ÎÞëÊÓƵ

Dec 13, 2023 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

MECHANICSBURG – Quinton Martin clinched not just one, but two titles with one scintillating run on Saturday afternoon.

The Penn State recruit’s 92-yard touchdown dash around left end all but sealed Belle Vernon’s second consecutive PIAA Class AAA championship, giving the Leopards a 28-7 lead late in the third quarter on their way to a 38-7 victory over Northwestern Lehigh.

Martin’s long touchdown at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field also gave him the points he needed to overtake California’s Jake Layhue for the top spot in the ÎÞëÊÓƵ-Standard Touchdown Club standings as the area’s leading scorer.

Martin’s six points put him at 174 on the season, four more than Layhe, who ended up with 170.

Martin is the first Leopard to win the TD Club title which has almost exclusively been claimed by Class AA or A players since its inception in 2005. He is only the second player from a Class AAA team to win the scoring crown, matching Uniontown’s Arnold Walker who finished in a three-way tie for first place with Carmichaels’ Anthonie Farrar and Jefferson-Morgan’s Ryan Knight with 108 points in 2009.

Layhue scored his final touchdown in the Trojans’ 44-6 playoff victory over Jeannette but was shut out in California’s 34-8 quarterfinal loss to Bishop Canevin. At that point Layhue had finished his season with 170 points and teammate Spencer Petrucci was second with 166. Martin was third with 142 but his team remained alive in the postseason and he accumulated just enough points on Belle Vernon’s run to winning WPIAL and PIAA titles to catch the California dynamic duo.

Martin, who had 117 carries for 1,202 yards and 54 receptions for 753 yards, scored one defensive touchdown on an interception return in 14 games as the Leopards went 13-1.

Layhue ran the ball 121 times for 913 yards and scored four defensive TDs, three on interceptions and one on a fumble, in 12 games for the Trojans who wound up at 10-2.

Following the top three of Martin, Layhue and Petrucci in the final TD Club standings were Elizabeth Forward’s Charlie Nigut who was fourth with 140 points and Southmoreland’s Da’sjon Craggette who was fifth with 114.

Jefferson-Morgan’s Deakyn Dehoet was sixth (104), West Greene’s Billy Whitlatch was seventh (98) and the Pioneers’ Colin Brady and Waynesburg Central’s Breydon Woods tied for eighth (96). California’s Lee Qualk was 10th (92), just ahead of Belle Vernon’s Kole Doppelheuer (90).

The Leopards’ Anthony Crews, who returned the opening kickoff for a 78-yard touchdown and added a 62-yard TD run after a near fumble against Northwestern Lehigh, finished in a tie for 21st place (62). Jake Gedekoh’s 1-yard touchdown plunge on Saturday moved him up to a tie for 23rd place (60) and Braden Laux’s 2-yard TD run put him into a tie for 28th (50).

Belle Vernon’s second-leading scorer in the state championship game was kicker Preston Rathway, whose five extra points and 44-yard field goal, the latter being the longest of the season among area kickers, gave him 42 points on the year to put him in a tie for 37th place.

Last year’s Touchdown Club champion was Mapletown’s Landan Stevenson who scored a contest-record 318 points.