Aliquippa's Maurice Carter didn't play when the Quips lost to Beaver Falls early in the season. So when the two teams met again yesterday, the game had a little extra meaning for Carter.

"It was personal for me," he said.

So he personally did something about the rematch.

Carter rushed for 111 yards and also scored a touchdown, but his most important play came on special teams.

Carter blocked a punt early in the fourth quarter and the ball sailed out of the end zone for a safety. That turned out to be the winning points as Aliquippa upset Beaver Falls, 8-6, in the WPIAL Class AA championship at Heinz Field.

While Aliquippa (11-2) chalked up WPIAL championship No. 13 and win No. 600 in school history, Beaver Falls' perfect season ended in shambles. Players lay on the field after the contest, crying in disbelief. Beaver Falls came into the game with a 12-0 record and was averaging 40.7 points game. This was the same Aliquippa team that Beaver Falls defeated, 27-12, in Week 3. Then again, it wasn't the same team. Carter was playing.

"Aliquippa didn't do anything different than any other time you play them in any other year," Beaver Falls coach Ryan Matsook said. "The game was decided by a safety. You can't walk away and think one team got their butts kicked. It was a heckuva game. One team had to lose. Unfortunately it had to be us."

Carter missed the first game because he said he "got into a little trouble" off the field.

This time, he spelled trouble for Beaver Falls.

"We just had to get payback, and I wanted to come back and help my team win," Carter said.

Carter, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior, has his 111 yards on 30 carries and scored on a 5-yard run in the second quarter that tied the score, 6-6. The touchdown came on a fourth-and-4 play. Carter broke a tackle at the line and then bowled over two defenders near the goal line with 56 seconds left in the half.

The score stayed deadlocked until early in the fourth quarter. Beaver Falls had just stopped a long Aliquippa drive when Admire Carter intercepted a fourth-down pass in his own end zone with 13 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Beaver Falls couldn't pick up a first down and was forced to punt from its 18. Maurice Carter broke through the middle and blocked the punt by Brock Van Lier at the 8. The ball went sailing into the air and out of the end zone. Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said the Quips worked on punt blocks often in practice this week.

"Truthfully, we thought we could get one," Zmijanac said. "We thought we could get one off the edge."

Carter described the punt block this way:

"When I rushed up the field, I had a teammate next to me on the outside. Their up-back jumped out to block him and that left me free."

It was the first time Beaver Falls had a punt blocked all season.

"We covered the pass a lot better this time," Zmijanac said. "They beat us the first time on a couple big plays. The truth is, [reporters] ask us what we do at halftime, like there's some kind of magic. But most of the time, we just say, 'Play better.' We played better this time."

The Quips played a lot better on defense, limiting Beaver Falls to two first downs in the second half. Beaver Falls' Cody Cook, who had 186 yards rushing in the first meeting, was held to 23 yards on 14 carries.

Beaver Falls' only touchdown came on a perfect hook-and-ladder trick play in the first quarter. Facing a fourth-and-9 at the Aliquippa 19, quarterback Tony Omogrosso hit receiver Todd Thomas with a short pass to the 15. Thomas quickly lateraled the ball to Admire Carter, who ran the rest of the way for a touchdown. The extra-point kick failed.

Beaver Falls wasted a few scoring opportunities in the second half. The Tigers tackled Aliquippa punter Rashad Kenney at his 25 after a bad snap. But on fourth-and-1, Admire Carter was stopped by Devin Polzot for no gain.

Later in the fourth, Beaver Falls moved to the Aliquippa 32, but Omogrosso's fourth-down pass was intercepted with 2:24 left.

It was a tough way to end for Beaver Falls, which was trying to win its first championship since 1984.

"These kids from Aliquippa got better from the first time, but we got better, too," Matsook said. "We held them to one score. ... This is what life is about sometimes. You don't always get what you want."