Nico Flati Cements Win For West Allegheny

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Junior Nico Flati’s 37-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-2 play with less than 90 seconds left in the game lifted West Allegheny to a 35-31 victory over Chartiers Valley on Friday night.

The home victory was also the first for head coach Chris Lucas as the Indians coach who took over for Bob Palko.

Flati ran for 178 yards on 19 carries and scored four touchdowns on the ground.

West Allegheny (1-0, 1-0) took a 21-14 lead after a back-and-forth first half.

Flati opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown run and added another from 27 yards out in the second quarter. Paul Newton tacked on a rushing touchdown from 11 yards out in the second quarter for the Indians’ third touchdown of the half.

The Colts’ touchdowns came from Antonio Zambrano on an 11-yard pass from Griffin Beattie and a 95-yard kickoff return by Jordan Demus.

In the third quarter, Chartiers Valley (1-1, 0-1) took control and scored the first 14 points of the second half.

Left tackle Jayden Davis scored the first points, recovering a Beattie fumble and plunging in for the 1-yard score. Then in the fourth quarter, Beattie scored on an 80-yard run to give the Colts a 28-21 edge. Beattie ran for more than 100 yards for the second time this season.

The lead didn’t last long as Flati tied the score with his third touchdown run, a 6-yard rush to make it 28-28.

Jack Radzanowski gave the Colts a 31-28 lead with 3:25 remaining before Flati’s fourth touchdown with 1:22 to go sealed the deal.

West Allegheny will travel to Bethel Park (1-0, 1-0) in a section game next week. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.