Brady Rosencrans, Dan Sabulski, Lucas Tirpak and Zach Paczewski hold up the second place trophy on Thursday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas wide reeiver Zach Paczewski runs along the sideline after making a catch in the third quarter as Aliquippa defensive back Gavin Wilcox tries to make a tackle.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas quarterback Brady Zapoticky reflects on the loss to Aliquippa on Thursday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas’ Lucas Tirpak show the emotion of Thursday night’s loss to Aliquippa.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dylan Geskey and the Mountaineers had their undefeated season come to an end on Thursday night, falling to Aliquippa on Thursday night in the PIAA Class 4A championship at Cumberland Valley High School.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
MECHANICSBURG — Everything that led to 15 victories this season abandoned Dallas on Thursday night.
The running game was stonewalled. The run defense was gouged. An offense not used to turning over the ball did so six times.
And there was another factor — perennial state power Aliquippa.
Aliquippa scored on its first four possessions as it dominated from the outset in defeating Dallas 60-14 in the PIAA Class 4A state championship game at Cumberland Valley High School.
Dallas finished 15-1. Aliquippa finished 15-0, winning its second 4A title in three years.
“It’s a great program and hats off to them. They did a tremendous job,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “We took a whooping here tonight, there is no doubt about it. We’re proud of our guys. We’re proud of our community. I’m going to say it again, we’ve got the greatest school district in the state of Pennsylvania. We got the greatest community. We got great young men.”
The whooping came mainly at the hands of Aliquippa backs Tiqwai “Tikey” Hayes, a Penn State recruit, and John Tracy. The duo combined for over 400 yards rushing a week earlier against Selinsgrove.
The backs didn’t reach that number Thursday night, but they were close. Hayes finished with 19 carries for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Tracy rushed eight times for 136 yards and two TDs.
“That’s the best back I’ve ever seen” Mannello said of Hayes. “Somebody is going to have to prove we’ve seen a better one than that.”
As bad as the first half was going, Dallas had a chance to gain some momentum going into halftime. Instead, Aliquippa snatched it as QaLil Goode returned an interception 86 yards for a touchdown, giving the Quips a 40-14 lead with 1:20 to play in the second quarter.
“They have a great squad over there,” said Dallas senior Zach Paczewski, who closed out his career with five receptions for 67 yards and also had an interception. “They have a lot of better guys. They have a high level of talent over there. We fought every single game the last two weeks and they had high level players, too.
“But we were a little banged up and had a lot of players sick. We knew we just had to come out here and do our best and see what happens.”
Dallas cut Aliquippa’s lead to 16-7 at 4:22 of the first quarter as Brady Zapoticky dropped a perfect pass over two defenders to Gavin Lewis for a 39-yard touchdown.
Hayes then changed everything, ripping off scoring runs of 34 and 61 yards to put Aliquippa back in control 24-7 entering the second quarter.
“We had a lot of close games, a lot of sickness, we worked through it,” Dallas senior lineman Dan Sabulski said. “We all came to play, but we got outmatched. Credit to them.”
Dallas’ other touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Dylan Geskey with 4:30 until halftime as Dallas moved within 32-14. Geskey, though, never found the running room like in many previous games as he finished with 19 carries for 56 yards.
Aliquippa then scored on its first three possessions of the second half, with Tracy capping the outburst with a 46-yard touchdown run.
PIAA Class 4A Championship
Aliquippa 60, Dallas 14
Aliquippa`24`16`13`7 — 60
Dallas`7`7`0`0 — 14
First quarter
ALI — Brandon Banks 36 pass fron Quentin Goode (Tiqwai Hayes run), 8:04
ALI — Hayes 7 run (Mekhi Green from Hayes), 5:28
DAL — Gavin Lewis 39 pass from Brady Zapoticky (Rowan Laubach kick), 4:22
ALI — Hayes 34 run (John Tracy run), 1:04
Second quarter
ALI — Hayes 61 run (Jayce Williams from Q.Goode), 9:15
DAL — Dylan Geskey 1 run (Laubach kick), 4:30
ALI — QaLil Goode 86 interception return (Q.Goode run), 1:20
Third quarter
ALI — Tracy 15 run (pass failed), 9:09
ALI — Cameron Lindsey 9 run (Malachi Shegog kick), 6:11
Fourth quarter
ALI — Tracy 46 run (Deshaun Ansa kick), 11:49
Team statistics`ALI`DAL
First downs`18`11
Rushes-yards`41-409`28-56
Passing yards`168`137
Total yards`577`193
Passing`7-14-1`9-25-5
Sacked-yards lost`1-8`3-21
Punts-avg.`1-31`2-49.5
Fumbles-lost`1-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`12-100`5-32
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Aliquippa, Hayes 19-210, Tracy 8-136, Lindsey 5-59, Cleaster Longmire 2-(minus-1), Marques Council 2-5, Avery Coleman 1-3, team 4-(minus-2). Dallas, Geskey 14-56, Zapoticky 8-(minus-6), Nate Malarkey 1-5.
PASSING — Aliquippa, Quentin Goode 5-12-1-149, Council 2-2-0-19. Dallas, Zapoticky 9-25-5-137.
RECEIVING — Aliquippa, Banks 3-124, Williams 1-19, Arison Walker 1-6, Josh Lay 1-16, Cincere McCracken 1-3. Dallas, Zach Paczewski 5-67, G.Lewis 3-64, Malarkey 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS — Aliquippa, QaLil Goode 3-121, Walker 2-59. Dallas, Paczewski 1-36.
MISSED FGs — None.
