WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — West Mifflin’s running back Armand Hill burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2023 and helped lead the Titans to a quarterfinals appearance in the WPIAL playoffs. In that quarterfinals game, the Titans were matched up against their neighboring rivals, the Elizabeth Forward Warriors. Hill, and the Titans, ultimately fell short and lost that game, 42-21.
While that loss cut the Titans’ playoff run short, it added fuel to the fire of a young team. After a whole offseason to soak in the loss, Hill and the rest of the Titans were waiting for the rematch with the Warriors. Luckily for them, they did not have to wait long as the two teams faced off in the opening week of the 2024 season.
The Titans avenged their loss from a season ago as they downed the Warriors, 17-16. Hill, a sophomore this season, scored the game-winning touchdown on a 44-yard run in which he broke multiple tackles and stiff armed another defender to the ground.
While the Titans won by just one point, the young team endured multiple second-half mistakes and still managed to complete the comeback despite trailing by a touchdown midway through the third quarter.
“When we get our heads down, we just pick each other up,” Hill said about the mentality of the Titans’ team.
As a freshman, Hill rushed for 1,526 yards and 20 touchdowns including a game against Hopewell in which he rushed for the second-most yards in a game in WPIAL history with 495 rushing yards. To keep up the insane momentum that he built in 2023, Hill went to work in the offseason to improve his game even further. In specific, Hill said that he tried to improve his strength and speed prior to the start of his sophomore season.
With his eye-popping freshman campaign, Hill amassed over 10 Division I offers which includes offers from Power Four schools such as Pitt, Penn State, Michigan, Maryland and West Virginia. Despite gaining national attention in regard to his recruitment, Hill is just a sophomore and should expect many more offers to roll in by the time he graduates in 2027.
For now, Hill said he is just focused on the season at hand. Even in a game where he did not threaten WPIAL records, Hill still rushed for 84 yards and a key game-winning touchdown. With the Titans’ season-opening victory against the Warriors, it sets them up with the confidence to compete with the likes of schools like McKeesport and Thomas Jefferson in Class-4A.
The end goal for the Titans and Hill is to not only compete in Class-4A but dominate it. Hill said the goal for this season is to end it as “state champs.”
