Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Jeannette quarterback Terrell Pryor crosses the goal line to complete a 70-yard scoring run as Greensburg Central Catholic's Adam Palcic trails the play in the fourth quarter of the WPIAL Class AA title game yesterday.

Another chance. That was all Greensburg Central Catholic wanted.

Behind an all-around standout performance from junior quarterback Terrelle Pryor, however, Jeannette (11-1) proved to be the better team. It rose from a No. 9 seed to WPIAL Class AA champion yesterday at Heinz Field with a 24-14 win.

The win brought Jeannette its seventh WPIAL title and first since 1983.

Pryor, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound standout in football and basketball, ran through and around the Centurions (11-2), with 143 yards rushing and 179 passing, accounting for 322 of Jeannette's 361 yards of total offense.

Conversely, Greensburg Central Catholic's offense sputtered, as was evidenced by senior running back Max Suter managing only 25 yards. He entered the game with more than 2,200 yards this season.

It was the second win for the Jayhawks against Greensburg Central Catholic this year, complementing a 7-2 victory Jeannette earned on a muddy field in the regular-season finale.

"I feel like a boxer who said I wanted a rematch, and then I went in without my gloves on," Greensburg Central Catholic coach Muzzy Colosimo said. "They didn't do too much differently than the first time.

"The same kid ran around and did all the things he was supposed to do and we just didn't make the plays."

That kid, of course, was Pryor. All one needed to do was see the way Pryor floated through the Greensburg Central Catholic secondary midway through the fourth quarter on a 70-yard scoring run.

The potent Greensburg Central offense was stymied in the first half, accumulating only 68 yards. Just 8 of those came on the ground.

That was the key in a first half that ended with Jeannette clinging to a 10-2 lead. Jeannette scored first-half points on a 3-yard scoring run by Pryor and a 31-yard field goal by Anthony Petrulak, after falling behind, 2-0, in the first quarter when a snap soared over punter Pat Garner's head and he was tackled in the end zone by Jared Pleskovitch for a safety.

The teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter. Greensburg Central scored on a 1-yard run by quarterback Cody Catalina to make the score 10-8, but Jeannette retaliated right away, pushing its lead to 17-8 on a Jerry Harris 2-yard run. There was an 8-yard touchdown run by Suter late to close the gap to 10 points, but the reality is that the door slammed when, just before that, Pryor went 70 yards for the touchdown.

Asked if Pryor was the best athlete ever to wear a Jeannette uniform, Jayhawks coach Ray Reitz, a Jeannette graduate, never hesitated.

"Yes, he's as good as I have seen," the coach said before offering a qualifier in the postgame news conference. "But, look at these other players sitting up here. There is a guy like Jerry Harris and a guy like [receiver] Davonte Shannon who Terrelle goes up against every day in practice and they make him better. They are great athletes in their own right, and what they do makes him better."

Pryor agreed: "These kids right here," he said, pointing at his teammates on the interview podium. "Well, these kids make me better."