Pleasantly perfect
Mt. Pleasant head coach Bo Ruffner ripped the red baseball hat off his head, wiped the sweat off his brow and slowly shook his head left to right.
His expression said it all.
After the Vikings took a one-point lead in the third quarter, Wash High senior running back Malik Wells scored two touchdowns, senior DeQuay Isbell intercepted two passes – returning one for a touchdown – and Mt. Pleasant fumbled late as the Prexies stormed back to win, 34-15, in an Interstate Conference matchup between two unbeatens.
The victory puts Wash High (5-0, 5-0) in position to claim its first conference championship in two years.
“This was a big morale boost,” Isbell said. “We’ve wanted something like this to happen for a while now. We wanted it last year, but we lost to them and it didn’t work out. We want that conference title and we’re going to keep going.”
Turnovers were the story of the night for the Vikings (4-1, 4-1). After forcing the Prexies to turn the ball over on downs to start the second half, Mt. Pleasant senior quarterback Nathan Pieszak was sacked on third-and-15 by Wells, forcing a fumble that was recovered by senior lineman Zack Blysone and breaking Pieszak’s ankle.
On the next play, Wash High senior quarterback Jonathan Spina faked a handoff to Wells and found junior wide receiver Jarell Dates wide open on a 38-yard touchdown pass for a 14-8 lead. Mt. Pleasant answered six plays later when senior Trevor Salopek took a jet sweep right and alluded one tackle to find room up the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown run and gave the Vikings their first lead of the night.
The raucous atmosphere at Wash High Stadium took a 180-degree turn, but five minutes later, it was Wells who brought the Prexies’ fans back to their feet. Wash High drove 80 yards, which began with an 18-yard run by junior running back Jordan West, and was capped by Wells’ nine-yard touchdown run to recapture the lead.
“I feel really good about our kids and how resilient we are during games,” Wash High head coach Mike Bosnic said. “I knew we had to respond after that touchdown. The kids had to keep playing how they were. You hate to see a big play given up, but our defense stepped up after that.”
West, who was unable to play running back since breaking a bone in his hand during the second preseason scrimmage, threw Mt. Pleasant off-balance running from the fullback position. He gained 106 yards on 11 carries, and Wells had 93 yards on 18. Although he could have played last week at Brownsville, Bosnic saved him for the Vikings.
“It was so long and I’ve been so anxious to get there,” West said. “The guys up front did an amazing job tonight. All the credit goes to them.”
The junior ran for 35 yards on Wells’ first scoring drive and added another dimension to the Prexies’ already potent offense.
“We missed him. It kind of disrupted our rhythm not having him back there,” Bosnic said of West. “It was big for us to give him the football and let him get his yards.”
On the Vikings’ ensuing drive, they went three-and-out trying to capitalize on Salopek’s speed to the outside. Wash High’s outside linebackers clogged lanes and West, who shifted to free safety to help contain the run, came up with a big open-field tackle.
The Prexies almost added to their lead five plays later when Spina found Isbell wide open on a slant route on third down that would have gone for a 65-yard touchdown, but the ball went through Isbell’s hands and hit his back shoulder – forcing Wash High to punt with less than eight minutes remaining.
“When I dropped that pass, I went to the sidelines and I started crying,” Isbell said. “I thought it’d put them back in the game then Spina came up to me and told me to focus on the next play. It’s always the next play so that’s what I did.”
It wasn’t the next play, but three plays later, Isbell intercepted Mt. Pleasant backup quarterback Johnny Yester and returned it 34 yards to give the Prexies the ball on the Vikings’ 29-yard line. Wells took advantage two plays later when he took handoff to the right, followed Blystone and junior guard Khalid Blount, then spun out of a tackle. He found open field and scored from 17 yards out for a 28-15 lead.
Mt. Pleasant had five turnovers, which Wash High turned into 26 points.
“You’re not going to win big games with that many turnovers,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Bo Ruffner said. “We got away with it last week against Waynesburg, but you’re not going to beat Wash High doing that.”
Five plays later, Isbell returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown to clinch the win for the Prexies, who took an 8-0 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the first quarter when Spina dove into the end zone from two yards out. Wash High had the football in scoring position two more times during the first half, but turned it over on downs both times.
The Vikings tied the game in the second quarter with a three-yard touchdown run by sophomore Chris Wagner, but injuries to Pieszak and starting running back Jake Adamrovich proved costly. Their replacements combined for three turnovers with Wash High’s defense winning at the point of attack.
“It was great to have our defense play like that, especially when our offense started to stall a little,” Wells said. “Our defense came through big. As the game wore on, our conditioning kicked in. They got tired and we took advantage.”