Waynesburg comes up short against Mt. Pleasant
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Waynesburg's Hunter Cenname cheers after Waynesburg recovered a Mount Pleasant fumble during the first quarter of the game.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Waynesburg's Hunter Cenname runs the ball for a 48-yard touchdown in the first quarter against Mount Pleasant on Friday, September 19.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Waynesburg's John Glen Davis takes down Mount Pleasant's Jake Adamrovich during the first half of the game on Friday, September 19.
WAYNESBURG – Bo Ruffner spends his weekends coaching football, but he took a page out of the basketball strategy playbook Friday night to win a game.
In basketball, the saying is to go for the win instead of a tie when you have the final shot while playing on the road. Ruffner followed this theory and it kept Mt. Pleasant High School undefeated.
Quarterback Nathan Pieszak threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to L.J. Sutton with 38 seconds remaining, then made Ruffner’s gamble to go for the win pay off by connecting with Brian Prinkey for a two-point conversion that gave Mt. Pleasant a stunning 28-27 victory over Waynesburg in a key Interstate Conference game.
The game-winning drive and gutsy call to play for the win instead of overtime came after Waynesburg took a 27-20 lead on a six-yard touchdown run by John-Glen Davis with 3:20 remaining.
“I knew whoever had the ball last was going to win,” Waynesburg coach Russ Moore said. “We scored too soon.”
Mt. Pleasant, which led 14-7 at halftime but couldn’t stop Waynesburg’s running game in the second half, put together an 11-play, 80-yard game-winning drive. The Vikings (4-0, 4-0) converted one third down and a fourth-and-12 at the Waynesburg 39 to keep the drive alive.
Two plays after a holding penalty cost the Vikings 17 yards, Pieszak threw deep down the right sideline for Sutton, who turned and looked for the ball before the defensive back reacted and made the catch at the goal line for the touchdown that brought the Vikings to within 27-26. The score came on a second-and-22 play.
“We called a play to get the first down, but Pieszak looked off his first receiver and found his second option, which was the long ball,” Ruffner said. “He put it up there and let L.J. make a play.”
Ruffner then made his decision to go for the win.
“The way the game was playing out, I thought we didn’t have any option but to go for the win. Waynesburg is a heck of a team and they were bringing it to us in the second half,” he explained.
With the ball placed on the left hashmark, Pieszak rolled right and found Prinkey, who made a lunging catch in the back right corner at the pylon to give the Vikings the lead. It was the only catch of the night by Prinkey.
Pieszak completed 16 of 23 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Each score came in the final minute of a half. He gave Mt. Pleasant a 14-7 lead with a three-yard TD pass to Trevor Salopek with 15 seconds left in the first half.
Sutton caught 11 passes for 185 yards and the late touchdown.
“(Sutton), I don’t know where he came from,” Moore said. “I hadn’t seen much of him on film. And that was the best I’ve seen their quarterback play. They had been like us, a running team.”
Waynesburg had one final chance to win. The Raiders drove to the Vikings’ 34, but Davis’ 52-yard field goal fell well short and triggered a bizarre scene after time expired.
The Vikings let Davis’ kick roll dead at the two-yard line, then ran off to the sideline to celebrate. Waynesburg’s Hunter Cenname ran downfield, scooped up the ball and ran into the end zone. The officials seemed confused and huddled for several minutes before deciding the ball was dead at the 2 and the game had ended.
For Waynesburg (2-2, 2-2), it was another week of this-close misery. The Raiders lost to undefeated Washington last week 28-20 after losing a fumble at the Prexies’ 10-yard line in the final 10 seconds.
“I don’t know what to say to the kids,” Moore said. “Moral victories? We’re not into them as good as we are. We’re going to stay strong and stay together. Coach Ruffner said he’s never seen a team come as far as we have in three years. I’d give anything to give the kids a win tonight or last week.”
Mt. Pleasant opened the scoring with a 19-yard TD run by Jake Adamrovich late in the first quarter, but Waynesburg answered one offensive play later on Cenname’s 48-yard scoring run to make it 7-7.
The Vikings controlled the ball in the first half, limiting Waynesburg to six offensive plays (one a knee to end the half) over the final 17:43. The Raiders’ running game dominated the second half.
Davis scored from one yard out and Cenname from four yards in the third quarter as Waynesburg forged a 20-17 lead. The Raiders, however, missed the extra-point kick following Cenname’s score. That loomed large as Zach Bednar booted his second field goal, a 23-yarder with 8:17 to tie the score at 20-20.
Waynesburg then went 71 yards in nine running plays to take a 27-20 lead.
Cenname led Waynesburg’s ground game with 161 yards and two scores on 19 carries, and Davis had 144 and two more scores on 21 attempts.
“Waynesburg does an outstanding job running the ball,” Ruffner said. “They kept pounding us. I felt like the last team with the ball would win. I just hoped it would be us with the ball.”
Twice in the first half, Waynesburg had drives stall in the red zone and fail to produce points. After Andrew Cain recovered a Mt. Pleasant fumble on the Vikings’ first possession, the Raiders reached the four-yard line before being pushed back and turning the ball over on downs at the seven. In the second quarter, Waynesburg blocked a 36-yard field goal by Bednar and Davis returned it 25 yards to the Mt. Pleasant 44. The Raiders then drove to the 15 before Davis was wide right on a 32-yard field goal. … Neither team punted. … Waynesburg rushed for 329 yards including 227 in the second half. … Mt. Pleasant rushed for 194 yards including 102 on 19 carries by Adamrovich.