The Neshannock High football team received its next destination yesterday.

The WPIAL released the sites of the upcoming football semifinal matchups and the Lancers are headed to Mars. Neshannock will battle North Catholic at 7:30 p.m. Friday on the Planets’ home field in Class A action.

The Trojans (11-0) advanced with a 14-7 win over Avonworth in the quarterfinals. The Lancers (9-2) moved on with a 35-6 quarterfinal-round victory over Monessen.

North Catholic, which won the Eastern Conference, topped Neshannock in Week 8, 21-14. The Trojans built a 21-0 third-quarter lead before holding on.

The Lancers finished in second place in the Big Seven Conference behind Sto-Rox.

The winner advances to meet the survivor of the Clairton-Sto-Rox game in the WPIAL championship game at 11 a.m. Nov. 23 at Heinz Field. The Bears are one of three WPIAL defending champions still alive. Defending champs West Allegheny (Class AAA) and Aliquippa (Class AA) are still competing as well.

If Neshannock prevails, the Lancers have some history with Clairton and the Vikings. Neshannock lost to Clairton last year in the WPIAL Class A semifinals, 37-7, at Chartiers-Houston.

Sto-Rox held off a late Lancers charge this year in Week 3 in conference action, 34-31, on a Thursday in prime time.

Tickets for the game will be on sale from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow in the high school lobby and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday in the high school office, while tickets also will be available from 8 a.m. to noon Friday in the high school office.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students.

By Corey J. Corbin

New Castle News

All good defenses have to have a nickname.

The Steelers’ defense has been called “The Steel Curtain” and “Blitzburgh” at various points in their history. The Vikings were “The Purple People Eaters” and “The Monsters of the Midway” referred to the Bears.

So why can’t Neshannock’s football team borrow the Pittsburgh Pirates’ “Shark Tank” moniker?

Neshannock’s Frank Antuono, Ralph Dovidio, Steven Jefferies, Jimmy Medure, Gianni Oliva and Michael Rodriguez combined for three sacks and provided countless quarterback pressures in the Lancers’ 40-9 victory over Brentwood in both teams’ WPIAL playoff opener at Bob Bleggi Stadium on Friday.

The performance earned them Lawrence County Co-Athletes of the Week honors, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.

“One of our battle cries has been ‘sharks in a frenzy,’ ” Neshannock coach Fred Mozzocio said. “The kids got after it from the very beginning. What we did first and foremost is smother their run game, so they couldn’t run the football on us. That forced them into chucking it up virtually every play. These guys really cut loose and got after it. They did a good job of swarming the football.”

The Lancers’ defensive front spent a good portion of the game harassing Brentwood quarterback Connor McWilliams and generally making his life miserable.

“I thought we did a good job of playing team defense,” Jefferies said. “Coach is always talking about sharks in a frenzy. We had a lot of people getting after the ball. We didn’t always get the sack, but he definitely wasn’t comfortable back there. We made him leave the pocket and do things he wasn’t comfortable doing.”

Rodriguez led the Neshannock defense Friday night with 1.5 sacks, while Dovidio helped bring down McWilliams once. Antuono and Medure also had a sack for the Lancers.

“It was frustrating, but it wasn’t,” Rodriguez said of not getting more sacks. “We would’ve liked to get more, but we did our jobs. We got everything done that we needed to do. He couldn’t throw accurate passes. I’m not a quarterback, but I don’t know if I could do anything if people were in my face constantly. We had a lot of people getting after the ball.”

And they came from almost everywhere.

“We all played a part in the victory,” Dovidio said. “We all played our roles and did our jobs. As long as everyone goes to their assigned area, we’ll get there and do our jobs. We did a good job of getting pressure on him and closing the pocket down, so he didn’t have anywhere to go. We surrounded him and he was forced to throw it away.”

“We played as a team,” Antuono agreed. “The outside linebackers got pressure, which helped the defensive front get some pressure on the quarterback and made him uneasy in the backfield. It’s nice to have guys like Jefferies and Ralph pushing him towards you as a defensive end. We were doing some stunts to get to the quarterback and they worked.”

McWilliams was forced to get rid of the ball on several occasions with a Neshannock defender all over him.

“Their quarterback was a tough kid,” Antuono said. “He threw the ball away when he got some pressure on him. It’s good that he was always thinking about us in the backfield. We kept him off his progressions and off his reads. He wasn’t able to pick apart our secondary.”

The Lancers’ defense will have to shift gears Friday when they travel to Chartiers-Houston for a WPIAL Class A quarterfinal battle with Monessen.

“They have two good running backs,” Oliva said. “We have to hit them hard all night, so they don’t want to run any more.”

The Greyhounds’ offense features senior running backs Clintell Gillaspie and Javon Brown.

Gillaspie leads Monessen in rushing with 1,169 yards and receiving with another 514 on 22 receptions, while Brown is second with 745 on the ground and 285 through the air.

“We’re used to teams that like to run the ball,” Dovidio said. “Most teams try to start out the game by running the ball. We just come hard and attack the run, so they start to pass the ball after a few series on offense.”

Medure doesn’t think his defensive teammates will face many difficulties in transitioning from Brentwood’s passing offense to the ground attack favored by the Greyhounds (10-1).

“Yeah, it’s always hard to adjust, but we have the coaches we need,” he said. “We have them scouted pretty well, so I think we’ll get after them. We have to hit hard and work as one. We have to keep them as condensed as possible. We have to keep them away from the edges.”

(Email: C_Corbin @ncnewsonline.com).

The Neshannock High football team is in for a case of déjà vu.

The Lancers will meet Monessen for the second-straight year in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Chartiers-Houston.

The Greyhounds (10-1) shared the Black Hills Conference title with Fort Cherry and Clairton, while Neshannock (8-2) finished in second place in the Big Seven Conference behind Sto-Rox.

Last year, the Lancers posted a thrilling come-from-behind 24-21 victory in the two teams’ quarterfinals matchup on Ernie Burkes’ 1-yard run with 9 seconds left.

Burkes ran for 19 yards on a fourth-and-10 from the 20 with 16 seconds left one play earlier.

Tickets for the game will be on sale from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow in the high school lobby and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday in the high school office, while tickets also will be available from 9 a.m. to noon Friday in the high school office.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 students.