Oct 15, 2016 4 min read

BURGETTSTOWN – It was a tale of two halves in the Century Conference game Saturday afternoon as Charleroi upset Burgettstown, 26-23, at Hill Memorial Stadium.

“This is huge and we are in the playoff picture,” said Charleroi coach Donnie Militzer with a relieved smile. “We never quit and this was a total team effort.

“We kept playing hard and I think we wore them out in the second half.”

Burgettstown (4-2, 4-3) led 16-6 at halftime, 23-6 in the third quarter and outgained Charleroi 268-112 in the first half. But it was a different story in the second half as the Blue Devils were limited to 103 yards and had their two-game winning streak end.

“I give Charleroi credit and their front four guys were phenomenal,” Burgettstown coach Mark Druga said. “We made a few bad errors.”

When Burgettstown quarterback Brad McLaughlin scored on a 15-yard run with 7:50 to play in the third quarter, it seemed as if Burgettstown had things in control. The Blue Devils led 23-6.

Charleroi (1-4, 4-4), however, scored the last 20 points.

With 7:13 to go in the first quarter, Burgettstown’s Colby Green partially blocked a Charleroi punt. Four plays later, Reed Reitter made a 39-yard field goal to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead.

The Cougars answered on their next possession as they went 80 yards in six plays, the key play being a 63-yard pass from Geno Pellegrini to Emery Anden on third-and-eight. Three players later, Pellegrini went in from a yard out to give Charleroi a 6-3 lead with 3:32 to play in the first quarter.

Burgettstown took the lead right back as McLaughlin hit Ryan Lounder on a 59-yard scoring pass to give the Blue Devils a 10-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Blue Devils extended their lead to 16-6 with five seconds remaining in the first half as McLaughlin connected with Jarred John on a nine-yard touchdown pass.

After Burgettstown took the 23-6 lead, Charleroi began its comeback.

Pellegrini hit Dakota Romantino with a 37-yard touchdown pass with 4:57 to make the score 23-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

After a Burgettstown punt, Pellegrini zigged and zagged for a 21-yard touchdown run with 7:18 remaining and Sean Cole’s extra point trimmed the Burgettstown lead to 23-20.

Burgettstown then fumbled and Charleroi’s Mike Polinski recovered. The Cougars took over at their own 32-yard line with 6:45 to play.

In dramatic fashion and on fourth down, Pellegrini passed to Romantino for a 52-yard touchdown that gave the Cougars the lead with 4:02 to play.

Pellegrini finished 12 of 23 for 214 yards with the two touchdowns. He ran for 66 more yards and a pair of scores.

“He does special things,” Militzer said of his sophomore quarterback. “He helped lead us to this victory.”

Burgettstown turned the ball over on downs and Charleroi ran out the clock to improve its playoff chances. The Cougars face another must-win game Friday at Beth-Center (2-3, 2-5). Only the top five teams in each Class AA conference are guaranteed playoff berths and Beth-Center is currently the fifth-place team in the Century.

Charleroi will be without Dremar Everette after he was ejected Saturday.

Burgettstown, which has clinched a playoff berth, heads to first-place Washington Friday night.

“We will have to fix some of our defensive ideas,” Druga said. “And we have to shore some things up on offense.”

Notes

McLaughlin was 11 of 26 for 223 yards, but 199 of those were in the first half and he finished with two interceptions … Romantino led Charleroi with five catches for 115 yards while Lounder had 92 receiving yards receiving on three catches … Errict Tedrow (10) and Jake Stefanick (six) combined for 16 tackles for Charleroi. Brian Burgess had 1 1/2… Hunter Perry and Pellegrini each had an interception … Burgettstown had 361 total yards and Charleroi 325.