Oct 10, 2013 5 min read

Now that the distractions are over with, at least temporarily, Washington High School’s football team can get down to the business of playing a football game.

The Prexies have had enough to think about this week with an emotional school board meeting, where the eligibility of Zach Blystone was discussed, and a hearing on a preliminary injunction to keep him eligible set for Thursday that was postponed.

All that’s left is Mt. Pleasant, Friday night’s opponent at Wash High Stadium, and a battle for first place in the Class AA Interstate Conference between two undefeated teams.

Washington and Mt. Pleasant each boast 6-0 records and hold a two-game lead over Jeannette (4-2, 4-2) with three games remaining in the regular season.

“This week is a lot more fun (to prepare),” said Washington’s multi-talented Chase Caldwell. “They are a lot like us, hard-nosed and talented. They look stronger than Jeannette, and they don’t make as many mistakes.”

Washington and Mt. Pleasant each own wins over the Jayhawks, Washington’s 48-14 rout coming Sept. 26 and Mt. Pleasant’s 35-21 victory coming last week.

“They have good size,” said Wash High head coach Mike Bosnic. “And I feel they have two real good football players.”

Bosnic was referring to running back Tyler Mellors, who has 860 yards and 18 touchdowns, and quarterback Ryan Gumbita, who has passed for 274 yards and rushed for 197.

“We need to tackle well to slow Mellors down,” Bosnic said. “He’s an exceptional player and runs hard. He hits the holes, and it’s hard to bring him down.”

Washington averages 45 points and is allowing 14 a game. Mt. Pleasant is scoring at a 42-point-per-game pace and allowing 11. Washington lost tailback Shai McKenzie to a knee injury in Week 3. Interestingly, Wash High has been scoring at nearly the same clip per game with him out of the lineup, 46 before McKenzie’s injury and 44 after.

“I think we’re very similar, philosophically-wise,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Bo Ruffin. “We like to run the football, play good defense and win the turnover battles. I know they lost Shai. I think they might have become more diverse and harder to prepare for now. More people are touching the football.”

One of them is Caldwell, a senior flanker who has rushed for 111 yards, caught 10 passes for 143 and has had his only two pass attempts go for touchdowns.

Another is Malik Wells, a junior tailback who has 333 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Jordan West has added eight touchdowns.

“They are going to run the same stuff they always have,” said Ruffin. “They are very good up front.”

The Prexies got even better up front with the addition of Blystone, a 6-3, 265-pound junior who was initially ruled ineligible by the PIAA after transferring from Charleroi. Blystone’s family received a preliminary injunction by Common Pleas Judge John F. DiSalle last Friday and another hearing is scheduled for early next week.

“We know they are going to play us for four quarters,” said Wells. “We beat them last year (34-14), so you know they want to beat us this year.”

If Chartiers-Houston has designs on a playoff berth in the Class A Black Hills Conference, this is an important game. The Bucs have a tentative hold on fourth place right now with a 4-2 record and their final two conference games are against Monessen and Fort Cherry, which are tied with Clairton for first place. Carlynton, California and Brentwood are one game behind the Bucs with 3-3 record. Brentwood defeated C-H two weeks ago and would own the tiebreaker if the two are tied for fourth place. Brentwood has Carlynton (3-3, 4-3), Bishop Canevin (1-5, 2-5) and California (3-3, 3-4) remaining. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Avella suffered its first loss of the season last week against Frazier, and probably lost a chance at a home game in the playoffs. The Eagles and Mikes are each 4-1 in the Tri-County South Conference. Avella can clinch a playoff berth with a win or a loss by Mapletown (2-3, 3-3), which plays West Greene (1-4, 1-5) this week. The Mikes finish with games against Jefferson-Morgan (2-4, 2-4) and Frazier (5-1, 5-1). Avella’s final two games are against Beth-Center (6-0, 6-0) and Bentworth (0-5, 0-6). If the Eagles make it, they break a playoff drought that stretches to 1976. The Mikes can finish anywhere from first place to out of the playoffs. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

The battle of the top two teams in the Tri-County South Conference takes place with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Beth-Center (6-0, 6-0) can lock up a home playoff game and a no-worse than second-place finish in the conference with a win. Two wins give B-C first place. Frazier (5-1, 5-1) has one section game, Mapletown in Week 9, remaining after B-C. The Commodores lost to Carmichaels in Week 2 and would lose the tiebreaker for second place with the Mikes, who still have games remaining with Avella, Bentworth and West Greene.