Live Friday night blog from the Post-Gazette game of the week - North Allegheny at Pine-Richland. Besides following along the game, you can see score updates and other notes from around the WPIAL by looking at the right side of this blog and checking out the Twitter account of @PGVarsityXtra. If you have a score update, note or photo, tweet it with #wpial.
FINAL: PINE-RICHLAND 28, NORTH ALLEGHENY 14
9:58 NA turns ball over on downs again Had first down once but called back on illegal formation. Fourth down and 10 at 50, Riley Trueman gains 8. 2 yards short.
END THIRD QUARTER: PINE-RICHLAND 28, NORTH ALLEGHENY
NA again drove deep but turned the ball over. First down at 15. 1 yard gain on first down and 4 on second. Pass incomplete on third. Fourth down, Ethan Maenza flushed out pocket, throws back to center of field and Tommy Camino has it thrown right to him.
PINE-RICHLAND 28, NORTH ALLEGHENY 14
After NA's Mike Pope scored on 8-yard run to make it 21-14, it took Pine-Richland all of two plays to respond with 80-yard scoring drive. A 40-yard pass to Battaglia, followed by 15 yard facemask on NA. Next play Jurkovec goes 25 yards to Jordan Crawford for TD.
9:23 That first drive for NA ended by an INT at P-R 3 by sophomore Jordan Crawford.
9:21 Fourth and 1 from his own 23, Kasperowicz goes. P-R picks up first.
9:16 NA on move to start second half. At P-R 29
HALFTIME: PINE-RICHLAND 21, NORTH ALLEGHENY 7
The score near the end of the first half on fourth down pass play was huge for NA. Tigers still in it. Defense needs to improve.
Stats: Pine-Richland with 269 yards offense in the first half and NA with 146. Phil Jurkovec has rushed 10 times for 95 yards and also completed 9 of 16 for 98 yards and one INT.
Ethan Maenza, NA QB, has completed 7 of 14 for 103 yards and also rushed 10 times for 33 yards.
PINE-RICHLAND 21, NORTH ALLEGHENY 7
Nice answer for NA.80-yard scoring drive. It looked like the drive might be dead again. On fourth and 7, Ethan Maenza hit Matt Sell down the left sideline on 26-yard TD pass. PAT good by Mancuso.
Gives NA life. Plus Tigers get ball to start second half.
8:34 It didn't help NA cause that it fumbled at Pine-Richland 5-yard line when score was 7-0. Huge.
Riley Trueman has played only few plays at QB for NA. Ethan Maenza has played. Trueman, the starter until an injury last week against Seneca, is playing defense.
PINE-RICHLAND 21, NORTH ALLEGHENY 0
Sorry for delays. Internet problems here. Pine-Richland has been in control most of the way Phil Jurkovec's first big game as sophomore QB for Pine-Richland and he has been impressive. But really no surprise. Athletic ability is his most impressive thing.
Excellent runner and that arm is pretty dang good for a sophomore. Division I prospect? Unquestionably. Don't forget basketball star also.
Jurkovec has two TD runs of 32 and 12 yards. Jimmy Graf just ran 14 yards for TD and Pine-Richland leads 21-0 with 3:59 left in half.
PREGAME FOR NA-PINE-RICHLAND
Central Catholic seems to be everyone's pick as the team to beat in the Northern Eight Conference. The winner of this game very well could be next in line.
Pine-Richland won in overtime last year. Pretty much nobody expects the Rams to be as good this year. They simply lost too many key players. But don't kid yourself. The Rams still have talent.
This game might go a ways in establishing an identity for the winner. This is the first big game for Pine-Richland sophomore starting QB Phil Jurkovec. How will he fare? North Allegheny QB Riley Trueman was injured in the second half of last week's opener. Will he play? Even if he does, will North Allegheny have a passing game?
A key to the game will be line play and whether North Allegheny can bottle up Jurkovec and keep him from making plays with his running.