By: Don Rebel


Saturday, November 23, 2024 | 4:17 PM

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It was a turn back the clock day in the 2024 WPIAL Class 2A championship game Saturday at Acrisure Stadium.

Nearly two decades since South Park played in a district title game, the Eagles’ approach on offense was more of a game plan from seven decades ago.

It was ground and pound for South Park (12-1) as it captured its first WPIAL crown since 2005 with a 21-14 win over top-seeded Seton LaSalle (11-1).

South Park ran between the tackles all day, grinding out yards and killing clock on offense, while the Eagles’ defense kept the high-scoring Rebels offense in check.

“It speaks to our kids up front,” South Park coach Brian Abbey said. “They have to be able to communicate and know where the pressure is coming. If we get hats on hats, we know that we’re strong.”

The benefactor of the strong offensive line play was Eagles senior running back Eric Doerue, who carried the ball 34 times for 149 yards and scored two touchdowns.

“I’m so proud of him,” Abbey said. “We tell him week in and week out that this might be a game where he gets 30 carries. There’s a lot of trust there, in his first game as a sophomore, he went for 250 yards, so we know when it’s time, he’s our guy.”

South Park could not have drawn up a better start to the game. The Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions while the Seton LaSalle only ran four plays from scrimmage the entire first quarter.

“The last few weeks we had to come from behind with slow starts, so it’s been awhile since we got off to a good start,” Abbey said.

On the opening drive, South Park faced two fourth downs and 2 yards to go on their side of the field and converted both.

“We never hesitate with that group,” Abbey said. “We know what we have up front, we know what we have in our backfield, so there’s a lot of trust with those guys. I know they can get it done, and we knew if we get to 2 or 3 yards away, we’re going to convert.

“We wanted to get momentum at the beginning of the game, and wanting to keep the ball out of their hands was important to us too.”

Doerue capped off the opening drive with a 6-yard touchdown run. The point after touchdown was blocked, keeping the score 6-0.

The Eagles recovered a fumble on Seton LaSalle’s ensuing possession, and junior quarterback Robert Lenzi capitalized by scoring on a 1-yard run. Doerue converted the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

“We set ourselves back, and we were forced to punt and they went down and scored,” Seton LaSalle coach Tim Storino said. “We get the ball back and we turn it over and its 14-0 before we know what hit us.”

Before the half ended, Seton LaSalle scored late to take some momentum into the locker room.

Rebels sophomore wide receiver Khalil Taylor got the ball on a reverse and scored on a 32-yard run to make the deficit to seven points.

The second half began with South Park driving down the field, capping off a five-minute march with a Doerue 8-yard run.

The Rebels pulled to within one score again on a touchdown pass from senior quarterback Michael Pastirik to sophomore wide receiver Richard Littlejohn to cut the Eagles’ lead to 21-14.

The Rebels got the ball one more time and could not get a first down, so they punted with just over six minutes remaining. They never got the ball back as South Park ran out the clock.

The time of possession was telling as the Eagles owned possession of the ball for 36:20 compared to the Rebels’ 11:40.

“We weren’t surprised, we knew who they were,” Storino said. “We played them the last two years and knew they were big and physical. We just didn’t play well.”

South Park, which celebrated the school’s third WPIAL championship (in addition to one when it was Snowden High School), will next play the winner of Cambria Heights and Central Clarion in the PIAA semifinals next weekend.

“It feels great that we won,” Doerue said. “We do this day in and day out every week. We come out to play and get the job done, although the job is not finished.”

Tags: Seton La Salle, South Park