With the Class 4A Parkway Conference crown up for grabs and a genuine championship atmosphere in the air at Thomas J. Birko Memorial Stadium, it would have been nearly impossible for Friday’s marquee matchup between No. 1 Aliquippa and No. 2 Montour to live up to the game’s massive hype.
In hindsight, no amount of pregame buzz could have possibly done this epic showdown justice.
This one had it all — storied programs, high stakes, premier players, astonishing highlights, huge momentum swings, and of course, an unforgettable finish. And in the end, it was the undefeated Spartans (8-0, 4-0) who finally vanquished the mighty Quips (5-2, 3-1) for the first time in 38 years with a 36-35 comeback win, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat on a 2-yard touchdown run by Caden Halajcio and go-ahead 2-point conversion pass from Trey Hopper to A.J. Alston with 31 seconds remaining.
“Craziest game of my life, for sure,” Alston said. “We told ourselves all week, if we were down, pick ourselves up and play until the last play. And that’s what we did.”
Arguably the area’s biggest breakout star in 2024, Hopper spent the past three years patiently biding his time on the bench behind PUP All-Star quarterback Jake Wolfe before finally getting his shot to lead Montour’s offense as a senior. He broke onto the scene with 230 yards and two touchdowns in a season-opening win against Central Valley and never looked back, as the WPIAL’s leading passer surpassed 2,000 yards on the season in Friday’s win.
Hopper finished 20 of 33 for 233 yards with two touchdowns and one interception — a solid outing no doubt, but the numbers don’t tell the full story of his exceptional arm talent and poise under pressure, especially with the game on the line. He picked up a crucial fourth-down conversion to extend the final drive, and when his first read was covered on the 2-point conversion attempt, Hopper rolled right to extend the play before firing a strike to a wide-open Alston in the end zone.
“Hopper made a great play there. The play we called was bottled up,” said Spartans coach Lou Cerro. “We’ve been relying on [Alston] all year, and he came through when we needed him to.”
Star senior Tiqwai “Tikey” Hayes turned in another show-stopping performance for Aliquippa before exiting in the third quarter with an apparent lower-body injury. The Penn State recruit rushed for 220 yards on 20 carries, including an 81-yard TD to open the scoring in the first quarter. His prolific performance moved Hayes from No. 8 to No. 6 on the WPIAL’s all-time rushing leader board with 6,635 career yards.
The extent of his injury is unclear, though he did walk off the field under his own power.
“Aliquippa will never quit, ever,” Cerro said. “That’s why they’re so good.”
With Hayes out of the game and the Quips trailing by seven going into the fourth quarter, it was all-state senior Arison Walker who began to take over the game. First, Walker hauled in a 47-yard TD reception from Marques Council, who finished 13 of 26 for 198 yards and two TDs with two interceptions. An ensuing 2-point conversion gave Aliquippa a 29-28 lead, then the Quips immediately got the ball back after forcing and recovering a fumble.
On the very next play after the fumble, Walker pulled in a spectacular 32-yard TD catch on a jump ball in the back of the end zone, stretching Aliquippa’s lead to 35-28 early in the final quarter. Moments later, Walker laid out for an incredible diving interception that appeared to all but put the nail in Montour’s coffin.
Turns out, Hopper and the Spartans had other plans.
“We got the ball back, and I said, ‘If we’re fortunate enough to score, we’re going for two to win. If we don’t get it, it is what it is,'” Cerro said. “Hats off to our kids. We didn’t quit. We did what we had to do to get in the end zone and get the ‘W.'”
The Quips still had 31 seconds to answer, of course — and everybody in the building knew not to count out the champs until the clock hit zero. But just like he did to preserve Montour’s lead at the end of the first half, Spartans senior linebacker Kaleb Platz made a game-clinching interception on the game’s final play to set off a raucous celebration on the field.
Platz also scored on a 12-yard touchdown run in the first half and made several key stops on defense, living up to his reputation as one of the WPIAL’s most well-rounded players and the unquestioned heart and soul of Montour’s team.
“We’ve been playing them every single year since I’ve been here, and we’ve lost every single year,” Platz said. “This one feels great. We knew we had the team this year to do it.”
Friday’s win doesn’t clinch the conference title outright for the Spartans, but it does put them in the driver’s seat to lock up the title, provided they can get past No. 5 West Allegheny in the regular-season finale next week. Beating the Indians next Friday would also likely assure Montour the No. 1 seed for the WPIAL playoffs.
With a loaded crop of impact players on both sides of the ball and a senior-laden lineup overflowing with veteran leadership — plus the venerable Cerro calling the shots — it’s hard not to like the Spartans’ chances of going all the way. Of course, they will likely have to take down the Aliquippa dynasty one more time to finish the job.
As it stands right now, though, there’s a new No. 1 in Class 4A — all thanks to a little “Montour Magic” that won’t soon be forgotten by anyone lucky enough to witness it.
“Last drive, we just had to keep the confidence up and keep rolling,” Hopper said. “We’ll celebrate this for a few days, then focus on West A.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
