Luca Neal’s 388 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns powered Avonworth past North Catholic, 42-10, at J.C. Stone Field, giving the Antelopes their fourth consecutive Western Hills title.
The Antelopes piled up 620 total yards.
Neal ran for 223 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries and hauled in seven passes for 165 yards and a touchdown. His rushing touchdowns came on three straight first-half drives on runs of 51, 7 and 89 yards out of the wildcat formation.
Neal credited the line for his stellar performance.
“They’re phenomenal,” he said. “They get really good blocks up front, which just makes my job easy to run the ball.”
Peter Bonnet, a 6-foot-5, 285-pound Navy commit, spearheads the line.
“It was amazing,” Bonnet said. “He’s such an explosive player. He’s very easy to block up front for him. We give him the holes, and he opens them up. He’s a great back to have in our arsenal.”
Dimitri Velisaris racked up 148 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.
“He’s just as amazing,” Bonnet said. “Having that dual-threat is great. Putting Luca in wildcat and having him run and then switching to Dimitri and then have him tear up a defense is awesome.”
Avonworth quarterback Carson Bellinger completed 7 of 9 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown.
Neal’s 50-yard touchdown reception from Bellinger put the Antelopes up 42-3 late in the third.
“He’s my guy,” Neal said. “We work all offseason, and we get our timing down and it really shows on Friday nights.“
The defense held Joey Felitsky, the WPIAL’s second-leading passer, to 161 yards.
Jaden Jones intercepted two passes for Avonworth. Romello Harris notched three sacks and a tipped pass. The defense held the North Catholic running attack to 33 yards.
“There was a lot that went into it this week,” Harris said. “We were just having a fun time this week, and our defense was doing everything.”
Avonworth gained momentum and established the line in the first half.
The Antelopes racked up 462 yards of total offense in the first half, with Neal accounting for 338 of those yards.
“Luca’s a great leader, man,” Harris said. “I really look up to him.”
Neal said it was a complete team effort.
“I think we all executed and played really well,” he said. “The defense stepped up and played really well, too, which just led to a great win.”
After a Jones interception, Neal turned on the burners, hitting a hole and running 51 yards for a touchdown for a 7-0 Avonworth lead seven minutes in.
Avonworth struck again when Neal capped a 96-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown for a 14-0 lead.
Neal wouldn’t stop punishing the Trojans. He hit a gaping whole on yet another wildcat play for 89 yards to put his team up 21-0.
When everyone in the stadium thought Neal was running, he pitched the ball to southpaw Logan Krul, who heaved one to Jones in coverage. Jones leaped, hauled in the pass and turned it into a 62-yard score and a 28-0 lead.
North Catholic’s Dylan Shantz drilled a 37-yard field goal to make it 28-3 in the third.
Velisaris then scored on a 70-yard run to extend the lead to 35-3. Bellinger found Neal for 50 yards to pad the lead to 42-3.
Felitsky connected with Preston Simko for 48 yards to cut it to 42-10.
Nevertheless, the Antelopes ran the clock out and took home the outright section title.
“I’m super grateful to play for a program where winning is part of what we do,” Neal said. “It’s really cool and great to be able to do that.”