3A North Catholic 7, Avonworth 0
2A Beaver Falls 21, Steel Valley 8
2A Serra Catholic 13, Sto-Rox 12
1A OLSH 14, Rochester 13
1A Bishop Canevin 24, Cornell 7