A year to remember for Wash High
Washington’s Myckel Brown holds high the WPIAL Class 2A championship trophy as his teammates celebrate after the Little Prexies beat Steel Valley for their first championship since 2001. Washington beat Steel Valley, 37-10, at Robert Morris University’s Joe Walton Stadium Nov. 25.
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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Dan Walker runs the against Wilmington’s Marett Cameron during the PIAA Class AA semifinals game at Slippery Rock University Friday.
Washington’s Zahmere Robinson has 47 catches for 1,094 yards for the Prexies this season. Washington plays Steel Valley in a WPIAL quarterfinal game tonight.
Celeste Van Kirk/ Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Chase Mitchell celebrates after the Prexies’ win over Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic during a WPIAL Class AA semifinal game at Moon High School Friday night.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Nick Welsh breaks the tackle of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic’s Nukhai Hill-Green during the WPIAL Class AA semifinal game at Moon High School.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Nick Welsh, right, and Zahmere Robinson look to silence Steel Valley and win a WPIAL title when the Prexies take on the Ironmen in the Class 2A championship at 6 p.m. tonight at Robert Morris University.
Washington’s Isaiah Schoonmaker jumps over Zahmere Robinson, center, and Freedom’s Jason Norman to make an interception Friday night
Charleroi’s Geno Pellegrini throws a pass as Washington’s Myckel Brown attempts to hit the Cougars’ quarterback Friday night.
The only people who can describe what happened in the Washington High School locker room during the 10 minutes of halftime at Joe Walton Stadium are the Prexies’ players and coaches.
While looking around in the locker room at one another – coaches looking at coaches, players looking at coaches, seniors looking at other seniors – the short time period might have seemed like an eternity.
Head coach Mike Bosnic didn’t need to go into the locker room and remind his players that three of their first five drives in the WPIAL Class AA football championship game against Steel Valley had resulted in negative yardage.
He didn’t need to give the group a motivational speech because what the Prexies had fought through over the past three years was the only reminder they needed.
He wasn’t going to walk up the concrete steps to give a long-winded spiel about how much this season has meant because everybody in that locker room knew it wasn’t going to be their last halftime together.
This halftime, though the scoreboard showed the game was tied 10-10, was no different than any other intermission the Prexies had experienced.
“It was just the attitude,” Bosnic said about the team. “It’s funny because I’ve been thinking about it and I actually didn’t have to do the talking. The kids talked about it on their own. They wanted it.”
What was that conversation?
Maybe it was a conversation about the tears left in other locker rooms over the past three years when the Prexies fell short of their goal of a WPIAL championship with shocking losses to Freeport and Neshannock.
Tears that go back all the way to 2014, when Aliquippa knocked Wash High out of the WPIAL playoffs one game shy of the championship.
“Tears. Heads down. Arguing. It’s been rough,” senior lineman Myckel Brown said after this year’s title game about the silent locker rooms.
But as the fans dressed in Columbia blue filed into the WPIAL championship game – it wasn’t hard to spot members of teams past who were hoping this was the group to finally bring home a title after four undefeated regular seasons.
The Prexies even invited former players to practice on Thanksgiving Day so they could watch the championship game preparations.
“Wash High tradition and pride is something you can’t explain,” Bosnic said. “It’s a great feeling. The support we have, the pride this community has, the pride this program has, it is something special.”
Maybe during that time in the locker room the Prexies were thinking about newcomers, yet longtime friends, Dan Walker Jr. and senior Nick Welsh, who had the opportunity to return and help in the quest for a title.
Following his mother’s death when he was 8 years old, which eventually led to him going to school in Georgia for several years, Walker came back to his hometown this year, adding another weapon to the Prexies’ potent offense with 33 pass receptions for 617 yards and nine touchdowns.
Or it might have been Welsh, who led the WPIAL in rushing yards (2,324) in his first season as the primary running back and only two years after a transfer from Trinity High School.
“He has become such a dynamic running back,” Bosnic said. “Now it’s setting in to think of what he did, it’s pretty amazing.”
Maybe when looking at one another, the seniors realized that these were 10 minutes they were looking forward to spending since they were young kids playing youth football together.
Or that they were on a team that shouldn’t be stopped, at least not yet.
Washington was the highest-scoring team in Class AA, the only one to average more than 40 points per game. An offense that could run and pass, the Prexies racked up 6,178 yards of total offense.
“That diversity we have on offense was what was really unique about this team,” Bosnic said. “The fact that we could both throw and run the ball was great. To have a 2,000-yard rusher and 2,000-yard passer is special.”
The defense gave up the second-fewest points per game (11.5) in Class AA, holding opponents to an average of 188 yards. In the Prexies’ three playoff games leading up to the championship game, they only gave up 123 rushing yards combined against Freedom, East Allegheny and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.
Maybe it was a head coach, who just welcomed another child into his family this week, joining his football family that ranges from 40 to 60 kids on a yearly basis.
“It’s something that I think makes it that much more special,” Bosnic said about a priority he has made to helping his players whenever possible, both on and off the field.
He frequently provides rides to and from practice, invites players to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with his family and extends a helping hand to whatever any player might be going through.
“I’m a lot closer with my players than a lot of coaches might be,” Bosnic continued. “These kids are like family. I have three kids of my own, but I have about 50 more who I care about very much. I really believe that Wash High is a special place with a special group of young men.”
Or maybe it wasn’t a conversation at all that changed the momentum in that championship game.
It might have revolved around two stickers the Prexies wore on their matte-black helmets.
There was the script “Prexies” on the side of their helmets, proudly representing a rich history with 687 all-time wins, and a much smaller sticker on the back of the helmet that held much more meaning to this group. It was a sticker placed on their helmets in unison to remember longtime equipment manager Dick Hardie, who succumbed on Nov. 15 to lung cancer.
The Prexies, even before Hardie’s death, were dedicating this season to him after finding out about his cancer diagnosis earlier in the year.
“He meant so much and means so much to our program,” Bosnic said. “He was loved by the kids and the coaching staff. To see the kids when he fell ill, and to see them support him the way they did, it was amazing. He was an amazing man.”
And even if the players might not be able to put into words what those 10 halftime minutes meant, maybe Hardie, who was in the locker room for 21 years before the Prexies routed Steel Valley in the second half to capture their first WPIAL championship since 2001, might have summed it up best.
“They are dedicated,” Hardie said about the group two days before his passing.
“They are one of the nicest bunch of men that I’ve been around. They drive me up a wall sometimes, but I’m so glad to be associated with them. It just shows you what kind of young men they are. When crap hits the fan, they come together.”
Whatever was said during those 10 minutes in the locker room, it helped wipe away several years of playoff frustration.
With 30 unanswered points – 27 scored in the second half – Washington defeated Steel Valley 37-10 for its seventh WPIAL championship.
The win advanced the Prexies to a wild, turnover-filled PIAA semifinal game where they were defeated by District 10 champion Wilmington, 49-42, to end the season one game shy of Hersheypark Stadium, the site of today’s PIAA final.
And as the clock wound to all zeros, ending Wash High’s season at Slippery Rock University’s Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, it was with the acknowledgement that a prideful program is back. Wash High football got over the hump in the WPIAL playoffs and one loss in the state playoffs didn’t tarnish what was a remarkable season for the Prexies.