Jay Timmons stars on the football field these days, but if things had gone a little differently when he was in fourth grade, he might be making a splash on the ice right now and not the turf.
“My mom didn’t let me play football until fourth grade,” Timmons recalled. “I had been a big baseball player and then I became a hockey player. I tried out for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite team. I told my mom, ‘If I make this team, I’m going to play hockey and not football.’ And thank God I didn’t.”
Years later, Timmons, a junior, is one of the top defensive backs in the WPIAL and has his Pine-Richland team one win away from reaching the WPIAL Class 5A championship game for the third year in a row. The top-seeded Rams (9-1) will take on No. 5 Bethel Park (10-2) in a semifinal Friday at North Hills’ Martorelli Stadium.
“Jay” is actually Timmons’ nickname, but it’s the name most people have called him for years. His birth name is Lawrence. Yes, Lawrence Timmons. And yes, he’s the son of the former Steelers inside linebacker by the same name. Pops is a former first-round pick who played 10 seasons for the Steelers. He helped them win a Super Bowl in 2009 and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2014.
The younger Timmons said he attended many of his dad’s games when he was a kid, adding that it was always a thrill to hang out in the locker room after games.
“We used to have box seats,” he said. “There was a guy who would bring us down [to the locker room] if the Steelers won, but he wouldn’t if they lost. That’s why I loved going to Browns games, because we would never lose to them.”
Lawrence Timmons now lives in Florida, while Jay Timmons lives in Gibsonia with his mom and two siblings. Luke and Leah are twins who are ninth graders at Pine-Richland. Luke also plays on the football team, while Leah runs track.
It has been a breakout season for Jay, a first-year starter who played some nickel last season. This season, Timmons (5 feet 11, 175 pounds) has been a standout in the secondary as he has been terrific at both cornerback and safety. A first-team all-conference pick, Timmons leads the team with four interceptions, including a pick-6 against Franklin Regional in the quarterfinals.
“He’s just doing really well on defense,” Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne said. “He’s a lock-down guy in the defensive backfield.”
Timmons leads the team in receiving, as well, as he has pulled in 26 catches for 560 yards and six touchdowns. Two of those scores came last week.
“We were counting on him to be more of a defensive guy,” LeDonne said. “At the beginning of the year he wasn’t playing much offense, but with his skill set we needed him on the field.”
Lawrence Timmons was 6-1, 240 in his NFL days. Jay might not have dad’s size, but he makes up for it in other ways.
“I’m smaller than he was, but I’m definitely faster,” Jay said.
Timmons currently holds offers from West Virginia, Toledo, Temple, Akron and Eastern Michigan. A lifelong Florida State fan (both of his parents graduated from the school), Timmons said he would love to eventually get an offer from the Seminoles. He hopes to get them from Penn State and Pitt, too.
Timmons and the Pine-Richland defense will be tested by a Bethel Park offense that has been one of the most potent and diverse in the WPIAL this season. The Black Hawks average a Class 5A-best 43.4 points per game and feature the likes of Tanner Pfeuffer (2,615 yards passing, 31 touchdowns), JaVaughn Moore (2,025 yards rushing, 31 touchdowns), Mitchell Paschl (38 catches, 658 yards), Ryan Petras (27 catches, 494 yards) and Jack Bruckner (27 catches, 513 yards). Moore rushed for 280 yards and four touchdowns in a quarterfinal win against Woodland Hills.
“They’ve got some good speed and we know they’re really technically sound, but they haven’t seen a team like us,” Timmons said.
Added LeDonne, “I think we have to use our offense and run game to help keep their offense off the field. We’re hoping to establish the line of scrimmage.”
Bethel Park last reached the final in 2008, the year it won its first championship.
Pine-Richland is led offensively by quarterback Oobi Strader (1,329 yards passing, 15 touchdowns) and running back Mac Miller (1,013 yards rushing, 12 touchdowns). Strader returned to the lineup last week after missing some time with a shoulder injury, while Miller ran for 104 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
Defending champion Peters Township (10-1) has dropped only one game this season. The No. 3-seeded Indians will get an opportunity to avenge that loss when they face No. 2 Upper St. Clair (11-0) in a semifinal at Bethel Park.
Upper St. Clair is the only unbeaten team in Class 5A. One of its conquests was a 21-7 win against Peters Township on Sept. 27. Julian Dahlem was the star of the game, rushing for 185 yards and accounting for all three Upper St. Clair touchdowns. He returned an interception 25 yards for a score before adding touchdown runs of 16 and 71 yards.
This is a matchup of the two most stingiest defenses in the class. Upper St. Clair gives up only 9.4 points per game and Peters Township allows 10.6. Upper St. Clair has not given up more than 14 points in a game since the season opener.
After going unbeaten in the regular season for the first time since 2013, Upper St. Clair will try to advance to the final for the second time in three seasons. The Panthers, whose last title came in 2006, lost to Pine-Richland in the 2022 final. The Panthers don’t throw the ball a whole lot. Instead, they rely on a rushing attack headlined by Dahlem, who has rushed for 1,094 yards and 14 touchdowns. Dahlem ran for 77 yards and a touchdown in a 24-3 quarterfinal win against Penn Hills.
