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Gateway dethrones Woodland Hills
Gateway’s Justin King streaks past Woodland Hills defenders
Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review
Kevin Gorman can be reached via e-mail or 412-320-7812.
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King delivered by rushing for 222 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 4 Gators to a 26-12 victory Friday night in a Class AAAA game before a standing room only crowd at East Allegheny's Churchman Stadium.
And the Wolverines were dethroned.
Woodland Hills (1-1) hadn't lost to a WPIAL opponent since falling to Mt. Lebanon in the 2000 WPIAL final. It was the Wolverines' first regular-season loss in 39 games, since they lost to Franklin Regional in October 1998.
Gateway (1-1) recovered from a 32-26 overtime loss to Penn Hills in the season opener to beat Woodland Hills for the first time since 1988. This time, the Gators withstood a fourth-quarter comeback in which Woodland Hills scored 12 points and was inside Gateway territory in the final minute.
"For us, streaks don't mean anything," Gateway coach Terry Smith said. "If we play our game, we're capable of beating anybody."
The Gators got a huge game from King, a 6-foot, 178-pound junior ready for his coronation. King had 23 carries and scored on runs of 38, 1 and 52 yards.
"The kid's a prime-time player," said Smith, also King's stepfather. "You love to have kids like him on a team. He called for the ball. He said, 'Give it to me and I'll get it done.' And he got it done in a big way."
Woodland Hills simply came up short. Three times, the Wolverines were stopped at the goal line. In the first quarter, the momentum swung toward Gateway when Steffan Brinson fumbled at the 1 and the Gators recovered.
"We didn't do well on the goal line," Woodland Hills coach George Novak said. "Usually, we do good down there. We lost some momentum."
Gateway took a 7-0 lead, as quarterback Mortty Ivy and King took turns leading a march downfield. Ivy found Aaron Smith for a 10-yard touchdown with 25.8 seconds left in the first quarter.
King broke the 38-yarder for a 14-0 lead with 3:17 left in the first half. Brinson, who rushed for 52 yards on 20 carries, fumbled again at the Woodland Hills 32. Ivy kept a drive alive by drawing the Wolverines offsides on fourth-and-3 at the 25, and King scored the 1-yarder for a 20-0 lead with 9.8 seconds remaining in the half.
Gateway bumped the lead to 26-0 when Ivy ran the option right, then pitched to King, who cut back and scored on a 52-yarder. At the time, it seemed like an insurmountable lead for the Wolverines to overcome.
Troy Jones replaced Brinson and rushed for 65 of his 67 yards in the second half. Brinson, however, was stuffed at the goal line with 3:24 left in the third quarter. An early fourth-quarter drive was stopped short once again at the goal line, when Brinson was stuffed at the Gateway 1.
But King fumbled on the next play, and Woodland Hills quarterback Dennis Sellman scored from 2 yards to make it 26-6 with 7:10 left. On the Wolverines' next possession, Sellman connected with Devon Lyons on a 78-yard scoring play to cut it to 26-12 with 2:18 left.
But where Penn Hills was able to recover an onsides kick against Gateway, Woodland Hills could not.
The Gators, and their King, soon wore the crown.
"We were confident coming in," King said. "In past years, we tried to keep it close and steal a victory. This time, we came in knowing we were going to win."
