Oct 10, 2014 4 min read

BRENTWOOD – With time running out on the season, Chartiers-Houston had an opportunity to clinch a berth in the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

The trick was to beat Brentwood, which was christening a newly renovated facility.

Patrick Carr and Connor McWilliams made sure that didn’t happen Friday night at Herb E. Troy Memorial Field.

Carr rushed for 249 yards on 31 carries and scored two touchdowns and McWilliams tossed two touchdown passes as Brentwood dropped Chartiers-Houston 28-9 in a Class A Black Hills Conference game.

The loss dropped Chartiers-Houston to 3-3 in the conference – 4-3 overall – and requires them to beat Fort Cherry in Week 9 to get a playoff berth.

Brentwood moved to 3-2 in the conference and 4-3 overall. The Spartans have two conference games remaining – against OLSH and Bishop Canevin – against teams that have combined for two wins.

“It’s going to come down to playing Fort Cherry again,” said Chartiers-Houston head coach Terry Fetsko. “We’re not overlooking Neshannock next week, but it’s a non-conference game. It comes down to that game again and it has for several years.”

Carr made the christening of the newly renovated field at Brentwood a fond memory. The Spartans were supposed to play the opener there but had to move that and another home game because construction was not completed.

“We’ve played nine straight road games,” said Brentwood head coach Kevin Kissel. “It’s nice to be at home. And it’s nice to win this one.”

Carr made sure of it with his running. The 5-8, 155-pound speedster scored on runs of 14 and 45 yards. But his best run might have been a 35-yard run on a draw that set up a touchdown pass with six seconds remaining in the half.

“I thought we could run the ball against them,” said Kissel. “Pat had a good game last week. I thought we could get some openings and I thought we could block them.”

McWilliams passed for 87 yards on 10 of 17 but threw the ball only three times in the second half. McWilliams tossed touchdown passes of 8 yards to Nick George for the Spartans first score and 20 to Dorian Bowe at the end of the half.

“We gave up those points at the end of the half and that put our backs against the wall,” said Fetsko.

Alex Ferrari completed 9 of 15 passes for 117 yards and Spencer Terling, who missed most of the last two games with a dislocated kneecap, rushed for 36 yards on eight tries to lead the Bucs.

Brentwood scored three times in the first half to build a 21-9 lead but none of them hurt more than the last one.

McWilliams drove the Spartans 90 yards in 2:15 before hitting Dorian Bowie with a 20-yard fade pass to the right corner of the end zone with six seconds remaining in the half. Carr kept the drive alive with a 35-yard draw on third-down and 15 from the Brentwood 45.

McWilliams hit George with an 8-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to give Brentwood its first lead of the game, 7-6, with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

Carr, who rushed for 117 on 15 carries in the first half, scored on a nice lead draw play from the Bucs’ 14-yrard line to put the Spartans up 14-9.

“He reminds me of Kolton Kobrys of Fort Cherry,” said Fetsko. “He’s not very big, but he is shifty and he has strong legs.”

The Bucs opened the scoring with a 28-yard pass to A.J. Myers from Alec Ferrari to make it 6-0. The extra-point attempt by Mike Cushma hit the upright.

But Cushma redeemed himself with a 26-yard field goal that gave the Bucs a 14-9 lead 7:52 before halftime.