Prexies roll after getting early break
Offensive linemen usually don’t get noticed unless they make a mistake, but Washington junior Alexander Green made a big play on the Prexies’ first play from scrimmage against Ellwood City in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A football playoffs at Wash High Stadium.
Washington quarterback Tristan Reed was sacked, and the Wolverines forced a fumble, but Green was able to recover the loose ball.
The Prexies took advantage of the gift, scored on their opening drive, and never looked back in a 48-6 victory Friday night.
Washington (9-1) advanced to the quarterfinals and will have a rematch with Century Conference foe McGuffey (8-3) next week. The Prexies defeated the Highlanders, 13-7, in the regular-season finale.
“We are going to enjoy this tonight, watch film tomorrow and get back to work next week,” Wash High coach Mike Bosnic said. “We were talking about maybe having a bye a few weeks ago and it made me a little nervous. I didn’t mind playing tonight.”
Washington’s triumph spoiled the return of Ellwood City coach Dan Bradley, who is a Wash High graduate.
“They capitalized on our mistakes,” Bradley said. “We had a lot of penalties off false starts, and that hurt us. We definitely didn’t make things easy for ourselves tonight. Unfortunately, we didn’t play well tonight, but it was good to come back home.”
Following Green’s recovery, the Prexies moved to the Wolverines’ 49 after Ellwood City was penalized for encroachment on 4th-and-3 before Zxavian Willis took a direct snap from the shotgun and raced 49 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead after Bodie Cumer made the first of four PATs with 9:13 left in the first quarter.
The Wolverines (5-6) fumbled on the ensuing kickoff and Ruben Gordon took a shovel pass from Reed 48 yards into the end zone at 7:34 of the first and a 13-0 advantage.
Reed didn’t return because of an injury to his hand, but Caleb Patton came in and threw a 22-yard fade to Gordon in the corner of the end zone and the Prexies had a 21-0 lead after Elijah Thomas pulled in a two-point conversion from Patton.
Patton was 6-of-10 for 83 yards with one touchdown.
Gordon caught 4 passes for 110 yards and gained 91 yards on 3 carries, with 86 of those coming on a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“Caleb Patton did a great job,” Bosnic said. “He was ready and he did some great things when he came in. We have some great leadership, and we were able to fight through it. I am not really sure about Tristan’s injury. I haven’t had a chance to talk to our athletic trainer.
“We want to try to get the ball in Ruben’s hands, and you can obviously see why. Our guys blocked well and we did a good job defensively. That team can run the ball real well, and they can also throw, so we did really well.”
Eddie Lewis got in on the scoring action after getting to the outside and making several Ellwood City defenders miss on his way to an 18-yard run with 2:33 left in the second quarter.
The Wolverines turned the ball over three times in the first half, and Washington turned two into touchdowns.
Lewis scored on a 5-yard run with 7:14 left in the third quarter for a 35-0 lead. Lewis gained 96 yards on 13 carries.
Lewis’ score was set-up by Jahvon Woods’ 61-yard run to the Ellwood City 5.
James Carter added a 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Dayntae Pierce got the Wolverines into the end zone on a 15-yard run with 4:02 remaining.