Chartiers Valley stuns South Fayette

Chartiers Valley head football coach, Dan Knause, gathers his team together for a post-game talk after their 9-7 win over South Fayette on September 18, 2020.

South Fayette quarterback Naman Alemada looked like he might have had Chartiers Valley's number on Friday night when he completed his first two passes of the game.

Little did the Lions know that this was the night that they would be attacked by Colts. It's no secret that the Lions entered this game as favorites, and nobody gave the Colts any chance to win this game, even after they defeated Montour 34-7 in Week 1.

The Colts were trying their hardest to win this game. The two schools are separated by only 10 minutes apart and they haven't played each other in football for the longest time. Tonight, the two teams played each other for the first time in a long time.

Throughout the game, anytime Chartiers Valley seemed to have a big offensive play, it was taken away because of offensive penalties.

Jordan Demus could have had a receiving touchdown in the middle of the quarter, but it was taken away because of an offensive penalty. When you watch that play, you could see Demus stiff-arm South Fayette's Logan Yater and run down the sideline into the endzone, you had to feel bad that the play was taken away because it was an overall an impressive run by Demus.

Chartiers Valley's Sam Pocci stripped the football from Naman Alemada, which was then recovered by Colts defensive lineman Chris Slaven in the middle of the first quarter as well. That turnover gave the Colts some good field position. However, the Colts were not able to score on the drive as South Fayette's Logan Pitetti sacked Colts quarterback Anthony Mackey on 4th & goal.

At the beginning of the second quarter, people thought that South Fayette could take over this game when Naman Alemada threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Joey Audia to give the Lions a 7-0 lead with 11:19 remaining in the second quarter.

Chartiers Valley field goal kicker Jacob Salsberry missed a field goal late in the second quarter while South Fayette's Ryan McGuire picked off Anthony Mackey before halftime. Before Salsberry's missed field goal attempt, Chartiers Valley's Patrick Mulligan blocked a South Fayette punt which gave the Colts good field position.

However, in the second half Chartiers Valley decided to "Make Today Count", which is also their motto.

Good defense was played by both teams as it seemed hard to score points in this game.

With less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter, Chartiers Valley's Socrates Boulis threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Collura to make South Fayette's lead only 7-6. Salsberry missed the extra point attempt and the Colts might have been wondering what was going on with him.

However, with the Colts defense continuing to play well, and the offense driving down the field in their final offensive drive of the game, the opportunity came for Salsberry to help the Colts win the game. Next thing the Colts know, Salsberry hits a 23-yard field goal with less 17 seconds remaining in the game to give the Colts a 9-7 win.

Alemada got sacked in the final play of the game and he could not help the Lions come back and win. Alemada not being able to hold some of the snaps throughout the game was a reason for why the Colts were able to make some plays on defense. However, at the end of the game Alemada finished 16-of-27 passing for 145 yards.

Overall, Salsberry came clutch when he needed to be and even though the Colts only had a lead for 17 seconds in the entire game, it was enough to improve to 2-0 on the season.

"It was great really. Earlier in the game, when I missed both the field goal and the extra point, I knew if we lost, it would be my fault," said Salsberry. "They gave me another shot and I obviously came out and did it [kicked the game winning field goal]".

Now, you might all be wondering if Salsberry was nervous when he was attempting the field goal to give the Colts the lead.

"Yes, I was [nervous]. I couldn't breathe. I feel better about the game in total."

With Salsberry playing football for the first time in his high school career, in his senior year, he has noticed all the energy that his team brings. He played soccer at the school for his first three years of high school before deciding to switch to football. What is funny about Salsberry is that he joked with his dad about playing football during the summer, and then his dad took it seriously and contacted Coach Knause about seeing if Salsberry could join the team and now he is on the team helping the Colts win games.

Another Colt player that enjoyed beating South Fayette was QB/DB Socrates Boulis.

"We've been playing them in scrimmages for the past three years," said Boulis. "We got to capitalize opportunities and finally get that win. We were prepared and ready. There were some good calls by the coaches and the players made plays."

With this win against South Fayette, Boulis definitely thinks that it will definitely give his team more confidence in upcoming games.

"For sure, it was a big win against a very good team [in South Fayette], they have some very good wide receivers, a great quarterback, great defensive backs, and their offensive line is amazing. Ryan O'Hair is a massive unit and it was a great win for us as it gives us more confidence going into next week."

The Colts travel to Hopewell next Friday for a non-conference game while the Lions travel to Peters Township for a conference matchup next Friday as well. The Colts have given up only 14 points in the past two games and that could be an indication that their defense is a reason why they have started 2-0. After the Lions loss to the Colts, South Fayette is now 1-1 on the season.

Brentaro Yamane: bkyamane@gmail.com and Twitter/Instagram @BYHilton13