MCMURRAY, Pa. — Winning a conference title, winning a WPIAL title and making a state championship appearance as a sophomore quarterback is nothing but impressive. Peters Township quarterback Nolan DiLucia accomplished all those a season ago and he has translated all of last season’s success into the first four starts of his junior season.
Last night, in Peters Township’s 35-6 win over Trinity, DiLucia threw for 234 yards while also throwing touchdown passes to Lucas Rost and Jeremy Poletti and ran for a touchdown as well.
“We just had to make plays, we knew they were going to key in on our guy, number 24 Nick McCullough,” DiLucia said to Pittsburgh Sports Now after the game. “So, we had guys step up and make plays and that’s all we had to do, and it worked.”
So, far in DiLucia’s first four games, he has thrown for 909 yards, seven touchdowns and rushed for two as well. All while staying undefeated at 4-0.
“Just get the ball to my receivers when they’re open,” DiLucia said when talking about the Indians gameplan to score. “Our first drive we came out dropping passes, that’s alright it happens, but we saw the open holes that we had, and we just had to keeping hitting them and keep taking what they were giving to us.”
Scoring wise, everything has been smooth for DiLucia and Peters Township as they have scored an average of 36.75 points the first four games – scoring 42 points in a game twice. But defensively, they have improved so much as well. In the team’s first game of the season against Canon-McMillan, the Indians gave up 17 first half points but found its rhythm in the second half to win the game and not give up a point the rest of the way. As a defensive back, DiLucia knew after the first game – more specifically that first half- that they could not give up as many points and they have done a good job doing so. The past three games, the Indians have only given up 13 points, which included a shutout last week against one of the biggest schools in the WPIAL in Mt. Lebanon.
“That shocked us, that game (against Canon-McMillan) really gave us a kick from behind,” DiLucia said. “So, it helped us get ready and now we were like, ‘We have to step it up’ because we were not the same team as last year.’, I think it was good that we got that (the bad first half against Canon-McMillan) and we’ve just been stepping up and playing hard football ever since.”
As DiLucia has gotten more experience, he has been noticing how in football, it is a team sport, and that everyone needs to work and contribute. He sees how hard some of his other playmakers have been performing in practice or in the weight room, that he knows if he works just as hard, that they can win games and that’s what they have been doing.
“Definitely my speed and my vision,” DiLucia said when discussing what he has been working on, “I have been trying to get better for our offense because tonight our o-line stepped up phenomenally, my running backs ran through the holes, the receivers got open, I got to give credit to them. But I have been working for them because I know if I do my stuff and they (teammates) do their stuff, then we will win.”
Peters Township has not lost to a WPIAL football team since the 2022 season-finale against Bethel Park. So, the Indians have won their past 17 games against WPIAL schools and that is impressive. DiLucia can admit to all the success their team has had over the past year to compete and win against local schools has come from the foundation that Peters Township head coach TJ Plack has built.
“It’s great,” DiLucia said when talking about playing under head coach TJ Plack. “We got a great bond going on, he has been messing around with me a little bit and stuff. Coach Plack is an awesome coach, he gives me the right reads and puts me in the right spots to success.”
DiLucia currently has one offer to play at Miami (Ohio), but more could be on the way soon based on how well he has been performing. In the past two weeks, he visited Pitt and Penn State for gameday visits and is visiting Miami again today. He has enjoyed those visits and after seeing those Power 5 players play, he would hope one day high school football players would watch him play at the collegiate level just like he is doing now.
“It was a great visit for both schools (Pitt and Penn State),” DiLucia said. “They both came out with wins, the coaching was very welcoming, the staff was awesome. It was great just to be out there and watch a game and see a future self of mine if I can get to that level one day.”
