2023 PIAA Class 6A Championship Preview: North Allegheny (13-1) @ St. Joseph’s Prep (12-1)

Chapman Field at Cumberland Valley will again be at the eye of the Pennsylvania high school football world this weekend when the state’s top 12 high school teams meet for PIAA state championships.

There is St. Joe’s Prep—and then there is everyone else. Winners of 12-straight games, the Hawks continue to be the standard among large schools in Pennsylvania. Roll out the numbers: This is their eighth straight state title game. This will be the 10th trip to the state finals in the last 11 years for St. Joe’s Prep (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023). The Hawks will be looking for their eighth state championship and fifth Class 6A state title in the last six years. Cincinnati-bound quarterback Samaj Jones will be appearing in the Hawks’ third state championship. But it’s been the Hawks’ defense that could be the reason that Prep is back again in the state finals. The Hawks got here by devouring District 1 champion Central Bucks South 49-0—and it was not even that close. The Hawks were up 42-0 by halftime, blanking a CB South team that was averaging 33.5 points a game during the playoffs.

This will be North Allegheny’s first trip to the state finals since 2012. This is the Tigers’ fourth overall appearance. North Allegheny has never lost a state championship game, going 3-0 winning titles in 1990, 2010, and 2012. The Tigers got here by beating District 3 champion Harrisburg, 24-12, though the Tigers were outgained in the game, 334-314. It looks like North Allegheny’s best bet is to play a ball-controlled game and keep Prep’s potent offense off the field. North Allegheny ran the ball 59 times and threw only six passes against Harrisburg. CB South tried the same thing against Prep, and it worked at times, but the Hawks’ Max Roy makes it difficult to run between the tackles, and the Titans’ outside running lanes were eventually shut down. As St. Joe’s was running off Chapman Field after last year’s 42-7 state title victory over Harrisburg, the Prep players and coaches kept repeating this senior group would be better.