Oct 18, 2019 6 min read

ALVERTON – Zack Swartz and Zahmere Robinson each returned interceptions for touchdowns and Washington overcame a slow start to roll past Southmoreland 44-16 in a Century Conference game Friday at Russ Grimm Field.

The win moves Washington to 7-0 in the conference, 9-0 overall and sets up a showdown next week with McGuffey in Claysville for the conference title.

Southmoreland (4-3, 5-4) forged a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter before Wash High started rolling. Swartz scored on a one-yard plunge and threw 42 yards to Caleb Jackson to put the Prexies ahead at 13-9.

Swartz and Robinson hooked up on an 84-yard TD pass before halftime, and Robinson opened the second-half scoring with a 70-yard interception return. He would add a 39-yard TD run before the quarter ended.

Swartz intercepted a Scotties pass in the fourth quarter and ran it back 53 yards for a score. Shaliek Cox’s one-yard plunge capped the scoring.

West Greene 61, Jefferson-Morgan 8

Ben Jackson became the leading rusher in Greene County history with 313 yards on 25 carries in West Greene’s, 61-8, in a Class A Tri-County South Conference game.

The victory moves West Greene to 7-0 in the conference and 8-0 overall and clinches the conference title. Jefferson-Morgan fell to 2-4 and 2-7.

Jackson now has unofficially 6,354 career yards, overtaking another West Greene graduate, Rodney Wilson, who ran for 6,304 before graduating in 1993.

Jackson scored six touchdowns, the last one from 63 yards in the fourth quarter that broke the record with just over three minutes left on a running clock.

Jackson also scored on runs of 60, 1, 71, 7 and eight yards. He also caught a shuffle pass for a 26-yard score.

South Fayette 61, Ambridge 6

Seven different players scored touchdowns in South Fayette’s 61-6 rout of Ambridge in a Class 4A Northwest Eight Conference game.

South Fayette is 6-0 in the conference, 7-1 overall, and conference champion. Ambridge (0-6, 0-9) is winless.

Quarterback Naman Alemada completed 7 of 8 passes for 114 yards and a TD. Andrew Franklin had two scoring runs. Shay Aitken rushed 10 times for 88 yards and scored on a 5-yard run. Christian Brandi scored on two runs.

Mapletown 27, Avella 25

Mapletown scored the game’s first 27 points, then had to hold off furious second-half comeback by Avella to edge the Eagles 27-25 in the Tri-County South Conference.

The game wasn’t decided until Mapletown sacked Avella quarterback Derek Tarolli on fourth down with eight seconds remaining, after the Eagles had driven inside the Maples’ 10-yard line.

Landan Stevenson, who had 134 yards on 26 carries, ran for two touchdowns and caught an 82-yard touchdown pass from Max Vanata to give Mapletown (1-5, 2-7) a 21-0 lead early in the second half.

The Maples, who snapped a 17-game conference losing streak, made it 27-0 when Zach Greene ran 47 yards for a TD midway through the third quarter.

Tanner Terenski then caught a 50-yard scoring pass from Tarolli and ran 21 yards for a touchdown that pulled Avella (0-6, 1-8) to within 27-12 after three quarters.

After a Mapletown turnover, Tarolli, who completed 14 of 16 for 219 yards, connected with Ty Jaworowski on a 60-yard TD. Tarolli’s 24-yard scoring pass to Justin Dryer made it 27-25 with 7:19 to play.

Charleroi 63, Brownsville 0

Alex Conrad passed for 112 yards and three touchdowns, and returned an interception 56 yards for another score as Charleroi rolled over Brownsville 63-0 in the Century Conference.

The playoff-bound Cougars (5-2, 6-2) led 42-0 at halftime.

Legend Davis caught scoring passes of six and 66 yards and returned a punt 55 yards for the game’s final touchdown. Brayden Mihalcin had rushing TDs of 15, 8 and 17 yards.

Belle Vernon 58, Plum 17

Jared Hartman completed 25 of 27 passes for 277 yards and four touchdowns, and also ran for a score, as Belle Vernon rolled over Plum 58-17 in a non-conference game Friday night.

Hartman had TD strikes of 12 yards to Nolan Labuda, 5 and 9 yards to Hunter Ruokonen and 67 yards to Logan Brooks. Hartman also had a one-yard scoring plunge as Belle Vernon improved to 7-1.

Devin Whitlock had a 58-yard kickoff return for a score, and Larry Callaway rushed for 82 yards, which included TDs of seven and one yards.

Central Catholic 44, Canon-McMillan 0

Eddie Tillman scored four touchdowns to power Pittsburgh Central Catholic over Canon-McMillan, 44-0, in a Class 6A Quad County Conference game.

The win moved PCC to 8-1, 6-1 in the conference. The Big Macs fell to 2-5 and 2-7.

Tillman had scoring runs of 57, 18, 42 and 16 yards and gained 170 yards on 10 carries.

Ben Urso completed 9 of 18 passes for 78 yards and two interceptions.

Even with the loss, Canon-McMillan was able to clinch a playoff berth because of losses Friday by Norwin and Butler.

Burrell 58, Waynesburg 34

Seth Fishbach caught three touchdown passes to help Burrell down Waynesburg, 58-34, in a wild non-conference game.

Fishbach had grabs from 9, 40 and 75 yards for the Bucs (6-3), who outscored Waynesburg, 36-13, in the second half. Mike Scherer had two touchdown runs and Darnell Holmes returned a fumble 45 yards for a score.

Trevor Stephenson scored two touchdowns and Darnell Johnson scored on a pair of 2-yard runs for the Raiders (2-7).

Leechburg 46, Bentworth 13

Jake Blumer ran for four touchdowns and Leechburg, sparked by a big first quarter, defeated Bentworth 46-13 in a non-conference game.

Blumer scored on runs of 31, 14, 10 and 81 yards and helped the Blue Devils (4-5) to an 18-0 lead after one quarter.

Bentworth (2-7) scored on short TD runs by Shawn Dziak and Owen Petrisek.

In other games

West Mifflin was a 54-18 winner over Ringgold in the Class 4A Big Eight Conference. In the Class 2A Century Conference, Carmichaels edged Frazier, 32-26. South Side Beaver slipped past Fort Cherry 21-14 in the Class 2A Three Rivers Conference. In non-conference action, Beth-Center earned its first victory of the season, 22-14 over Imani Christian, Knoch edged Trinity 17-14 and Rochester was a 41-12 winner over Monessen. These teams did not report details of their games to the Observer-Reporter by press time.