Leopards take on Saints for PIAA title
Belle Vernon鈥檚 long football season will finally come to an end on Saturday with the one game all high school teams hope to play in.
The Leopards (11-2) will take on Neumann Goretti (11-3) in the PIAA Class 3A championship game at Cumberland Valley High School鈥檚 Chapman Field. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
It will be the first appearance in a state final for both teams.
While the game looked to be a match-up of a couple of top-flight NCAA Division-I recruits in Belle Vernon鈥檚 Quinton Martin and the Saints鈥� Shawn Battle, that won鈥檛 be the case. Battle is ineligible after being ejected in his team鈥檚 20-17 win over Wyomissing in the PIAA semifinals.
鈥淭hey got a quarterback who is a Boston College recruit, Battle, who has a little over 1,500 yard rushing,鈥� Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said. 鈥淗e won鈥檛 be playing on Saturday. But they really don鈥檛 skip a beat with the backfield that they have. They have two kids who can come off the bench and they鈥檝e proved on film that they鈥檙e solid ball players.
鈥淏attle鈥檚 presence will be missed I鈥檓 sure. He鈥檚 a game-changer and he鈥檚 a leader on that team. They鈥檝e got talented kids that will step right in. I just think collectively they stand out. They鈥檝e got great team speed on defense.鈥�
Neumann Goretti has won eight games in a row, including four by shutout, while the Leopards take a 10-game winning streak into the game.
The Saints needed a miraculous play to reach the state final with Mehki Wharton completing a 44-yard Hail Mary pass to Quasim Major with eight seconds left to give them a 20-17 victory.
Some may have thought it would take a miracle for Belle Vernon to defeat Martinsburg Central in the their PIAA semifinal if Martin didn鈥檛 have a huge game.
That proved not to be the case. Martin was limited to just 22 yards rushing but quarterback Braden Laux ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns and the defense stepped up with a shutout in the second half as the Leopards won 21-17. Chase Ruokonen came up with an interception and a fumble recovery for Belle Vernon.
Martin, who lost a fumble on Belle Vernon鈥檚 previous possession, saved his best run of the day for his team鈥檚 final drive when he broke an 18-yard run on third down to give the Leopards the first down they needed to run out the clock.
Humbert likes his team鈥檚 mentality heading into Saturday.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got such a good group of kids that have such a calm disposition about them, never too high, never too low,鈥� Humbert said.
鈥淵ou look at the kids and you think, man, we鈥檝e been at it a long time, a lot of weeks, you kind of worry, are these kids going to get a little fatigued? I think the kids do a better job than us. I think the coaches are more fatigued than kids at this point.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e resilient. The mindset that we鈥檝e had all season hasn鈥檛 really wavered.鈥