Nov 15, 2015 4 min read

Wash High’s football season produced some of the most impresive offensive statistics the program has seen over the past 20 years, but it came to an unceremonious end Friday night.

It was a quiet ending to another impressive season for the program, but the Prexies’ strength up front and incredible senior class had every quality a team needs to a WPIAL title.

For another reason or another, it didn’t come to fruition. Was it the strength of schedule during the regular season that did not prepare Wash High for the adversity it faced against Freeport?

Who knows. What’s obvious is it wasn’t prepared for Freeport’s passing game and after the Yellowjackets solved the Prexies’ Wing-T offense, Wash High couldn’t adjust.

Markel Pulliam made plays in the second half and the defense improved, but it was too late. Wash High didn’t get enough pressure on Freeport quarterback Ryan Weigold, couldn’t stop running back Ian Miller in key situations and the offense didn’t advance into the Yellowjackets’ end until midway through the third quarter.

No one saw this coming. Freeport head coach John Gaillot figured out which player in the four-man Wing-T backfield showed where misdirection runs were going. When an offense relies so heavily on the running game, it risks being one-dimensional and it finally came back to hurt Wash High.

When they needed a defensive stop to start the third quarter, the Prexies couldn’t get one. Wash High did hold Freeport to 92 yards of offense in the second half and recovered a fumble, but it was all about missed opportunities.

The Prexies could not recover an onside kick after Pulliam’s 15-yard touchdown run, could not recover two of Freeport’s fumbled punts in the first half and they committed 10 penalties. Freeport was also much better than advertised. Weigold is a legit FCS or Division II prospect and Logan Thimons, a West Virginia recruit, is a tremendous talent.

We can breakdown what went wrong, but the bigger issue for the program is the players that are leaving. Wash High just lost a senior class that rivals any Wash High has seen in quite some time. Replacing Kurt Adkins, Jordan West, Khalid Blount, Nate Swart, Kenya Davis, Zach Parr, Thomas Cherry and Markel Pulliam won’t be easy.

The end didn’t reflect how talented that group is. The positive for Wash High is that five linemen who received extended playing time will return in 2016, as well as some very talented players like Isaiah Schoonmaker.

There’s still a bright future for the Prexies, who could compete in 2A or 3A next fall, but with all the players’ whose high school careers came to an end, Wash lost more than a football game Friday night.

So much for Ringgold’s speed overwhelming Mars. The Planets held the Rams to only 89 rushing yards and 156 total yards.

That gave Mars great field position and in contrast, Ringgold only ran one play in the Planets’ end in the second half.

Looking ahead, the Rams return quarterback George Martin, who has a ton of potential, running back Brenden Small and a plethora of wide receivers. The future is bright, but realignment could put Ringgold in a tough spot. We’ll find out soon enough.

South Fayette won its 43rd consecutive game by running through Beaver and finding a way to limit quarterback Darius Wise.

The 54-7 rout by the Lions included Hunter Hayes rushing for 216 yards with three touchdowns. Junior Mikey Speca ran for 95 yards and a touchdown. Once again, South Fayette’s defense was suffocating.

“South Fayette’s front six or seven tried to put us and (Wise) in uncomfortable situations,” Beaver head coach Jeff Beltz told the Observer-Reporter. “That group is special for them, and that’s why they win football games.”

The Lions have outscored their two playoff opponents 117-13 and they will face Steel Valley in the quarterfinals. South Fayette defeated the Ironmen 37-0 last month. A rematch with Aliquippa at Heinz Field seems inevitable.

South Fayette (11-0) is the remaining local team in the WPIAL playoffs, so I’ll save my notes, observations and predictions for the rest of the week.