Amir Key rushed for 213 yards and 3 touchdowns as Penn Hills defeated Pine Richland for the first time since 2008 in a 33-28 victory in the 5A Northeast conference opener.
Penn Hills couldn't have asked for a better start as they went 80 yards on the opening drive and scored a touchdown on a 45 yard rushing touchdown from Key to give the Indians an early 7-0 lead just 1:20 into the first quarter.
The Indians defense stood strong as Pine Richland had the ball at the Penn Hills 41 yard line and on 4th and 2 they were stuffed on a run play giving Penn Hills the ball back. Penn Hills would drive 59 yards on 8 run plays on the second drive of the game, as it was Key for the second time in a row scoring from 2 yards out to give the Indians a 14-0 lead with 4:46 to play in the first quarter.
After those two touchdown drives by Penn Hills, both defenses were settled in and didn't allow points for the rest of the quarter.
After a Penn Hills punt, Pine Richland had its best field position and drove the ball to the Penn Hills 34 yard line. With 3:20 to play in the first half Pine Richland was faced with a 4th and 4 and they went for it. Defensive end Keith Pelmon tipped a pass and intercepted it for a 66 yard pick 6 as the Indians took a commanding 21-0 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
Pine Richland opened up the second half with a bang, a 90 yard kick return touchdown by Ryan Palmeri as the Rams got on the board with 11:47 to play in the 3rd quarter cutting the Penn Hills lead to 14.
The Rams put together another great drive and capped it off with a 20 yard touchdown pass from Kanan Huffman to Vasilly Balouris as the Rams cut it to a 7 point game.
The next Penn Hills drive, Julian Dugger got intercepted by Nikolas Andrews who returned the ball to the Penn Hills 30 yard line and the Rams were in full control after the third quarter just down 7 points.
On 3rd and 11 Huffman found Andrews for a gain of 15 and they moved the chains for a huge first down. Then Palmeri scored his second touchdown of the game on a 17 yard touchdown run as the Rams tied the game at 21 after being down 21-0.
Penn Hills finally got the offense going after they hadn't scored since the first quarter on a 25 yard rushing touchdown by Naytell Mitchell to cap off a 5 play 80 yard drive. The extra point was blocked making it a 6 point game with 9:52 to play in the game.
After two kickoff's out of bounds, Pine Richland opted to have Penn Hills re-kick a third time and it paid off as Palmeri returned the kick to the 27 yard line of the Indians.
On 4th and 12 the Rams went for it and came up empty on an incomplete pass as Mitchell broke up the pass in the end zone and the Indians turned the Rams over on downs with 8:08 to play in the game.
On the very first play of the drive, Key busted a 71 yard touchdown, his 3rd of the night as Penn Hills took a 33-21 lead with 7:55 to play in the game.
After a crucial facemask penalty on Penn Hills on third down, Pine Richland got a new set of downs and cut the score to 33-28 on a Palmeri 14 yard touchdown run to cap off a 70 yard drive. Palmeri rushed for 163 yards in the game and had 3 scores.
Pine Richland forced a Penn Hills punt and Tanner Cunningham returned the punt 40 yards all the way to the Penn Hills 30 yard line with under 3 minutes to go.
With 1:26 to play in the game the Rams were faced with a 4th and 7 at the Penn Hills 23 yard line and the Rams got a substitution infraction which pushed them back to a 4th and 12.
Huffman took the snap and was under pressure and his pass to the sideline to Mellis fell incomplete as the Indians got one last stop to close out the game.
"I thought our team did a great job of matching their energy. We got down in the second half but we matched it. I knew their guys weren't gonna quit. I told our kids at halftime to treat it like it's 0-0. We didn't come out with that energy but we finished the game how I wanted to," said Penn Hills head coach Charles Morris to KDKA Radio's Robert Mangino.
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