North Allegheny Defeats Woodland Hills in Thrilling Week 0 Matchup
TURTLE CREEK, Pa. — Football season is really back.
NFL preseason football is fun and all but football season does not really start around the city of Pittsburgh until the WPIAL kicks off.
The first Friday night game to be played featured two historically good programs as Class-6A powerhouse North Allegheny traveled down to George Novak Field at the Wolvarena to take on Class-5A contenders Woodland Hills.
With stars on both sides including North Allegheny star defensive lineman Lincoln Hoke (Pitt commit) and Woodland Hills thumping linebacker Zykir Moore (NC State commit), the game went as expected as it was a nail-biting, back-and-forth contest that featured many highlight plays.
In the end, North Allegheny stole a 28-26 win over Woodland Hills on their home turf thanks to a last-minute touchdown drive.
The Tigers started the game with the ball but the drive quickly ended on an interception by Miami (OH) commit Scoop Smith.
Smith personally turned defense into offense as three plays into the Wolverines’ first drive, the speedster took an option play 60 yards to the end zone.
The Tigers managed to answer with a touchdown drive of their own on the ensuing possession which was capped off by a 21-yard touchdown pass from Brady Brinkley to Ethan Maravich.
The Tigers later took a lead off of a 38-yard field goal from Maravich but that lead was short lived.
On the Wolverines following drive, Moore showed his Division-I abilities when he caught a pass from Woody High quarterback Cam Walter and took it 35 yards for a touchdown.
The Tigers and Wolverines continued to match scores over the next two quarters before the game entered the final quarter with Woodland Hills holding a 26-22 lead.
Following the Wolverines’ touchdown in the final seconds of the third quarter, the Tigers looked to once again match with a score of their own but the drive halted when Moore made his way to the quarterback and forced a sack fumble to bring up fourth-and-long and an eventual punt.
Moore posted two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recover on the defensive side of the ball which is where he will play in college.
The big sack gave the Wolverines the ball back with a chance to make it a two-score game in the fourth quarter. That chance was spoiled as the Tigers’ defense forced a punt of their own in large part because of a sack Hoke, son of former Pittsburgh Steeler Chris Hoke.
The defensive stand gave the Tigers the ball and the momentum back with just a few minutes to go.
The Tigers managed to drive all the way down to the redzone but three straight run-stuffing plays from the Wolverines’ defense set up a game-deciding fourth-and-goal.
After a Woodland Hills timeout halted the initial fourth-down play, Brinkley hit Luke Rohan on a slip screen that went in for the go-ahead touchdown with just under a minute to go.
Woodland Hills tried to get down field and into position to attempt a potential game-winning field goal but were ran out of bounds as time expired.
While the game was a nail-bitter for both sides, there is a long season ahead for both teams.
North Allegheny will make a trip back down to the east side of town next week to face Gateway in a non-conference matchup while Woodland Hills goes and battles against their longtime rival Penn Hills.
