Armstrong claims Greater Allegheny Conference title with 56-35 win over Highlands

NATRONA HEIGHTS, Pennsylvania – For the first time since 2016, the Armstrong Riverhawks football team was crowned as the Greater Allegheny Conference champions Friday night when they picked up a 56-35 road win over Highlands.

That year, the River Hawks had one of the best running backs in the WPIAL in Zane Dudek, who rushed for 6,977 yards and 102 touchdowns in his high school career before playing college football at Yale.

Flash forward six years later and Armstrong again arguably has one of the best position players in the WPIAL, this time at the quarterback position in senior quarterback and University of Pennsylvania football commit Cadin Olsen.

Olsen flashed off his skills on Friday night and showed many people why he is one of the best quarterbacks in the area as he completed 17 of 21 passes for 431 yards, threw for five touchdowns and rushed for a touchdown to help Armstrong (5-0, 8-1) beat Highlands (4-1, 8-1) 56-35 to claim the

Highlands (8-1, 4-1) was undefeated going into the game but Armstrong (8-1, 5-0) went on the road and put up a season-high 56 points

“We worked all offseason for this,” Olsen said. “We started back in January; we were in the weight room. Then, we got out during the summer, went through 7-on-7’s and training camp, so this feels special and all the hard work that is paying off is something we have all enjoyed.”

The River Hawks started off hot, taking a 14-0 on its first two offensive drives as Olsen threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Isaiah Brown from 18 and 28 yards out.

Highlands senior quarterback Chandler Thimons put the Golden Rams on the board early in the second quarter as he scrambled across the field to connect with wide receiver Rondeal Hewlett for a 19-yard

touchdown.

However, the River Hawks continued to attack on offense as they responded with Cadin Olsen throwing a 78-yard touchdown pass to his brother Ian Olsen and Cadin later rushing for a 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper to extend the lead to 28-7.

Highlands was able to trim Armstrong’s lead to 28-14 at halftime as running back Aaran Randolph, who rushed for 130 yards, ran for a 7-yard touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

In the third quarter, both teams started to trade touchdowns.

Isaiah Brown had his third receiving touchdown to begin the second half for Armstrong and he had a productive day recording 6 receptions for 157 yards.

Thimons, who was 8-of-16 for 171 yards, then threw his second touchdown of the day to Hewlett.

Cadin responded by throwing another touchdown pass to his brother Ian, who ended the day recording 5 receptions for 147 yards.

The third quarter scoring ended when Thimons rushed for a 1-yard touchdown to trim Armstrong’s lead to 42-28.

The Golden Rams were able to get within seven in the fourth quarter when Randolph rushed for a 19-yard touchdown on fourth down to make it 42-35.

However, the River Hawks continued to put their foot on the gas and responded with running back Alex Patton running right up the middle for a 2- yard touchdown extending its lead back to 49-35.

“I just knew we had to keep playing the same football that we did before,” Olsen said. “I thought we did a pretty good job executing on offense and I thought we did a good job attacking their secondary. The offensive line did a good job blocking. We were able to run the ball pretty well tonight and I’m pretty happy how we played.”

Throughout the whole night, Highlands did everything that they could to come back from behind but didn’t get the result that they wanted.

Thimons threw an interception that was picked off by Brown in the middle of the fourth quarter that changed the momentum and played a part in deciding the outcome of the game. Right after the interception, Patton responded on the ensuing offensive drive by rushing for his second touchdown for the River Hawks and Highlands could not recover.

It was only the third time ever that Armstrong and Highlands had faced each another, as Highlands had won the previous two matchups in 2020 (34-27) and 2021 (41-27). So, beating the Golden Rams for the first time ever in school history on the road for a conference championship was pretty special for the River Hawks.

“Last year, we came down here and had a pretty rough game," Cadin Olsen said. "We didn’t play very good football, so we knew that we had to match their physicality, they have very good defensive backs and a strong core of lineman and linebackers. So, we knew we had to be physical, and they were physical too, so we decided to do the best we could, and we came out on top.”