Rivalry renewed: Wash High, McGuffey meet with big implications
The pulse of the Washington High School football team has been non-existent in the first half of football games lately.
Head coach Mike Bosnic can’t explain it.
“We have came out flat, not very emotional,” Bosnic said.
The Prexies trailed at halftime in each of their last two games – Beth-Center and Southmoreland – but have rallied with huge second halves to handily win.
McGuffey’s Ed Dalton can’t understand it, either. But Dalton, who has been the Highlanders’ coach for the past seven seasons, knows better to presume that will be the Wash High team that will show up when the two teams renew their rivalry in an Interstate Conference game at 7 p.m., tonight.
Their last meeting was in 2015.
“I don’t know why. Maybe they were bored,” Dalton ventured to guess at the Prexies’ early struggles. “You think they won’t be ready at the beginning of this game?”
With a share of the conference title and a home playoff game up for grabs, and welcoming one-loss McGuffey, which has the ability to score in the blink of an eye, another slow start could result in a rough finish for the Prexies.
“We have to figure out a way to correct (starting slow),” Bosnic said. “This is a rivalry game and should be emotional. It’s going to be really important for us to get off to a good start. There is a lot on the line.”
The challenge McGuffey (5-1, 8-1) has to face is another red-hot quarterback in Zack Swartz.
“We went from teams that throwing isn’t what they do, to four really good quarterbacks in a row,” Dalton said of facing Southmoreland’s Zach Cernuto, Charleroi’s Geno Pellegrini, Avonworth’s Derek Johncour and now Swartz.
In those three games, the Highlanders’ defense has surrendered 667 passing yards.
“We have to get pressure (on Swartz),” Dalton continued. “When he gets his feet set, he is really accurate. We don’t face (Washington’s) skill every week. Charleroi has great skill, but I’m not sure they have what (Washington) does. It was a lot easier when I started coaching. Teams lined up with two tight ends and a full-house backfield. It was a fist fight, but you were done in an hour and a half.”
Swartz has completed 97 of 139 passes for 1,815 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Washington (5-1, 8-1) will have to try to stop the misdirection, veer offense for McGuffey, which averages 44.4 points.
Christian Clutter has done it in all facets for the Highlanders. He has 98 carries for 1,162 yards and 22 rushing touchdowns. He also has seven receiving touchdowns and four on special teams and defense.
“They can hurt you in so many different ways,” Bosnic said. “They do a great job with that offense. Clutter is such a good player. We have to be disciplined and tackle, things we haven’t been doing well.”
Trying for perfection: Burgettstown clinched the outright Three Rivers Conference title with a shutout victory last week.
Blue Devils’ coach Mark Druga told his team after the game, “Now we go for perfection.”
They will likely have a standing-room only crowd at Hill Memorial Stadium when South Allegheny (3-3, 4-5) arrives to conclude the regular season.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
So when was the last time Burgettstown (6-0, 8-0) finished a season undefeated?
It was with back-to-back perfect regular seasons in 1973 and 1974.
Clinching the conference: Peters Township can clinch at least a share of the Allegheny Eight Conference tonight if it defeats Baldwin.
If the Indians win, along with Upper St. Clair and West Allegheny, there will be a three-way share for the conference championship.
Baldwin (2-4, 4-5) has lost three games in a row.
Peters Township (5-1, 7-2) hasn’t lost a conference game to a team with a losing record since 2016.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.