Inches away from PIAA title, Neumann-Goretti fumbles away chance
Top-ranked Belle Vernon survived a pitched defensive battle Saturday in the PIAA Class 3A championship game when it forces a goal-line fumble in the final minutes to hold off Neumann-Goretti 9-8 at Cumberland Valley’s Chapman Field.
The Saints (11-4), facing first-and-goal at the 1, tried a quarterback sneak but the ball was knocked loose from Mekhi Wharton and Belle Vernon’s Aiden Johnson recovered.
The victory gave the Leopards (12-2) their first state championship.
A week earlier Wharton was one of the heros when he fired a 44-yard touchdown pass to Qaasim Major with eight second remaining in a wild 20-17 victory over Wyomissing.
The Saints had just one turnover in taking out the state’s top-ranked team at the time.
They turned it over four times Saturday, with Wharton getting picked off three times in the first half. He threw for just 68 yards and Goretti managed only 133 total yards.
Goretti’s only touchdown came in the first quarter when the Belle Vernon center snapped the ball over his punter’s head and it was recovered for a TD in the end zone. After a successful two-point conversion the Saints led 8-3, an advantage they maintained until the third quarter.
Belle Vernon took the lead for good on Braden Laux’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Quinton Martin with 4:53 left in the third. The two-point converion bid failed.
“It’s a storybook ending,” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert told Pittsburgh TribuneLive.com. “The defense has been phenomenal all year. We have such a calm confidence with our defense. As that first down and first-and-goal goes, I honestly didn’t bat an eyelash. I just felt like it was our year and our time and we’d find a way, and by God, we found a way.”
Neumann-Goretti played without its leading rusher and scorer, Boston College recruit Shawn Battle, who was ejected last week for throwing a punch at a Wyomissing player; he was ineligible under PIAA rules.
Martin, one of the top-rated junior prospects in Pennsylvania, was limited to 66 yards on 20 carries. He has offers from Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State and numerous other major college programs.
Belle Vernon was ranked No. 1 in the state in the preseason but dropped out after conseutive losses to Class 4A McKeesport in Week 2 and Class 5A Penn-Trafford in Week 3. Wyomissing moved into the No. 1 spot after that.
The Leopards didn’t lose again, ending the season with 11 straight wins.