Welsh, Prexies punish Eagles

There wasn’t much secret to the game plan the Washington High School football team had against South Park Friday night.
See Nick Welsh. Give Nick Welsh the ball. Watch Nick Welsh run.
Welsh ran for 117 yards on just 13 carries in the first half alone, finishing with 146 on 17 attempts, Andre Jennings scored a pair of short touchdowns and Washington rolled over visiting South Park, 41-0, in a non-conference game.
“Good win,” said Prexies head coach Mike Bosnic. “The kids played a good game. But we got a long way to go still, and that’s what I just told the kids. There’s still a lot of work out there to do.”
The Prexies’ offense wasn’t all Welsh and Jennings. In fact, their first touchdown came through the air after a six-play drive that went 57 yards. The drive was capped off by Zack Swartz finding Isaiah Schoonmaker on a post pattern for a 21-yard strike.
Then the ground game took over for Washington (3-0.) Welsh carried six times on an 11-play drive, which included runs of 15 and 18 yards, and he scored from five yards out.
That was actually Welsh’s only touchdown of the game, but he was the engine that made the Prexies go.
“Nick’s getting better and better,” said Bosnic. “It was an excellent performance by him. Tonight he was running the ball well.”
Jennings also chipped in, gaining 30 yards on his first two carries of the game, and scoring on touchdown runs of one and three yards in the second quarter.
Washington’s offense couldn’t have been much more perfect – five possessions through three quarters and five touchdowns. The other touchdown came right before halftime and was a defensive score, an 89-yard interception return by senior Ronnie Paith. That made the score 34-0.
“We felt we could stand our ground with those guys initially, but my hat is 100 percent off to Wash High for the effort they gave,” said South Park coach Marty Rieck. “They played good, old-fashioned football.”
Swartz totaled 123 yards of offense on his own, throwing for 90 yards, including a pair of touchdowns to Schoonmaker, and ran for 33 yards. Schoonmaker caught three passes for 34 yards and also rushed three times for another 28 yards. His second touchdown of the game triggered the mercy rule in the third quarter.
“This is not the South Park team that I know we have,” said Rieck. “Starting with me. I’m the No. 1 person that the finger should be pointed at for the loss.”
Defensively, Washington forced three turnovers, a pair of interceptions and one fumble, and held the Eagles (2-1) to 118 yards of total offense.
“I was pretty pleased with the way the defense played,” said Bosnic.