Welcome to WPIAL Championship weekend! The title games kick off with the 1A Championship at 11:00am on Saturday, November 22 at Heinz FieldAcrisure Stadium. The 5A Championship will be the final game of the night, scheduled for 8:00pm but logistically will start about a half hour after the 3A game ends. This is the third straight year that Pine-Richland and Peters Twp are meeting for the WPIAL Championship. Peters Twp won their only Championship in school history in 2023 while Pine-Richland is the defending champions. Welcome to the Rubber Match.
Check out this week’s edition of the WPIAL Blitz Show where we previewed all of this week’s Championship Games!
1. Pine-Richland (11-1) vs 2. Peters Twp (12-0)
How They Got Here
For the third straight season, Pine-Richland and Peters Twp will meet in the WPIAL Championship. These were the best two teams in 5A all season, and arguably the best teams in the WPIAL outside of Central Catholic (who delt Pine-Richland their only loss of the year). In that game, Pine-Richland gave up a touchdown before halftime to go down 21-20 but Central’s defensive front dominated the second half and Pine-Richland was unable to get the ball to their playmakers or find an offensive rhythm. In conference play, the Rams outscored opponents by an average of 44 points per game. The pinnacle of the regular season was a 67-0 thrashing of rivals North Allegheny. Pine-Richland topped Shaler in the final week to clinch the conference title then beat Shaler again in the quarterfinals. The Rams got a battle from a tough Moon squad in the semifinals, prevailing 34-24.
This is a battle of strength-on-strength as Pine-Richland’s top-scoring offense (47.6 points per game) clashes with Peters Twp’s top-ranked defense (6.9 points against per game). Peters pitched 5 shutouts this season and only one team (Upper St Clair in the regular season) scored more than twice against the Indians defense. Peters Twp played in the toughest conference in the WPIAL and faced two rematches against Bethel Park and Upper St Clair in the playoffs. For the second straight year Peters dispatched their neighbors in the semifinals (31-6 last week) to set up a rubber match with Pine-Richland.
Recent History
This is the fifth playoff meeting between Pine-Richland and Peters Twp in the last six years and the fourth Championship Game between the two. These two teams have been the dominant forces in 5A in recent years. Pine-Richland is playing in the title game for the fourth straight year (and 7th Championship appearance in 8 years dating back to their time in 6A). Peters Twp is making their 5th Championship Game appearance since 2019 when they made the finals for the first time in school history. Pine-Richland won the 2020 Championship and 2021 Quarterfinals meetings. Peters Twp rolled to their first WPIAL title in school history in 2023, defeating Pine-Richland 43-17. Last year Pine-Richland got revenge with a 20-9 victory in the WPIAL Championship. Both teams came up short in the state playoffs the last two years with Peters Twp falling to Imhotep Charter in the state finals and Pine-Richland falling to Bishop McDevitt in the state semis. Pine-Richland has won three state titles in the last decade, including the 2020 and 2022 seasons.
Championship Pedigree
Pine-Richland is the defending WPIAL Champions and is appearing in their 4th straight title game in 7th final in the last 8 years. That run dates back to their time in 6A. The Rams are 7-3 all-time in WPIAL title games and can claim 9 championships (including the two won by Richland High School in 1969 and 1970 prior to the merger of schools). Pine-Richland has found success on the statewide level, reaching the PIAA Championship five times and bringing three state crowns back to Gibsonia (in 2017, 2020, and 2022). Peters Twp made the Championship Game for the first time in 2019 and since then have been back to the finals four more times. The Indians won their only Championship in school history in 2023, routing Pine-Richland 43-17 last year. That Peters Twp team made it to the State Finals where they fell to Imhotep Charter out of Philadelphia.
Dramatis Personae
The Rams are led by dual-threat quarterback Aaron “Oobi” Strader who has thrown for 2139 yards and 33 TDs and run for 703 yards and 11 scores. In the semifinals against Moon, Strader took the game over with his legs, running for 198 yards and two second-half TDs. Strader, only a junior, has offers from Syracuse and several MAC schools. He has a trio of talented receivers on the outside featuring Ohio State-commit Jay Timmons (595 yards, 11 TDs), four-star junior Khalil Taylor (543 yards, 24 total TDs) and slot receiver Jalen Neals (501 yards, 5 TDs). In the quarterfinals against Shaler, Taylor scored touchdowns in four different ways – a kickoff return, a receiving TD, a punt return, and a pick-six. Taylor also scored the Rams first two touchdowns against Moon – a 37-yard receiving TD and a 104-yard pick-six. Maclane Miller has been the workhorse out of the backfield, running for 1249 yards and 13 TDs. The Rams are strong in the trenches, led by senior interior lineman John Curran, a Pitt-commit. They have several other D1 talents in the trenches including William & Mary-commit Braylen Price, senior Dajour Webb and freshman Adam Barnett (who both have offers from MAC schools), and sophomore Luke Bernesser (Liberty offer). On the defensive side of the ball, in addition to Taylor’s 3 INTs, fellow junior DB Dajaun Webb has 3 INTs (and a handful of D1 offers). The Rams have a pair of linebackers who have wrecked havoc all year in Grant Pillar (20 TFLs, 7 sacks) and Colten Andrighetti (16.5 TFLs, 6 sacks).
Offensively, Peters Twp has been solid and efficient with Villanova-commit Nolan DiLucia throwing for 2449 yards and 22 TDs and adding 230 yards and 3 scores on the ground. DiLucia’s primary targets are PJ Luke (560 yards, 3 TDs) and Lucas Rost (397 yards, 4 TDs) who has offers from some FCS schools. The Indians balanced offensive attack has relied on Cole Neupaver (1314 yards, 24 TDs) to keep them on schedule in the ground game. In the quarterfinals against Bethel Park, Neupaver scored 5 total TDs to lead Peters back from a 14-7 deficit to roll to a 42-14 victory. He followed that with a 147-yard, 2 TD performance against Upper St Clair in the semifinals. Peters has two D1 commits at defensive end who also contribute in the passing game – Stanford-Commit Lucas Shanafelt (451 yards, 6 TDs) and Pitt-Commit Reston Lehman (379 yards, 6 TDs). Lehman had a game for the ages in the semifinals with 3 sacks, a forced fumble, 107 receiving yards, and a touchdown.
