Oct 26, 2019 3 min read

CLAYSVILLE – There were plenty of opportunities for Washington to crumble.

Or crack, just like nearly every one of the Prexies’ opponents have done during Washington’s 57-1 regular-season run since 2013.

“They bury everybody alive,” McGuffey football coach Ed Dalton said earlier this week.

The chances were there for the Highlanders to buck the trend.

McGuffey recovered the opening kickoff. A Washington defense that was unrecognizable at this time last season stopped the Highlanders.

Two critical turnovers deep in McGuffey territory were ended by inexcusable turnovers. There was a botched intentional grounding call made by the officials and a slew of injuries, including one to senior center Gerald Comedy.

And yet, Washington coach Mike Bosnic stood on the sidelines in a 14-14 tie game early into the third quarter and felt “very comfortable.”

“I have a lot of confidence in these kids,” Bosnic said. “We would have liked to have jumped on them and put the game away, but I knew our guys would finish.”

The Prexies did exactly what they had to do.

Showing a resilience and perseverance that rarely needs to be shown from a team that has won six consecutive conference titles, including the Class 2A Century Conference outright with a 36-14 win over McGuffey, Washington was full of resolve in Friday night’s regular-season finale.

“It’s difficult to be in that position,” Bosnic said. “We had some tough breaks.”

Washington answered every one of those tough breaks, whether it be on offense or defense, dominating McGuffey on both sides of the ball. Behind their massive offensive line, even without Comedy for most of the game, the Prexies had 424 yards total offense. The defense, which was a disaster last year, limited McGuffey to 154 yards and held the Highlanders to their fewest point total all season.

At halftime, McGuffey had only 19 yards on 17 plays.

“Our seniors came in this year and said that we were going to be the best defense in the WPIAL,” said linebacker Isaiah Edwards. “That’s what we’ve planned on doing. We weren’t there last year. We came out and punched them in the mouth.”

None more so that when Edwards, who was talkative before the game, leveled McGuffey’s Jared Johnson on a sweep play in the middle of the first quarter.

“When I saw my chance, I saw red,” Edwards said. “I got him.”

No matter how many times Washington bent – it had several bad snaps that resulted in turnovers and lost yardage – its defense responded.

For the fifth consecutive week, the Prexies didn’t allow their opponent to score more than 14 points. Four interceptions, including one late in the third quarter, turned a tied game into a 28-14 Washington lead in less than one minute.

“It was just perseverance,” Zack Swartz said. “Our guys had confidence the whole time. I didn’t lose any confidence. We had some silly turnovers. Losing your center is a hard thing to overcome, yet we were able to. We just had to keep playing Wash High football. We just needed to keep plugging.”