Oct 13, 2017 By Adam Brewer, For The Greene County Messenger 4 min read

With three weeks left of the high school football regular season, the playoff picture in the Tri-County South and Interstate Conferences are becoming clearer and clearer.

California (7-0, 5-0) and Carmichaels (4-2, 4-1) have already clinched playoff spots out of the TCS, while Fort Cherry (5-1, 3-1) and West Greene (5-2, 3-2) are in good positions to qualify for the postseason.

The fifth and final spot in the conference is definitely still up for grabs between Jefferson-Morgan (3-4, 2-2), Monessen (2-5, 1-3) and Mapletown (2-5, 1-4). Avella (0-7, 0-6) has been eliminated from playoff contention.

Elizabeth-Forward (5-1, 5-0) looks to be the top team in the Interstate, while Derry (6-1, 4-1), McGuffey (5-2, 4-1), South Park (3-3, 3-1) and Yough (1-6, 1-3) are still alive for a postseason spot.

Mount Pleasant (2-5, 1-4), Waynesburg Central (1-5, 1-5) and Southmoreland (0-6, 0-4) are eliminated from the playoffs.

J-M picked up a big win at Parker Field last Friday, as the Rockets upended county rival Mapletown, 21-6.

Senior running back Colten Davidson had 22 carries for 181 yards and a touchdown, while senior DL Garrett had an all-around solid game with two receiving touchdowns, 41 rushing yards and two interceptions on defense.

“This is a huge win for us,” J-M coach Aaron Giorgi said. “The last couple of years our games against Mapletown have come down to overtime. Mapletown is going to run the ball and their kids are hard-nosed. This was a physical, smash-mouth game.

“Tonight, I was really impressed with our offensive line. Colten ran the ball very hard. DL made some nice plays on the outside and our defense stepped up. On defense, we had to get to the football and gang-tackle. We’ve been preaching 11 hats to the football.”

Senior tailback Dylan Rush rumbled for 193 yards on 40 carries with a touchdown in the loss. For his career, Rush now has 5,747 rushing yards and is now 557 yards behind 1994 West Greene graduate Rodney Wilson for the all-time leading rusher in Greene County.

“We didn’t play well in the first half,” Mapletown coach George Messich said. “Our kids didn’t quit and played better in the second half. Dylan’s been sick all this week and didn’t practice one day. We were not even sure if Dylan was going to play tonight. He battled through it and wanted to be there for his teammates. I give him a lot of credit.”

After suffering a loss to Fort Cherry, West Greene bounced back with a 47-14 rout of non-conference foe Leechburg last Friday at Kennedy Field.

The Pioneers were up 28-0 at halftime and held a 19-14 scoring edge in the second half.

Sophomore tailback Ben Jackson rushed 19 times for a career-high 237 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior dual-threat quarterback Zach Pettit rang up three rushing touchdowns and threw an eight-yard scoring toss to senior tight end Connor Main. Senior running back Isaac Courtwright added a 22-yard scoring run in the offensive onslaught.

Waynesburg couldn’t improve upon its new winning streak, as the Raiders fell to South Park at home 39-6.

South Park held a 19-0 lead at intermission and scored two touchdowns in the third quarter before adding a final score in the fourth period.

The Raiders got their lone touchdown on a two-yard scoring plunge by freshman running back Nick Higginbotham.

Carmichaels faced first-place California and had no answer for the Trojans in a 42-7 loss.

The Trojans surged to a 35-0 halftime lead while compiling 263 yards of total offense.

The Mikes avoided the shutout in the fourth quarter with a 38-yard scoring run by senior tailback Jacob Lowry.

Carmichaels will look to regroup tonight, as it hosts J-M at Coaches Field in the county’s fiercest gridiron rivalry. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on greenesports.net.

Other Week Seven games tonight are West Greene hosting Monessen, Mapletown welcoming in Fort Cherry and Waynesburg traveling to non-conference foe Bentworth. All games will kick off at 7 p.m.

The Waynesburg University football team is searching for its first win of 2017 after suffering a 35-14 setback to Geneva College on the road last Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets (0-6, 0-4) went up 7-0 in the early stages of the game with a six-yard scoring run by Jeremiah Doswell-Hardrick.

Geneva countered with the next 21 points before Waynesburg cut the deficit to 21-14 after a two-yard touchdown run by Austin Wilson.

The Golden Tornadoes (3-2, 2-1) collected 14 points in the third quarter to close out the scoring.

Waynesburg rushed for a season-high 180 yards and Wilson ran for 101 yards to become the first Yellow Jackets back to surpass the 100-yard plateau since 2015.

The Yellow Jackets will hit the road on Saturday with a trip to Thomas More (2-4, 1-3). Kickoff is at noon.