You heard the popular expression “revenge is a dish best served on a cold rainy Friday night at the Wolverina.”
West Allegheny, (7-0), is the No. 1 ranked team in the WPIAL 5A Class and the Indians had to wait a year to finally get another shot at Woodland Hills.
The Wolverines graduated 32 seniors and coach Bob Palko and his staff was happy to see that Miles Sanders, Wilford Clark, Amir Cobbs, Daron Cooper, Tearl Gray, Payton Hicks, Eric Mitchell, Stephen Puhl, Jordan Scarbrough, Lamont Spratley, Tyriq Thompson, Chris Wilson, Jermaine Wynn and Jo-El Shaw are now playing college football and no longer sporting turquoise, black and white.
Rain, heavy winds, cold temperature and The West Allegheny Indians ruined Woodland Hills Homecoming Weekend.
The Indians stayed undefeated and clinched the Allegheny Nine Conference title Friday with a 52-13 win over Woodland Hills.
Woodland Hills drew first blood when Toledo recruit Saeed Holt raced 64-yards for a touchdown. Super sophomore kicker Charles Hanchett tacked on the PAT to give the home team a 7-0 lead.
West Allegheny tied the score 7-7 when junior running back Kenny “Hydroplane” Wright raced 45 yards for a touchdown.
The complexion of the game changed when the Wolverine’s drove inside the Indians 5-yard line and had a chance to take a 10-7 lead and a West Allegheny defender put a cheap shot on kicker Charles Hanchett long after the whistle was blown.
Hanchett, is the only kicker on the Woodland Hills varsity roster, so when he got knockout of the game the Wolverines was now forced to go for a touchdown instead of a “chip-shot” field goal.
Two-way lineman and team captain Matt Holmes played like a man possessed in the first half. He made a game changing tackle on 4th and goal after kicker Hanchett got hurt.
West Allegheny’s special team was also important. The Indians blocked two punts and had great punt and kickoff returns giving them excellence field position.
After West Allegheny’s D.J. Opsatnik kicked a 46-yard field goal—the 29th of his career—Woodland Hills went back ahead, 13-10, on Holt’s 23-yard touchdown run.
“I knew we were ready to play tonight,” said coach Bob Palko. “We sat on the Parkway for an hour-and-a-half and didn’t move and our players didn’t flinch.”
The Indians defense, which had allowed only one touchdown in the past five games, was superb after allowing two scores in the first l6 minutes. Kenny Wright rushed for 120 yards on only 10 carries.
“I was just running behind my offensive line and I just followed them all game,” said Wright. “My brother Whitney played here and he helped me to get better. We worked together all off-season and I just went up against him when I didn’t have anyone else. I just battled with him. To get to Heinz Field and win a championship we just have to play as a team and play as a brotherhood and focus as one.”
But West Allegheny has a not-so-secret weapon to combat Woodland Hills’ various athletic advantages—Brandon Lipford.
Brandon Lipford turned two short passes from Nick Ross into touchdowns of 51 and 55 yards and he was nothing short of spectacular.
No one on the West Allegheny football team can cover or run with receiver Brandon Lipford in practice. Then again, Woodland Hills didn’t have anyone who could do it, either.
Lipford, put up Player of the Week type numbers. He caught six passes for 137 yards, had two long touchdown receptions and had three carries for 43 yards. On top of that, he returned two kickoffs for 70 yards, and returned one punt for 20 yards and even completed a pass for 19 yards.
“Brandon Lipford has been doing that in practice everyday, so we are not surprised,” said coach Palko. “We are really proud of him. He has come a long way as a young man and we are real happy for him and happy he’s having some success.”
One of the main reasons that Woodland Hills never rebuilds and seems to always reloads is because coach George Novak has a great coaching staff. Assistants Cliff Moncrief, Kevin Murray, Harvey Inglis, Jon Carter, Tim Bostard, Michael “BB” Breaston, Scott Henderson, Brian Dawson, Denny Damico, Cliff Thompson, Greg Smith, Ronald Graham, Joe Samsa, Larry Whiteherse and Stevie Breaston.
Stevie Breaston scored 34 touchdowns as a high school senior and the last time a Breaston was on the field with a Palko was in the 2002 Big 33 game when Breaston was catching touchdown passes from Tyler Palko.
Tyler Palko did not attend the game on Friday night but he had a hand in the outcome.
“We knew we were going to be in a fight and we prepared all week. The night before the game we got an inspiring speech from an awesome player Tyler Palko,” said Matt Holmes. “Tyler is a tremendous motivator and he compared this game to a fight. They came out swinging and we punched back. Plain and simple I believe we have the best coaching staff. Just because of how much time they put into film and preparing us. Being team captain is an honor. West Allegheny is all about the players who came before us and being captain is a honor.”
Woodland Hills is made up of athletes from Braddock, Braddock Hills, Chalfant, Churchill, East Pittsburgh, Edgewood, Forest Hills, North Braddock, Rankin, Swissvale, Turtle Creek and Wilkins Township. Each community carries a lot of pride.
But of all the twists and turns in coach Novak’s story, the most remarkable—and ultimately the most significant—is during Woodland Hills’ 30 years of existence, the Wolverines qualified for the WPIAL Playoffs 27 times.
Over 100 Woodland Hills football players have received Division I scholarship and fourteen Wolverines have played in the NFL and they are:
Jason Taylor, Chris Edmonds, Shawntae Spencer, Lousaka Polite, Stevie Breaston, Ryan Mundy, Terrence Johnson, Wes Lyons, Monte Simmons, Darrin Walls, Rontez Miles, Quinton Jefferson, LaFayette Pitts and record setting tight-end Rob Gronkowski.
The Wolverines are coming off the worst home loss in the school’s history, which opened in 1987. It was the first mercy rule at home. Woodland Hills once went almost five years (1998-2003) without losing a home game.
Don’t count out seniors Saeed Holt, Derrick Carraway, Asheed Page-Jones, Ja’Juan Hill, Avram Abramovitz or “Big Mike” McAllister just yet.
The Wolverines are probably “reloading” for the playoffs as we speak and looking forward to meeting West Allegheny at Heinz Field on Friday, Nov. 18.
Woodland Hills will administer their own version of “Redemption Friday” at Heinz Field.
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