Oct 6, 2015 5 min read

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The talk of a potential ‘upset’ ramped up in Mt. Pleasant’s press box as kickoff approached last Friday. People certainly had their reasons to be skeptical of Wash High.

From the mental errors through four weeks to the ‘weak’ schedule, you couldn’t blame anyone for thinking the Vikings could be the favorite against the Prexies. There were just so many unknowns.

I leaned toward Wash High, but even I wasn’t sure what to expect. Well, as you can imagine, the only thing people were talking about in the fourth quarter was the Prexies’ backfield tandem of Jordan West and Kurt Adkins.

“They just have too many weapons,” one man standing near me said.

I couldn’t have agreed more. The two senior tailbacks combined for 305 yards and four touchdowns to help Wash High defeat Mt. Pleasant 44-14.

The Vikings (4-1, 4-1) made the mistake that many teams do against that offense. They didn’t show much discipline, keying on quarterback Markel Pulliam and running back Kurt Adkins early. The saying is that the film doesn’t lie, but they must have forgot how Wash High (5-0, 5-0) used West last season.

He has great vision running between the tackles, lining up as the fullback in an I-formation and as one of three backs in the shotgun. Meanwhile, Adkins outran Mt. Pleasant’s linebackers, who were always leaning heavily to one side.

“Their time of possession wore on us,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Bo Ruffner said after the game. “Their shotgun jumbo package is a good package they’re running and it’s tough to stop.”

I asked Wash High head coach Mike Bosnic about the package, which I don’t recall seeing much of last season.

“We have a lot of things we work on; some things we narrow down throughout the week depending on who we are playing,” Bosnic said. “We saw some things we thought we could take advantage of this week, some match ups. We wanted to utilize some things and try to get to the edge with our speed.”

You can’t blame him. Aside from the work of the running backs finding cutback lanes and following their blocks, I thought the offensive line played great. Injuries have forced Bosnic to move kids around depending on what formation he’s running, but it was pretty seamless.

Senior guard/defensive tackle Khalid Blount was dominant, leading the Prexies’ strong defensive front. I was also very impressed with the linebackers, particularly Jackson Interval. That was a thin position last fall, but it’s looking like a strength now.

Pulliam made a tremendous throw to Isaiah Robinson for that late first-half touchdown, but I’m curious how he continues to develop as a passer. If Wash High runs into South Fayette or Aliquippa, it will need a more balanced attack.

Even with the victory that kept the Prexies unbeaten, Bosnic still saw room for improvement, especially on the offensive line.

“We didn’t particulatlry play a clean game. We made some mistakes,” Bosnic said. “We definitely didn’t have our best performance up front. Kurt and Jordan really stepped up and played great for us.”

I expected the Bearcats’ offense to take a big step forward in 2015, but it’s the defense that has them on their way to the playoffs. Bentworth forced fumbles in the second half to help the offense pull away.

Head coach Ron Skiles wasn’t particularly pleased with their performance in the first half, allowing big plays to Rockets running back Joe Headlee on offense and special teams. Bearcats quarterback Josh Hughes, who is dealing with an ankle injury, tossed four touchdown passes and running back Ethan Tush ran for 193 yards with two touchdowns.

If Bentworth (4-1, 4-1) stays healthy and Hughes’ ankle heals, I like its chances to pull off an upset in the playoffs, but it will depend on the matchup. The Tri-County South won’t get much respect from the WPIAL steering committee, so the Bearcats could draw a difficult team like North Catholic.

They finish the regular season with back-to-back road games that will be telling: Jeannette and Beth-Center.

The streak is over. Canon-McMillan’s win over Fox Chapel snapped a 17-game losing streak and proved my point that the Big Macs are much better under head coach Mike Evans.

Even with an inexperienced offensive line, C-M’s offense is playing very well. Running back Bryan Milligan had another big game with 147 yards and two touchdowns, plus Dom Eannace has developed a nice rapport with tight end Jordan Smith.

I like the Big Macs’ chances of winning three games in 2015.

1. Kurt Adkins and Jordan West of Washington. Can’t leave one of them off the list. Both did an incredible job, plus I’ll give the offensive line a nod as a star of the week, too. An eye-opening performance by the Prexies.

2. Dylan Rush of Mapletown. Ran for 387 yards and eight touchdowns in a win over Avella. He’s the second player this season (KC Zajicek of California) to score eight touchdowns against the Eagles. Say what you want about the opponent, but that’s a solid night.

3. Colin McCracken of Waynesburg. Threw for a touchdown, ran for another and had an interception to help the Raiders snap a five-game losing streak dating back to last season. The first-year starting quarterback 26-yard TD to Cole Garrett and ran for a 50-yard score, plus he ran for 94 yards.

Others receiving votes: Hughes and Tush of Bentworth, Millgan of Canon-McMillan, Beth-Center’s Tony Welsh and McGuffey’s Marcus Czulewicz.