Playoff-bound Leps top Colonials
Albert Gallatin's Hunter Moody (11) makes a pass before being brought down by Belle Vernon's Cameron Quinto Friday night at Belle Vernon.
Holly Tonini
Albert Gallatin’s Collin Smith (28) gets the Colonials on the board as the Leopards’ Cameron Quinto brings him down Friday night at Belle Vernon. The Leps routed the Colonials, 41-7.
Belle Vernon's Luke Durigon (3) is brought down by Albert Gallatin's Micah High (44) and Branden Dice Friday night at Belle Vernon.
Belle Vernon's Luke Durigon (3) runs through Albert Gallatin opponents with the help of Vito Capozzi (4) Friday night at Belle Vernon.
ROSTRAVER — Belle Vernon sophomore Philip Taylor scored on touchdown runs of 36 and 14 yards and returned an interception 43 yards to set up another score to lead the Leopards to a 41-7 Big Nine Conference win Friday night over Albert Gallatin at Belle Vernon’s Jim Weir Stadium.
Having already clinched a WPIAL playoff berth, Belle Vernon (4-5, 4-4) led 14-7 at halftime and broke open the game with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns, including Taylor’s 14-yard run at 3:51 of the period.
“I congratulated the players on finishing the game on a strong note,” Belle Vernon coach Aaron Krepps said, referring to his post-game address. “We were the better team tonight, but we made some bad decisions in the first half, missed some tackles and generally did not execute offensively. We did not play as well in the first half as we did in the second half. We played strong team defense tonight and that’s what we’ll need next week (in the playoffs).”
However, the Leopards victory was dimmed somewhat when senior captain Cody Menges left the game due to an injury with 1:29 remaining in the second quarter.
Menges, who scored Belle Vernon’s first touchdown at 11:46 of the second quarter when he caught a 12-yard pass from Mike Fine, returned a punt and was injured when tackled at the conclusion of the play.
Krepps was unsure about the extent of Menges’ injury. “It’s a wait-and-see situation,” he said. “He will go for X-rays but no one will have any answers until after the X-rays. He’s one of our leaders and the kids look up to him. When he went down, the other seniors pulled it together and the underclassmen needed a moment or two to regain their focus, but after that we were OK.”
After Menges’ touchdown put the Leps on the second-quarter scoreboard, Albert Gallatin (2-7, 1-7) scored on a nine-play drive, culminated by Collin Smith’s 31-yard touchdown run with 8:31 remaining to tie the score, 7-7. Smith’s run put him over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season. Smith finished with 59 yards on 14 carries and rushed for 1,044 yards for the season.
“We battled,” Albert Gallatin coach Joe Embacher said. “We had the ball at the end of the first half and didn’t score and were in the red zone in the third quarter and came up short again. We played better this week than we did the last four games. We were close at the half and still in the game but too many mistakes cost us in the second half.
“Collin didn’t have one of his typical games but he got the yards he needed to go over 1,000. Belle Vernon’s defense up the middle was too much for us and what Collin got tonight he got on his own.”
Leading 14-7 at the half, Belle Vernon used a pair of sophomore running backs in Taylor and Luke Durigon to put the game out of reach.
Taylor scored on the 14-yard run and returned an interception 43 yards to the Colonials 7-yard line, from where Durigon scored one play later. In the fourth quarter, another sophomore, Cameron Quinto, returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown at 6:46 of the period. Collin Johnston, another sophomore, picked up an Albert Gallatin fumble and returned it 50 yards for the game’s final score with 2:28 left in the game.
“Philip has the ability to be an excellent high school player,” Krepps said. “His maturity has been key as the season has gone on and his confidence level has increased as well. He has played well, especially the last two weeks. Including Philip, we have a lot of young kids in the lineup and I’ve seen a lot of growth in them throughout the season. These young guys have grown up fast for us and I see that they have a better understanding of their roles and what they have to do to improve.”
Even though Belle Vernon had already clinched a playoff berth, Krepps treated the game like any other.
“That didn’t affect our outlook at all,” he said. “This was Senior Night and a big game for us. We didn’t plan to take our foot off the gas pedal. Our goal was to win the game and build some momentum for next week.”
For the night, Belle Vernon piled up 194 yards on the ground, led by Taylor’s 87 yards on 14 carries, while the Leps defense limited Albert Gallatin to 85 yards rushing and 30 passing for the game.
Having lost five games in succession heading into the regular-season finale against Belle Vernon, Embacher conceded that his players were in a somber mood in practice this week, but “overall practice went well. We we excited to be playing against Belle Vernon, but things snowballed in the second half. After the game I wished the seniors good luck and told the underclassmen that they had better get into the weight room to compete in this league.”
For Belle Vernon, the fifth team to qualify for the playoffs in the Big-9 Conference, they will appear in the WPIAL playoffs for the fifth time in Krepps’ five years as Leopards coach. Playoff pairings, sites, and times will be announced Monday.
Big Nine Conference
Albert Gallatin 0- 7- 0- 0 — 7
Belle Vernon 0-14-14-13 — 41
Second Quarter
BV: Cody Menges, 12 pass from Mike Fine (Derek Verkleeren kick), 11:46 (0-7)
AG: Collin Smith, 31 run (Branden Dice kick), 8:31 (7-7)
BV: Philip Taylor, 36 run (Verkleeren kick), 8:12 (7-14)
Third Quarter
BV: Taylor, 14 run (Verkleeren kick), 3:51 (7-21)
BV: Luke Durigon, 7 run (Verkleeren kick), 2:50 (7-28)
Fourth Quarter
BV: Cameron Quinto, 60 interception return (Verkleeren kick), 6:45 (7-35)
BV: Collin Johnston, 50 fumble return (kick failed), 2:28 (7-41)