Times' Game of the Week Preview: Armstrong at Aliquippa

ALIQUIPPA – Coach Mike Warfield has already delivered an important message to Aliquippa High School’s football team regarding festivities Friday at 100 Harding Avenue. He also has a message to Quips fans: “It’s a Quip-Heinz ‘Red Out’ … Let’s flood the stands with red.”

Taking a cue from “The White Out” at Penn State, a tradition in which spectators come to a Nittany Lions’ home game at Beaver Stadium dressed in white, Warfield wants to see a sea of red when Aliquippa plays its first game at its newly renovated home field.

Penn State boasts that its “White Out” gives the Lions "the best atmosphere in college football."

Warfield expects that on Friday when the Quips play their inaugural game at Heinz Field – once known as Carl A. Aschman Memorial Stadium – Aliquippa will have one of the best atmospheres when it comes to football in the WPIAL.

For fans attending the 7 p.m. game pitting Armstrong vs. Aliquippa, there’s going to be a 4:30 p.m. tailgate party with free food, free beverages and free giveaways. A capacity crowd is expected.

More: Heinz is home: Aliquippa football field renamed Heinz Field following generous donation

But as Warfield told his team, don’t get caught up in the hoopla.

“We had a discussion about that,” Warfield said. “If the coaches stay focused, the kids will stay focused. It’s my job and the job of our coaching staff, to make sure kids understand that their job is to play football. They can’t control everything else that’s going on.

"Yes, it is exciting. We want the community to definitely enjoy it. But it’s my responsibility to make sure we’re ready to play football Friday at 7 p.m. That’s my main focus.”

Warfield, who’s in his sixth season as coach, seldom if ever has a problem getting his teams ready for games. Over the past five years, Warfield’s teams have compiled an outstanding overall record of 64-6 with five appearances in WPIAL championship games. The Quips are 3-2 in those games with victories in 2018, 2021 and last year. They’ve also gone 2-1 in state championship games during that five-year span.

This season, Aliquippa’s expectations haven’t changed despite the fact it graduated three of its stars that played on an offensive line known as the “Trench Dawgs.”

While Warfield is anxious to see how his new O-line performs, he’s not worried about his skill-position players.

Among them is running back Tiqwai “Tikey” Hayes, who rushed for 1,981 yards and 30 touchdowns last year as a sophomore. Hayes, who already has numerous major-college scholarship offers – among them Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Ohio State and Michigan – has already rushed for 3,631 yards in his career.

The Quips also return starting quarterback Quentin Goode, who passed for 1,935 yards and 23 touchdowns last year, and wide receiver Brandon Banks, who caught 24 passes for 398 yards and six TDs last year.

The defense is led by senior linebacker Cameron Lindsey, a Pitt recruit; Banks, who’s a Yale recruit; and Jayace Williams, a defensive/end who shared the WPIAL Class 4A Parkway Conference lead in sacks last year with 11.

“I’m excited to see how the kids are going to do,” Warfield said. “It’s going to be a challenge this year, but the kids are working hard.

“Some of our young guys are going to have to grow up fast. It’s just a matter of time. Once we get some experience, we’ll be fine. We just gotta take it one game at a time. We’ve got a ways to go.”

More: 'A lot of potential': Quips aiming for three-peat in WPIAL Class 4A despite new faces

Last weekend, Aliquippa didn’t not play a Week Zero game as most teams in the WPIAL have done since the WPIAL started playing Week Zero games in 2015. Because the Quips typically make deep playoffs runs, Warfield feels there’s no need to play an extra game.

“With our (roster) numbers, if we get a key injury early in the season, it hurts us,” Warfield said. “We rather give them some rest now on the front end rather than later on when we’re gearing toward a late playoff run.”

Armstrong, a Class 4A program located in Kittanning, did play a Week Zero game. The River Hawks opened their season with a 49-14 romp over Valley, a 3A program.

“It was a typical first game for us,” Armstrong coach Frank Fabian said. “There was some good. There was some bad. Offensively, we played a pretty clean game. We ran the ball. We threw it. We were very efficient on offense.”

River Hawks quarterback Colt Sprangle, who’s only a sophomore, fared well in his first varsity start. He completed nine of 13 passes for 160 yards and three TDs. He did not throw an interception and compiled an impressive 150.6 passer rating.

Running back Alex Patton rushed for 87 yards and two TDs while wide receiver Ian Olsen, a junior, caught five passes for 105 and two TDs.

Fabian was especially impressed with Sprangle, who’s succeeding Cadin Olsen, a 3,000-yard passer last year who’s now playing at Penn.

“He’s a talented kid,” Fabian said of Sprangle. “He just needs to get some experience. He had a very good summer, getting ready and preparing for the season.

"What eases the transition is that we have a veteran receiving corps. We have a 1,000-yard receiver back in Ian Olsen and another receiver, Isiah Brown, who caught 18 touchdown passes last year. I’m sure Colt will lean on them Friday night.”

Armstrong, which was formed in 2015 when Ford City and Kittanning high schools merged, has had its best two seasons the past two years. The River Hawks were 8-4 in 2021 and advanced to the WPIAL quarterfinals. They were 10-2 last year when they won the Greater Allegheny Conference title with their only two losses coming to Aliquippa, 28-14 on Sept. 2, and then to McKeesport, 41-21 in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

“When your only two losses are to Aliquippa and McKeesport, that’s a pretty good season,” said Fabian, who’s been coaching Armstrong since the program started in 2015.

In that loss to Aliquippa, Armstrong played the Quips tough. It was 14-14 after three quarters of play.

“That should give us some confidence this year,” Fabian said. “I do know this, when our kids get off the bus Friday, they will be ready to play. Now, where that gets them, we’ll find out.

“We know all about what’s happening Friday in regards to Aliquippa playing its first game in their (renovated) stadium,” Fabian added. “It’s exciting for us, too, because it’s going to have a playoff-game atmosphere to it. But like I said, our kids will show up and they won’t back down. We’ll come to play.”

Warfield wouldn’t want it any other way.

“They’re a good squad,” Warfield said of the River Hawks. “They’re very well coached. They play hard every play. It will be a challenge.”

For the Quips, it will be a “red out” challenge.

It will also be their first home game since Oct. 29, 2021 when they beat Indiana. Last year, Aliquippa played home games at Freedom’s Jimbo Covert Field.

Earlier this month, Kraft Heinz donated $1.3 million to the Aliquippa School District and will have naming rights for Aliquippa’s newly renovated stadium that’s often referred to as “The Pit.”

Kraft Heinz’s donation also will go toward the construction of an academic and athletic center attached to the stadium that feature offices, locker room, weight room, training and therapy rooms, etc.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Times' Game of the Week Preview: Armstrong at Aliquippa