Fantastic finishes, great efforts
Opening night in high school football found some fantastic finishes and incredible individual efforts. Mount Pleasant stopped a furious, last-gasp drive by McGuffey to take a 45-39 win; Fort Cherry got an improbable victory by recovering a fumble in the end zone in the final moments; defending state champion South Fayette breezed to a 49-6 win over East Allegheny; and Trinity fell in its opener, 45-14, to Belle Vernon.
Malik Wells of Washington rushed for a career-high 133 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-6 win over Derry; Anthony Welsh roared out of the gate with 209 rushing yards and also had three TDs in Beth-Center’s 34-6 win over Mapletown; and Mike Blasinsky scored three times to help Carmichaels ruin Ron Skiles’ return to Bentworth with a 30-13 victory.
Charleroi had a stinging, one-point loss to Southmoreland, 25-24, allowing a touchdown with 2:58 to play; Five area schools – West Greene, Peters Township, Canon-McMillan, Avella and California – did not score a point this week.