Peters Township beat Penn-Trafford, 42-13, in the quarterfinals behind an excellent performance from Nolan DiLucia, who passed for 175 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for a score. DiLucia has been outstanding this season, passing for 2,284 yards and 22 touchdowns. His favorite receiver has been Nick McCullough, who has collected 44 catches for 951 yards and 16 touchdowns. The Indians are hoping to reach the final for the fourth time in six years. They finished as runner-up in 2019 and 2020 before winning their first title last season.
Class 3A
Imani Christian stormed back from a two-touchdown deficit to beat Highlands, 31-17, in the quarterfinals, putting the Saints one win away from playing for a title for just the second time in program history. But to get there, the Saints must get through a team that is looking to reach the final for the third year in a row.
One of the best matchups of this week’s semifinal games features No. 1 Imani Christian (11-0) taking on No. 5 Avonworth (9-3) at West Allegheny. Imani Christian’s only previous appearance in the semifinals came in 2017 when the Saints went on to lose to Jeannette in the WPIAL Class 1A championship. Meanwhile, Avonworth is in the semifinals for the fourth time in five years. The Antelopes fell to Belle Vernon in the final in both 2022 and 2023.
Imani Christian is riding high after rallying from a 14-0 halftime deficit to topple Highlands. The Saints used a safety to take the lead, a score that was part of a fourth quarter that saw the Saints outscore Highlands, 23-0, after the Golden Rams held a 17-8 lead after three quarters.
“It’s always a learning process with us,” Imani Christian coach LaRoi Johnson said. “We have so many young guys. A whole lot of juniors and a whole lot of sophomores. We have only four seniors. For a lot of these kids, it’s their first time being in these situations.”
Johnson got a strong performance from sophomore running back Gabe Jenkins, who ran for 134 yards and also threw for a touchdown. On the season, Jenkins has rushed for 1,242 yards and 18 touchdowns.
“He’s growing up every game, and he’s such a positive teammate,” Johnson said.
Imani Christian won the Allegheny 7 Conference title, while Avonworth split the Western Hills Conference title with Beaver and Central Valley. Imani Christian played two Western Hills teams in the regular season, beating Beaver, 42-28, and North Catholic, 48-28.
Speaking of Beaver, two weeks after losing to the Bobcats, 34-14, Avonworth got some payback by defeating them 42-21 in the quarterfinals. Nico Neal ran for 250 yards and four touchdowns for Avonworth, which eliminated Beaver in the quarterfinals for the third year in a row.
Besides the regular-season loss to Beaver, Avonworth’s only other losses were to Class 4A powers Thomas Jefferson and Aliquippa.
The other semifinal features No. 2 Central Valley (6-5) taking on No. 3 Elizabeth Forward (8-3) at Montour. Central Valley is in the semifinals for the fifth time in six years and is trying to reach the final for the ninth time in program history. Central Valley won three consecutive titles from 2019-2021. That three-peat included a 35-0 win against Elizabeth Forward in the 2020 final. A year later, Central Valley thumped Elizabeth Forward, 51-0, in the semifinals.
Elizabeth Forward, which lost to Avonworth in last year’s semifinals, is riding the high of a 45-42 win against North Catholic in the quarterfinals. Trailing by seven, Elizabeth Forward used a 98-yard touchdown drive capped by Ryan Messina’s 1-yard run to tie the score at 42 with 2:33 remaining. AJ Grese then intercepted a North Catholic pass with 1:27 left, setting the stage for Luke Holdren’s game-winning 25-yard field goal as time expired.
“It was like a storybook ending,” Elizabeth Forward coach John DeMarco said. “Things like that don’t happen all of the time.”
The win was Elizabeth Forward’s seventh in a row following a 1-3 start. The Warriors dropped one-point games to West Mifflin and Highlands to open the season before suffering a loss to Class 5A South Fayette.
Elizabeth Forward boasts one of the WPIAL’s most versatile players in Charlie Nigut, who leads the team in rushing (1,415 yards) and touchdowns (30) and also ranks second in receiving (30 catches, 518 yards). Messina has had a big season, as well, passing for 2,035 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Central Valley also started the season slow. This group of Warriors were 0-3 following losses to Class 4A playoff teams Montour, Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon. Coach Mark Lyons’ crew is 6-2 since, including a 35-7 win against Freeport last week. Mason Dixon ran for 195 yards and two touchdowns and Jance Henry ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
Dixon and Henry have given Central Valley a terrific 1-2 punch in the backfield. Dixon has rushed for 1,191 yards and 18 touchdowns, while Henry has run for 738 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Both teams are strong along the lines. Elizabeth Forward defensive end Chris Climes is a Buffalo recruit who has racked up 16 sacks. Climes could go head-to-head with Central Valley junior tackle Brendan Alexander, whose offer list includes Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia.
“I think it’s going to come down to the offensive and defensive lines,” DeMarco said. “They’re big. They remind me a lot of West Mifflin’s front. And they’re physical.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.