Wash High shakes off rust, defeats Charleroi
Charleroi’s Dom Pellegrini,left, and Cameron Carter attempt to tackle Washington’s Nick Welsh Friday night.
Washington’s Nick Welsh attempts to evade the tackle of Charleroi’s Hunter Perry Friday night.
Washington’s Andre Jennings is tackled Friday night by Charleroi’s Dom Pellegrini,left, and Sammy Rocca.
Charleroi’s Geno Pellegrini throws a pass as Washington’s Myckel Brown attempts to hit the Cougars’ quarterback Friday night.
Washington’s Cassimiur Johnson attempts to tackle Charleroi’s Hunter Perry Friday night.
Much of the first half looked exactly like a first game should for Washington.
As the Prexies’ coaching staff burned time outs with players not knowing where to lineup or having an extra man – or several – on the field at one time, it was evident Washington was shaking off the scrimmage mind set when those mistakes aren’t as detrimental.
Clinging to a 6-0 lead after two quarters, the early confusion and frustration for the Prexies swiftly went away.
Washington senior running back Nick Welsh took a handoff and ran 80 yards for a touchdown in the first play from scrimmage to open the second half, and the Prexies scored three times in the first five minute of the third quarter to defeat Charleroi 36-8 in both team’s Century Conference opener Friday night at Wash High Stadium.
Welsh, the main component behind Washington’s 274-yard third quarter, finished with 310 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
“It’s a great performance. It’s a lot of yards,” Washington head coach Mike Bosnic said.
“We were able to run the counter play successfully and that hurt (Charleroi). Nick just took advantage of that and it led to a great game.”
The second score from the Prexies’ quick-strike offense in the second half came when Isaiah Schoonmaker touched the ball for the first time, with the exception of punting, when he caught a 50-yard touchdown from quarterback Zack Swartz to give Washington a 21-0 lead.
Schoonmaker found the end zone again when Swartz connected with him a drive later on a nine-yard slant pattern to put the Prexies up 29-0 with 7:10 left in the third quarter.
“The second half (Washington) came ready to play,” said Charleroi head coach Donnie Militzer. “They hit us on a couple of big plays. It just went from there.”
Charleroi had the Prexies playing a low-scoring game it wasn’t used to in their now 30-game, regular-season winning streak in the first half.
Despite having 148 yards of total offense, Washington (1-0, 1-0) only managed one first-half touchdown when Welsh took a pitch, looked for contact and barreled into the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked as the Prexies had to settle for a 6-0 lead with 3:14 left in the quarter.
The touchdown capped a five play, 74-yard drive for Washington, the longest drive of the first half for either team.
Charleroi (0-1, 1-1), who only started a drive inside its 40-yard line once in the first half, let many opportunities slip away, including a fumble on second-and-goal from the Prexies’ four that was recovered by Washington’s Ian Smith.
“It was huge,” Militzer said of failing to score to either tie or take the lead. “We played a heck of a ballgame in the first half. We haven’t played a half of football like that against them in a long time. We usually would go with a power formation when we get down in the red zone but they are tough to run on. We just missed our opportunity.”
The failures deep in Washington territory didn’t hinder the Cougars from moving the ball, as quarterback Geno Pellegrini completed 19 of his 34 passes for 250 yards.
Pellegrini’s favorite target was wide receiver Travis Lytle, who finished with eight catches for 169 yards and Charleroi’s lone touchdown on a 49-yard pass from backup quarterback George Lukach with 4:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Washington’s final touchdown came when Dylan Asbury finished a five play, 46-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown up the middle to give Washington a 36-0 lead with 7:10 left. The score implemented the Mercy Rule, the sixth consecutive time the Prexies have had a running clock against Charleroi.
Swartz ended the first half only 1 of 6 for two yards. He finished the game 4 of 13 with 86 yards and two touchdowns.
“We made a lot of mistakes as a team but played better in the second half. We still have a long way to go.”