Another shutout win for McGuffey
McGuffey’s Bryton Johnson sackes Northgate’s QB Christan Davin at McGuffey High School on Friday Aug. 31, 2018.
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McGuffey’s C.J. Cole catches the ball for a touchdown over Northgate’s Daveonte Christe during last year’s win for the Highlanders.
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McGuffey’s McKinley Whipkey runs the ball last season against Northgate.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
McGuffey running back Christian Clutter scored a WPIAL-best 43 touchdowns and rushed for 1,548 yards.
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McGuffey’s Christian Clutter pickes up yards against Northgate at McGuffey High School on Friday Aug. 31, 2018.
CLAYSVILLE – The McGuffey High School football team came into its matchup Friday night against Northgate looking for the Highlanders’ first 2-0 start in this century.
A week after shutting out Ambridge 28-0, the Highlanders’ defense made it a point to show again that it’s going to be a difficult unit to score against.
Behind seven quarterback sacks and three turnovers, the Highlanders’ defense kept the pressure on the Flames all night and cruised to a 48-0 home victory against an overmatched Northgate team.
Brendan Crowe led McGuffey (2-0) as he had three sacks and a fumble recovery.
Bryton Johnson, McKinley Whipkey, Dylan McCuen and Charles Yanniello also sacked Northgate quarterback Christan Davin. Marshall Whipkey also recovered a fumble for McGuffey and Chad Fleischauer intercepted a pass.
“Defensively, we played very well,” said McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton. “We have a lot more depth than them. We were very physical. We blitzed well. We covered really well and tackled well.”
It hasn’t just been the Highlanders’ defense that has gotten off to a good start to the 2018 season. The McGuffey special teams have been great as well.
A week after returning a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown, McGuffey’s Christian Clutter made an impact in the return game again.
Clutter had a nice 29-yard punt return in the first quarter in which he broke several tackles and set the Highlanders up in great field position. While that return didn’t result in points, the next time he fielded a punt Clutter went 63 yards untouched for a touchdown.
“I keep telling people how special he is,” said Dalton. “He’s dynamic. You don’t run that many kicks back unless you have a gift. He’s got great vision.”
Clutter’s night was cut short though as he had to leave the game early after taking a hard shot on a punt return. He was was hit before he a chance to catch the punt.
“He should be OK,” Dalton said. “We think he should be ready to go next week. We just wanted to error on the side of caution.”
Things were sloppy for most of the first half as the game was a penaltyfest for most of the night.
While the Highlanders started slowly, they found their rhythm for a bit in the first quarter on the ground.
McKinley Whipkey broke loose on a 44-yard run, which set up Clutter to score on a sweep from 17-yard out to give the Highlanders a 7-0 lead.
After forcing a 3-and-out, Clutter broke loose on the punt return to make it 14-0.
Things could have been much worse for Northgate as the Highlanders had two touchdowns negated by penalty.
“We wanted to play fast early and wear them down, but we were sloppy fast,” Dalton said.
McGuffey struck again late in the second quarter when C.J. Cole hauled in a 14-yard fade pass from Marshall Whipkey to give McGuffey a 21-0 halftime advantage.
The Whipkey brothers paced the McGuffey offense as Marshall threw and ran for a touchdown while McKinley ran for 184 yards on 10 carries, also adding a touchdown run.
“We ran the veer pretty well tonight,” Dalton said. Probably as good as we have run it in a couple of years. The quarterback is the key and Marshall is running the offense well so far. McKinley is a true fullback and while he has the power, he also runs very smart.”
The Highlanders’ defense started the second half the same way it finished the first as Marshall Whipkey recovered a Northgate fumble. On the very next play, Whipkey called his own number and raced 36 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-0.
McKinley Whipkey made it 35-0 with a three-yard touchdown run in the third and McGuffey backup quarterback Rocco Falosk went untouched from 20 yards to extend the lead to 42-0.
McGuffey freshman Christian Cipoletti capped off the scoring with a five-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
McKinley Whipkey finished with 144 yards on nine carries.
The win sends McGuffey into conference play on a high note as they prepare for a road contest at Frazier.
“First time this century,” Dalton said. “It’s a lot better than the alternative. Frazier is big and well coached. Playing on a grass field will be another obstacle we aren’t used to, so we will have to practice on grass a couple of times this week. But I like the way we started the season for sure.”