PIAA Championship: NA Tigers Ready to Tame Red Raiders

HERSHEY—Back in July when Coatesville head coach Matt Ortega and his staff were preparing for training camp, he knew it would be tough to replace NCAA Division 1 recruits Manny Stocker, Kyle Kennrick and Dae Hon Chung.

Instead, Ortega displayed a quiet confidence, almost a giddiness, when asked what kind of a season he anticipated.

“You are never going to be able to replace players like them,” Ortega said during the Steel City soccer tournament. “I am really looking forward to this year, as Emmitt (Hunt) played some last year and even got in some games as a sophomore, and Chris (Jones) and Andre (Boggs) were a big part of our success last season.”

“Our leaders really set the tone for our team,” added Ortega. “They set the example by working hard in practice and making plays when it comes to game time.

"At this level we need guys to make plays when they have a chance, and if we stay healthy the sky is the limit.”

It turned out that as a head football coach, Ortega is a pretty good fortune teller. Making big plays has been a reoccurring theme all season for the Red Raiders, leading Coatesville (14-2) to the threshold of the first Pennsylvania state football championship in the school's history.

Led by an electrifying passing game and special teams play that has produced 644 points, the Red Raiders traveled to Hershey this week while riding the momentum of a 12-game winning streak in which they have outscored opponents by a count of 485-179.

“I have great guys around me,” said senior quarterback Emmitt Hunt after their huge win over Spring-Ford to win the Red Raiders' first district title since 1990.

“Our line has done a great job all year and having guys like Dre (Boggs) and Chris (Jones) to throw to makes my job easy," Hunt said. "I know that if I get it to them they will make a play.”

It's been said that sometime through failure a great good can be done. In the Red Raiders' record-setting season, one such failure provided the jump start the Red Raiders' machine needed.

With all of the press and accolades thrown around about the high-flying aerial weapons the Red Raiders have at their disposal,  the offensive line and running attack at times have been overlooked. Still, junior Daquan Worley will be ready to carry the load when needed in Saturday night’s tilt.

“We all got together after the Downingtown East game,” said senior Chris Jones.

“We really though we were going to come back and win that game. Right there we told ourselves that we can’t let ourselves get behind, we need to jump on every team we play early, and since then we and our coaches have really done a good job of getting us fast starts.”

When the Red Raiders take the turf Saturday night in Hershey Park Stadium, they will square off against the North Allegheny team (15-0)  that has held the state No. 1 ranking for most of the year.

The Tigers, who have outscored their opponents this season by a tally of 608-112, will be returning to Hershey for the second time in three years. They claimed the 2010 PIAA  AAAA state title with a 21-0 win over LaSalle College High School.

North Allegheny advanced to the big dance by pounding Wilson Area High School 45-10 last week in the western fina, with quarterback Mack Leftwich completing 17/28 passes for 217 yards and two passing TDs while running for another.

The Red Raiders' defense, which has continued to make big plays and force turnovers in post-season play, will have to find a way to stop running back Alex Decaintis (22 carries, 11 yards, TD last week) and an offense that racked up 370 yards on 66 plays from scrimmage versus the Bulldogs.

The Tigers' defense is led by the quartet of Layne Skundrich, Patrick Kugler, Jeremy Gonzalez and Kevin Edwards, who combined for 13.5 tackles last week—six of which resulted in negative yardage.

Coatesville will be the second consecutive team to represent District 1 in the championship game. North Penn dropped the 2011 title game to Central Dauphin, 14-7.

Since the merged format in which a state champion has been crowned was adopted in 1988, the last District 1 representative to claim the top prize in the keystone was North Penn, which defeated Central Catholic, 37-10, in 2003 for the only championship in Knights history.

Pennsylvania class AAAA State Champions  (District 1 teams bolded)

2011-Central Dauphin 14   North Penn 7

2010-North Allegheny  21  LaSalle  0

2009-LaSalle College  24   State College 7

2008-Liberty 28  Bethel Park  21

2007-Pittsburgh Central Catholic 21 Parkland 0

2006-Upper St. Clair 47  Liberty 13

2005-McKeesport 49  Liberty  10

2004-Pittsburgh Central Catholic 49  Neshaminy 14

2003-North Penn 37  Central Catholic  10

2002-Parkland  34  Woodland Hills 12

2001-Neshaminy 21  Woodland Hills 7

2000-Cathedral Prep 41 Central Bucks West 35- OT

1999-Central Bucks West 14  Cathedral Prep 13

1998-Central Bucks West  56  New Castle  7

1997-Central Bucks West  44  Upper St. Clair  20

1996-Downingtown Area 49  Woodlands Hills 14

1995-Penn Hills 35  Lower Dauphin  14

1994-McKeesport 17  Downingtown Area 14

1993-North Hills 15  Central Bucks West 14

1992-Cumberland Valley 28  Upper St. Clair  12

1991-Central Bucks West 26  Cathedral Prep  14

1990-North Allegheny  21  Ridley  14

1989-Upper St. Clair  12  Wilson  7

1988-Pittsburgh Central Catholic 14  Cedar Cliff  7