WPIAL Class 5A championship preview: Pine-Richland vs. Peters Township

In 2020, Pine-Richland pulverized Peters Township in a WPIAL championship shutout en route to capturing a PIAA Class 5A title. Last year, the Indians returned the favor with a one-sided beatdown in the WPIAL Class 5A final on their way to their first state championship appearance.

Time to settle the score once and for all.

After bringing home its first WPIAL title in program history last season, defending champion Peters Township (11-1) will look to complete its quest for back-to-back WPIAL crowns at 8 p.m. Saturday in a must-see rematch with the top-seeded Rams at Acrisure Stadium. Pine-Richland (10-1) is playing in its third consecutive WPIAL title game, while No. 3 Peters Township is playing in the final for the fourth time in the past six seasons — but for the first time at the home of the Steelers.

“We’ve played at Norwin twice and NA another time,” said Indians coach T.J. Plack. “This is kind of special for our kids and coaching staff and community. Before, we were playing at this nice high school stadium, and then four other games are down at Acrisure. It’s nice to be involved in this.”

Plenty of key figures in last year’s contest have since graduated, but there are still a handful of familiar faces on both sides — with the Rams’ returning players especially eager to receive a shot at redemption for last year’s loss.

“A lot of things went our way last year,” Plack said. “They were a good team. I just thought we caught some momentum and caught some plays. … We have to hope we get off to a fast start like we did last year, and if we don’t, we just have to hang in there.”

On paper, these teams appear to be about as evenly matched as it gets. Both offenses are spearheaded by an elite quarterback with the ability to make plays as both a passer and a runner — sophomore Oobi Strader for Pine-Richland and junior Nolan DiLucia for Peters Township. Strader has passed for 1,409 yards and 16 touchdowns to just two interceptions while rushing for 308 yards and four scores on the year, while DiLucia has passed for 2,349 yards and 22 TDs with seven interceptions along with 429 yards rushing and four TDs.

While the Indians may have a slight advantage in terms of their aerial attack, the Rams have the edge on the ground with junior Mac Miller leading the charge. A tough, durable runner with terrific contact balance, Miller seems to get stronger in the second half of games, with his hard-nosed running style taking a toll on the defenders tasked with trying to bring him down over and over.

Miller played a key role in Pine-Richland’s 28-7 WPIAL semifinal win against Bethel Park, carrying the ball 35 times for 192 yards and two touchdowns to raise his season totals to 1,221 yards and 14 scores.

“He reminds me of our type of backs,” Plack said. “Nothing fancy. You get a good line in front of you, and you’re definitely an all-star. He’s definitely someone who is on our radar.”

While slowing Miller down will be a top priority for Plack and Peters Township’s defense, the Rams have a different kind of offensive threat to worry about in Indians senior Nick McCullough. A blazing-fast receiver-defensive back who makes a major impact on offense, defense and special teams, McCullough’s 97-yard kick-return TD proved to be the difference in Peters Township’s 7-3 WPIAL semifinal win against rival Upper St. Clair last week.

For the season, McCullough has a team-leading 48 receptions for 984 yards to go with 17 total TDs and four interceptions on defense.

“He’s definitely a point of emphasis for us,” said Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne. “He is capable of going the distance any time the ball is in his hands. We have to be very cautious of where he is at all times. … They do a good job of trying to create mismatches with him on linebackers and safeties. We’ll try to identify where he is every time.”

But while both of these teams know how to put points up in bunches, each program is fueled first and foremost by a bone-crushing defense that knows how to stop the fun and make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks.

Peters Township deploys a 3-3-5 alignment on defense, using three safeties in the middle of the field with all three lined up within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. Both outside linebackers tend to play right up on the line, and each of them are absolute game wreckers. Senior Mickey Vaccarello (6-3, 215) is a Stanford recruit widely regarded as one of the top defensive players in the state, and junior Reston Lehman (6-4, 230) is a freshly minted four-star prospect who is ranked by ESPN as one of the top 200 prospects in the nation in the 2026 class.

Tying it all together is senior middle linebacker Nick Courie, an all-conference selection who also leads the team in rushing with 655 yards and 14 TDs on 162 carries. Plack can’t help but gush over Courie’s toughness and leadership every time his name is mentioned, even placing him on the same tier as former Indians middle linebacker Corban Hondru, now a redshirt junior at Miami (Ohio).

“I never put myself out there or anything like that, but I think we have the best linebacker core [in the WPIAL],” Plack said. “Those two guys on the edge, they’re hard to beat. Nick Courie, he’s a three-year starter. He’s 5-9, 5-10, whatever you want to give him. But he is pound-for-pound the toughest kid on every field we’ve played on this year.”

As for the Rams, senior lineman Josh Nindl (6-4, 305) wreaks havoc up front to make life easier on a fast and talented trio of linebackers led by senior Sam Heckert. On the back end, senior Tanner Cunningham is a shutdown cornerback who notched a pair of interceptions in last year’s title game and also recorded a 40-yard pick-6 on the second play of the game to kickstart Pine-Richland’s semifinal win against Bethel Park last Friday.

But the true secret to the Rams’ success this year has been Jay Timmons, son of former Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons. A junior receiver-defensive back recently ranked as a three-star recruit by 247Sports, Timmons has a team-high 30 receptions for 605 yards and nine TDs on offense, but his future likely lies on defense, just like his father.

Often tasked with covering the opposing team’s No. 1 receiver, Timmons has spent time at both cornerback and safety this season, and there’s a good chance he will spend most of his time lining up across from McCullough on Saturday night.

“All of my memories there [at Acrisure Stadium], to be able to play there and play our rivals, I can’t wait,” Timmons said. “I don’t think Peters is going to be able to handle us.”

With so many impact players on both sides of the ball for each team, it’s anybody’s guess who will emerge as the star of the show in Saturday’s main event. No matter who comes out on top, fans can expect a classic battle that might just come down to the final play — and who would rather have it any other way?

OK, maybe the coaches would prefer a low-stress blowout, but it wouldn’t be wise to bet on it.

“New faces, same scheme,” LeDonne said. “We’ll look a little bit at last year’s film to see what they did that was successful or wasn’t successful, but at the end of the day, it’s a new cast of characters. What matters is who they have now and what they’re doing with them.

“Any time you get an opportunity to coach in a professional stadium for a championship, it’s awesome. We’re going to enjoy it and hopefully put on a good show for everybody.”