St. Joseph's Prep repeats as Class 6A football state champions: Pennsylvania high school football 2023 rewind

Quarterback Samaj Jones finished his high school career by accounting for five touchdowns as St. Joseph's Prep defeated North Allegheny for the 2023 PIAA Class 6A state title

St. Joseph's Prep quarterback Samaj Jones looks to stiff arm a North Allegheny defender in the 2023 PIAA Class 6A state championship game. Jones accounted for five touchdowns as the Hawks won the game 45-23. / Paul Burdick, SBLive Sports

As we get ready for the beginning of the 2024 Pennsylvania high school football season, we wanted to take a look back at 2023 to see how the season ended in each of the state’s six classes with a rewind recap of the state championship game.

In this edition, we will take a look at the 2023 PIAA Class 6A state championship game, which saw St. Joseph's Prep win the state title with a 45-23 win over North Allegheny.

St. Joseph's Prep 45, North Allegheny 23

Samaj Jones wanted to end his St. Joseph's Prep career with his second straight state championship as the team's starting quarterback.

The University of Cincinnati commit made sure he would be lifting the trophy at the end of the night as he completed 14-of-17 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 115 yards and three scores in helping lead the Hawks to a 45-23 win over North Allegheny.

Jones showed both his speed and power on his three touchdown runs.

For the first score of the game, the 5-foot-11, 215-pounder took the snap at the North Allegheny 1-yard-line and worked his way through multiple defenders to find the end zone for the game's first score.

Then he ran down the right side and stiff-armed a defender at about the 15-yard-line before finishing off the run for a 41-yard score to make it 14-0.

His final touchdown on the ground came midway through the third quarter when he took a snap from the 4-yard-line, ran to his left, lowered his shoulder and barreled over a defender on his way to the end zone. That came after a play in which he went down the right sideline and ran over a defender on his way out of bounds.

He also beat the Tigers in the air with a pair of touchdown passes in the second quarter after North Allegheny had scored to cut the lead to 21-7.

"He is calm, cool and collected in some of the biggest moments," St. Joseph's Prep head coach Tim Roken said. "You see he showed his physicality tonight and his leadership."

Jones hit Elijah Jones on the first play of the ensuing drive for a wide receiver screen that went 80 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown. He then hit Brandon Rehmann for a 13-yard score with just over a minute left in the second quarter to make it 37-10.

Elijah Jones led the Hawks with 119 yards receiving on four catches and Rehmann had five catches for 72 yards.

North Allegheny added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to tighten the final score after the Hawks led 45-10.

2023 PIAA Class 6A state semifinal results

St. Joseph's Prep 49, Central Bucks South 0
North Allegheny 24, Harrisburg 12

-- Ryan Isley  | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sblivepa