Wash High holds on, remains unbeaten
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter Wash High’s Jonathan Spina cheers after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter of the game against Waynesburg on Friday.
Waynesburg’s John-Glen Davis runs the ball during the first half of the game against Wash High.
Washington High School senior quarterback Jonathan Spina saw the writing on the wall. Waynesburg had just completed a desperation pass on fourth down that was tipped by a Prexies defender and caught by Waynesburg senior wide receiver Dom Sarra for a 16-yard touchdown to tie the score with less than 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we were destined to lose after that play,” Spina said. “I had to be a leader and help us drive down the field for a score.”
The second-year starter did just that when he ran six yards for the go-ahead touchdown with less than six minutes remaining to lead Wash High past Waynesburg, 28-20, in an Interstate Conference game Friday night.
Spina completed 4 of 7 passes for 108 yards, threw for a touchdown and ran for two scores.
“He’s just a football player,” Prexies head coach Mike Bosnic said. “He really came through tonight when we needed him.”
With Waynesburg blitzing multiple players on defense, Wash High (3-0, 3-0) had to lean heavily on its senior quarterback. Spina set up the go-ahead score with a 28-yard designed run in which he spun off a tackle, putting Wash High in good field position. Four players later, he ran it in for a 26-20 lead.
On the two-point conversion, Spina scrambled left, drew three defenders and shoveled a pass to junior DeQuay Isbell in the back corner of the end zone.
On the ensuing drive, Waynesburg (2-1, 2-1) stuck to its game plan – handing the ball to senior running backs Hunter Cenname and John-Glen Davis. Cenname finished with 119 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown and Davis had 93 yards on 26 attempts with a score. The duo gave the Prexies a scare on the final drive.
They ran 10 times to drive Waynesburg into Wash High territory before two consecutive bad plays put the Raiders at 4th-and-18. Senior quarterback Colby Collins threw up a second desperation throw to Davis, who came down with the pass for a 27-yard gain.
Two plays later, junior defensive linemen Khalid Blount and Nate Swart combined to sack Collins with 17 seconds remaining. Collins fumbled on the play and Swart recovered.
“I’m proud of this whole team. Everyone talked about how small our line is compared to theirs, but we held our own,” Waynesburg head coach Russ Moore said. “Nobody gave us a shot, but this group did. We believed. If it weren’t for a couple plays, it would have been a different ballgame.”
Moore pointed to two plays by Isbell that made the difference. The senior state track champion had an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter and flashed his ability as a receiver less than six minutes later.
Spina took the snap and pump-faked to freeze two defensive backs covering Isbell. The speedy senior was wide open and Spina led him with a perfect throw for a 55-yard touchdown and the 12-6 lead with 2:14 remaining in the first quarter.
“(The play) was designed, but Spina audibled at the line of scrimmage and said that if the two backs played up, to hesitate than keep going on a hitch,” Isbell said. “He made a perfect throw and I caught it.”
Sandwiched between Isbell’s two touchdowns was a 15-yard touchdown by Cenname.
If there was one thing Moore was confident about heading into the game, it was the ability of his running backs to run directly at defenses, break tackles and gain yards in chunks. That’s exactly what the duo did.
Waynesburg answered Spina’s touchdown by going 60 yards in 10 plays, which was finished by Davis’ five-yard touchdown run on a sweep to the left side. Davis’ extra point gave the Raiders a one-point lead with 8:12 left in the second quarter.
“Our kids have been beat up and we’ve fought our way back for three years,” Moore said. “We got beat here 69-3 two years ago and it’s been nothing but improvement since. (Wash High) is going to be in the hunt at the end of the season and we played with them on their turf.”
Waynesburg’s defense came up with a big stop late in the second quarter, but Zach Parr’s 58-yard punt pinned the Raiders on their own one-yard line and they went three-and-out. Wash High took over with great field position, which Spina capitalized on eight plays later with a two-yard touchdown run for a seven-point halftime lead.
“That punt really hurt us,” Moore said. “We tell our kids to not touch it and let it roll, but on grass, it dies. We had no room to work, and them scoring that touchdown before the half was huge for them.”
The Raiders’ strategy of stacking the line of scrimmage to stop the run worked by limiting Wash High’s Malik Wells to just 44 yards on nine carries, but Waynesburg failed to account for the Prexies’ athletic quarterback.
“This showed us that if our defense isn’t at its best, we can still win a football game and those guys are only going to get better,” Spina said. “We love to pass. They brought six or seven guys every time so we beat them to the outside.”
Wash High is 3-0 in conference play for the third straight year but Bosnic is not satisfied.
“Some things need to be fixed and we weren’t able to make adjustments,” Bosnic said. “We didn’t tackle well and you have to give Waynesburg credit. They’re a good football team. This can only make us stronger.”