Nov 8, 2014 5 min read

LATROBE – Washington High School has trailed several times this season, and the Prexies have overcome injuries, having five new starters on the offensive line and a young defense. So when Apollo-Ridge scored on the first drive of the game Friday night, the Prexies didn’t panic.

They answered just minutes later with a score, but the loss on that drive could have been devastating. Junior fullback Jordan West suffered an ankle injury after running for 38 yards. Things worsened when senior running back Malik Wells fumbled a pitch deep in Wash High’s end just minutes later.

Wells shook his head in disbelief, but he and the Prexies’ defense responded with a red-zone stop.

Wells then went on to have one of his best performances of the season. The 5-9, 175-pound senior carried the ball 20 times for 202 yards and three touchdowns, and intercepted a pass, and senior quarterback Jonathan Spina threw for two scores as Wash High defeated Apollo-Ridge, 58-30, in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals at Latrobe High School’s Rossi Field.

Unbeaten Wash High (11-0) advances to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed Aliquippa (11-0), which defeated Mt. Pleasant in the quarterfinals, Friday at a site and time to be determined.

“I’m really proud of our team tonight,” Prexies head coach Mike Bosnic said. “Losing Jordan really hurt us. It hurt our rhythm and threw a wrench in everything. They played their way through it. They were able to fight through it just like they have all season. They found a way to get it done. We scored a lot of points tonight.”

Two plays after the Vikings (9-2) took the early lead on a touchdown run by quarterback Duane Brown, West burst through the line of scrimmage for the long gain, but he was injured on the tackle and did not return to the game.

Wells scored the first of his three touchdowns on the next play, when he ran in from 21 yards. He added a 56-yard run early in the second quarter and a 33-yard touchdown to open the second half.

His 202 rushing yards led Wash High, which finished with 551 total yards. Junior running back Kurt Adkins also added 126 rushing yards and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

“We faced adversity and that comes with every game,” Wells said. “It’s just how you respond from adversity and we responded well from it.”

After Wells scored the tying touchdown, the Prexies forced Apollo-Ridge to turn the ball over on downs on Wash High’s 29-yard line after Pitt recruit Tre Tipton dropped a pass in the corner of the end zone. Two plays later, Wells fumbled the pitch from Spina, but again, the defense stopped the Vikings after Tipton fumbled a snap and Brown’s fourth-down run was stopped short.

The Vikings tied the score later in the first half on a two-yard run by Jonah Casella, who rushed for a team-high 76 yards, but Wash High answered with a nine-play, 94-yard drive capped by Spina.

With Wells gaining chunks of yards on the ground, the Vikings anticipated a handoff. They bit on play-action as DeQuay Isbell outran Tipton downfield in man-to-man coverage where he caught a 39-yard touchdown pass to give Wash High the 22-14 lead.

Despite overcoming a size advantage on the line of scrimmage, Apollo-Ridge played well enough to have the lead, but penalties and mistakes cost them, including an interception by Brown.

“The things Tre does, if he catches that ball, we could have led 21-14 at half and he misplayed that throw to Isbell,” Apollo-Ridge head coach John Skiba said. “This is stuff he doesn’t do. It’s uncharacteristic of him. (Wash High) is very good. It just drives me nuts when we need to step up, we don’t.”

Brown was intercepted on the Vikings’ next offensive play before an improbable play gave the Prexies a 16-point lead at halftime. They drove into A-R territory, and with only nine seconds left in the half and the ball at Apollo-Ridge’s 17-yard line, the Prexies opted to try for a touchdown instead of a field goal.

Spina took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left. He was hit while he threw and his pass sailed to the five-yard line. Vikings Alex Smith went for the interception, but the pass deflected off his finger tips and into the arms of tight end Nate Swart, who trotted into the end zone for touchdown with no time remaining. Spina completed 5 of 9 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns.

“We were getting lucky, Spina said. “We were getting very lucky. We got a pick, we got the tipped pass in the end zone, we were just getting very lucky. The defense played big today. Though we gave up 30 points, I think we played well.”

After Apollo-Ridge dominated time of possession in the first quarter, running 24 plays during a 9:41 span, Wash High scored three touchdowns in a span of 3:41 between the two second quarter scores and Wells’ third touchdown to open the second half.

The Prexies limited Tipton to 54 rushing yards, intercepted two of his passes. Brown was held to 54 rushing yards, threw an interception and passed for only 166 yards.

“We made it our job this week to key on them,” Wells said. “We saw the statistics. We saw they account for a lot of their team’s points so we thought if we stopped them, we stopped the team.”