'All we've got': Aliquippa overcomes adversity to win WPIAL title for ones who matter most

PITTSBURGH — One by one, they all jumped.

The game clock at Heinz Field struck zero on Saturday evening just as the wind picked up and the snowfall intensified. Aliquippa High School players shouted in the air in jubilation, high-fived each other and looked for any way possible to release their excitement. When the first of the bunch pointed at the group of fans decked out in red and black in the stadium’s lower bowl behind the team bench, it was clear what would come next.

Minutes after the No. 2 Quips (11-1) beat No. 1 Belle Vernon (10-1) 28-13 to win the WPIAL Class 4A championship, players ran toward the foam wall and metal guardrail that separated spectators from the field. Many vaulted themselves back-first into the crowd, leaning on the same community they’d leaned on their entire lives — the same one that they knew would always be there.

“No matter if we win or lose, they’re always going to have our backs,” freshman running back Tiqwai Hayes said after the win. “It just feels good to have that community behind us.”

Hayes, who ran for 133 yards and two touchdowns against the Leopards, said growing up he’d always seen Aliquippa greats hop into the stands after winning WPIAL titles. He’d waited years to do the same.

The 14-year-old phenom certainly earned that opportunity with his performance on Saturday.

A little more than three minutes into the game, Hayes dove into the end zone from one yard out to put the Quips on the board first. Then, in the second quarter, he scored again. This time, the 5-foot-11, 187-pound freshman dashed across the goal line on a 13-yard run with about 10 minutes to go in the first half. By halftime, Hayes had tallied 103 of his 133 rushing yards and helped his team to take a 21-0 lead.

It was a memorable outing in what was the Quips’ 14th consecutive appearance in the WPIAL championship game. Since securing WPIAL title No. 1 in 1952, the program now has 18 in its storied history. So, for decades, Aliquippa players — both figuratively and literally — had relied on their people for support. And, in a way, their people relied on them, too.

Perhaps the strength of that bond was never more evident than this fall, when adversity was what forced fourth-year head coach Mike Warfield’s younger players, like Hayes, to step up in the first place.

“It’s huge for these kids to accomplish this when a lot of people doubted us, especially this week,” said Warfield, who took home his first District 7 crown in 2018. “... I thought a lot of people didn’t probably think we were going to win.”

Challenges began to pile on starting in May, when rising senior standout receiver Antonyo Anderson was paralyzed from the waist down in a drive-by shooting in which the shooter mistook his identity for another person.

Aliquippa already had logistical hurdles. The school graduates only around 30 to 40 students each year, which, by size, would place it in Class 1A. But a history of sheer dominance has led PIAA decision-makers to continue to gradually move the team into higher, more competitive classes over the years. In 2019, that meant a jump to Class 4A. Now, it had to add the emotional toll of an innocent kid being critically injured — never mind the hit the Quips’ roster took in his absence — to the burden of having to field a team already lacking depth.

“It’s incredible that we can (still) compete,” Warfield said. “But it’s shameful, to me, for the people that are making those decisions to have us playing up so high. There is no team in the country that’s being forced to play up three classes — none.”

All things considered, maybe it is clear why those from Aliquippa feel like all they have is one another.

That served as motivation for other Quips aside from Hayes, too. In the final seconds before halftime, junior receiver D.J. Walker reeled in a 38-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Quentin “Cheese” Goode. And when Belle Vernon scored its first touchdown of the contest early in the fourth quarter, senior receiver Cyair Clark responded by returning the kickoff that followed 86 yards for Aliquippa’s fourth and final touchdown.

An opposing offense that featured one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the WPIAL in senior Devin Whitlock and four-star sophomore running back Quinton Martin was held to 103 total yards on the ground, in large part thanks to stellar play from junior defensive linemen Dorius Moreland, Jason McBride and Naquan Crowder. Each member of the trio pitched in Saturday with one tackle for loss.

The victory was a statement — a reminder that, no matter how turbulent their path may get, the Quips refuse to stop showing up.

“Coach Mike always tells us, ‘No matter where it’s going to be — Friday at 7 or Saturday at 3 — we’re going to be there,’” Walker said. “So, everybody needs to know we’re going to be there.”

Though the Leopards never legitimately threatened a comeback, a touchdown with six minutes remaining cut their deficit to 15 points. They even got the ball back shortly after forcing the Quips to punt on the following possession and put together what appeared to be another promising drive. That was until Walker came up with an interception that let Aliquippa’s offense take over from its own 16-yard line with just under four minutes left.

That’s when it started to sink in for players, coaches and fans alike. Celebration ensued.

But the real party wouldn’t begin until the rest of the time ticked off the clock and the Quips could unite with those that took in the moment from only a few feet away. After all, they were the ones that had been there through it all.

“Growing up we always said, ‘We’re all we've got,’” Moreland said, “‘We’re all we need.’”

Contact Parth Upadhyaya at pupadhyaya@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @pupadhyaya_.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Aliquippa overcomes adversity to bring home program's 18th WPIAL title