South Fayette rolls past Waynesburg
South Fayette’s Logan Sharp scores a touchdown in the first quarter Friday night against Waynesburg.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter South Fayette’s Hunter Hayes runs the ball for a first down against Waynesburg.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter South Fayette’s Jack Relihan intercepts a pass intended for Waynesburg’s Dom Sarra during the first half Friday night.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter Waynesburg’s Austin Herrod tries to get past the Lions’ defense during the first half.
McDONALD – No magic spells were needed, or administering of hexes, or dancing around campfires to conjure spirits on this Halloween night.
South Fayette blasted Waynesburg out of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs on a rainy Friday evening not with magic, but with old fashioned smashmouth football and overwhelming talent.
The Lions played their starters for just one half on the way to a 65-6 victory.
The win, the 26th in a row for the defending PIAA Double-A champions, advances the Lions (10-0) to the quarterfinals against South Park, a 21-20 winner over Beaver last night, at a site and date to be determined.
Waynesburg finishes the season with a 6-4 record.
Quarterback Brett Brumbaugh was magnificent again, completing 7 of 10 passes for 205 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half as the Lions built a 49-6 lead. He has 30 touchdowns this season and 2,309 yards.
Brumbaugh threw two touchdown passes to Logan Sharp and one each to Dan Trimbur and Nick Ponikvar. After a first-possession punt, South Fayette had six touchdown drives that used a combined 11 plays.
“We started a little slow on that first possession but we bounced back well,” said Brumbaugh. “We feel the season starts for us now. It’s a great win and now we go on to (South Park).”
South Fayette head coach Joe Rossi knows it’s that time, too, and has his playoff beard in full bloom.
“I started it one week ago today,” he said. “It doesn’t take very long.”
Hunter Hays needed 65 yards to surpass 1,000 for the season and did that easily enough in the first half, gaining 133 on 10 carries. He added two short touchdown runs to power the Lions’ running attack.
“It didn’t feel like (I got it) during the game,” said Hays. “After the game, I thought I’d figure it out.”
While South Fayette was enjoying the production of its running backs, Waynesburg lost another one.
Hunter Cenname lasted just two carries before injuring his right leg returning South Fayette’s kickoff following the second touchdown. Waynesburg head coach Russ Moore said it’s believed Cenname might have an MCL injury to the right knee. The Raiders lost John-Glen Davis a few weeks back. Two fullbacks, a linebacker and a lineman also went down.
“We’ve got to look at what we’re doing and see if we should be doing things differently,” said Moore of the injuries. “I’ve seen seasons where one person gets (an injured wrist), then everyone gets one. You have one shoulder (injury), then you have 12.”
Cenname was replaced by Austin Herrod, who ran for 124 yards on 21 carries.
“He stepped up and did a good job,” Moore said.
Brumbaugh showed again why he is the best first-half quarterback in the WPIAL. Brumbaugh threw two touchdown passes of 21 and 29 yards to Sharp. He also had a 58-yard bomb to Ponikvar that made it 14-6.
But his most entertaining completion came with 11:43 remaining in the half, when he launched a pass downfield that bounced into Trimbur’s chest and popped back into the air. Trimbur caught it on the rebound and scored to complete the 56-yard play to make it 42-6.
“This is a good team and Joe is an excellent coach,” said Moore. “I told our kids that we accomplished a lot of our goals. You want to win the opener and we won the opener. You want to win homecoming and we did. You want to win senior night and we did. We wanted to play our rivals tough and we did. I told them not to let this game define their season.”