Nov 4, 2017 3 min read

CHARLEROI – The Murphy’s Law adage states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

At Myron Pottios Stadium Friday night, that is what happened to the Charleroi High School football team in the first half as the Cougars fell behind 21-0 before falling 21-12 in a WPIAL Class AA first round game to Avonworth (4-5).

“We came out tight and Avonworth’s playoff experience showed early,” said Charleroi coach Donnie Militzer. “They played four playoff games in the last three years and that was big early.

“But I am proud of the team with how we fought back and even though this stings now, we accomplished something that very few Charleroi teams have and that is win nine games.”

The Cougars (9-2) finished with five turnovers in the first half and six in the game as they had their eight-game winning streak snapped.

“We didn’t have that many turnovers all year,” Militzer said.

“Not many teams, if any, would win with that many turnovers.

“We played two bad halves of football all year, the second half at Washington and the first half tonight, but this season will always be special to us.”

The home playoff game was Charleroi’s first since 2004, and its postseason winning drought will hit 20 years as the Cougars have not won a playoff game since they defeated Beaver in 1998.

After missing a field goal on the first drive and forcing Charleroi to punt, the Antelopes (4-5) got on the scoreboard with 3:23 to play in the first quarter as Derek Johncour connected with Turner Grau with an eight-yard scoring strike.

The drive was set up by a Charleroi fumble when the ball was knocked free from behind on a punt return.

Avonworth extended its lead to 14-0 with 19 seconds left in the quarter as Jax Miller intercepted a Geno Pellegrini pass and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown.

Johncour and Grau connected on a 32-yard touchdown with 5:31 left in the half to make the score 21-0, and the lead carried into the half.

Charleroi drove to the Avonworth 15-yard line with under a minute to go, but Hunter Perry fumbled the ball away at the five.

In the first half, Avonworth had 167 yards on 32 plays while Charleroi 137 yards on 33 plays.

The Cougars finally got on the board on the initial drive of the second half when Hunter Perry caught a 22-yard pass from Pellegrini with 8:02 to play in the third quarter, but Joey Caruso’s extra point was blocked and the score remained 21-6 into the fourth quarter.

Pellegrini scored from two yards with 7:55 to play, but the Cougars went for two and Pellegrini’s pass for Ryan Workman was high.

The score remained 21-12 with 7:55 to play, but Charleroi would not go down without a fight.

Jake Stefanick, Charleroi’s heart on defense who finished with 15 tackles in the game and 140 for the season, forced a fumble to give the Cougars the ball at the Charleroi 48-yard line with less than five minutes to play, but the Cougars stalled at the Avonworth 15 with 1:56 left.

The Antelopes took over and ran out the clock.

The Cougars outgained the Antelopes, 326-291.