For much of the WPIAL playoffs Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac has been telling just about anyone whole will listen that his Quips are not that good.

Well, Aliquippa has proven to be good enough to play for another WPIAL Class AA title.

The Quips, the defending WPIAL Class AA champions, defeated rival Beaver Falls, 17-10, last night at Ambridge High School's Moe Rubenstein Stadium and earned a spot in the final for the second consecutive year. They will meet Greensburg Central Catholic Friday afternoon for the championship.

Aliquippa (11-1) dominated the first half then held on the final two quarters.

The Quips' defense limited Beaver Falls (10-2) to 94 yards rushing and 172 yards total offense. That's a far cry from the first time the two played -- a 21-14 Beaver Falls victory the third week of the season. In that game, Tigers running back Cody Cook had 211 yards.

Last night, Cook finished with 113 on 31 carries, but his longest run was 12 yards. It was the second consecutive year Aliquippa lost to Beaver Falls in the regular season, then beat the Tigers in the playoffs. Only last year, they edged Beaver Falls in the final.

"We didn't do anything different on defense; we just played harder, Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said. "We stung them early and luckily for us we played defense."

After falling behind, 17-0, in the first half, Beaver Falls drove for a field goal on its first possession of the second half. The Tigers then cut the lead to 17-10 when Cook scored on a 1-yard run with 8:40 left to play.

The Quips, meanwhile, struggled on offense the second half and did not have a first down the final two quarters. They finished with 202 yards of offense with 181 of that coming in the first half.

"They beat the crap out of us the second half," Zmijanac said of Beaver Falls. "It was partly my fault because we got a little conservative, but they played way better."

Beaver Falls got the ball back for the final time with 2:27 left and managed to push from its 44 to the Aliquippa 18. But on second-and-1 Aliquippa's Pete Riggins sacked Beaver Falls quarterback Tony Omogrosso for a 12-yard loss. It was one of six sacks the Quips would record.

With no timeouts left, the Tigers had to spike the football and on fourth-and-13 from the Aliquippa 30, Omogrosso heaved a pass toward the end zone that was intercepted by Rasheem Jones.

Aliquippa jumped out to a 17-0 lead thanks, in part, to some outstanding field position in the first half. The Quips started drives from their 45, the Beaver Falls 26, 42, 48 and their 49 and 44 in the half.

Aliquippa could have had more points in the first two quarters but fumbled the ball away at the Beaver Falls 9 and then had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by John Lord on its next possession.

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