Henckel explodes as Geibel stops West Greene
CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – Christian Henckel rushed for 215 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday, as Geibel Catholic defeated West Greene, 39-14, in the Tri-County South Conference. Along with Henckel’s big day, it also seemed like Flag Day at The Swamp, as the teams were penalized a combined 25 times.
The flagfest started on the opening possession, when Geibel Catholic was offside, West Greene had a false start, and the Gators were again flagged for offsides, all on consecutive plays.
Geibel Catholic (1-2, 1-2) began its first scoring drive after Taylor Nowicki intercepted a pass at midfield, and the Gators started at their own 49-yard line after being flagged for an illegal block.
Henckel carried five times for 66 yards in the drive, which needed additional yardage when the Gators were penalized for the first of four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Henckel covered the final 10 yards at the 6:23 mark for a 6-0 lead after the Gators failed on a two-point conversion attempt.
The Gators began their next drive at the West Greene 25-yard line after a bad punt by the Pioneers. Henckel covered the final 23 yards on the second play for a 12-0 lead after a conversion pass attempt failed.
West Greene (0-3, 0-3) got on the scoreboard by driving 50 yards after the kickoff, with Curtis Jones carrying for 14 yards, and Brenton Sink gaining five yards, catching a 30-yard pass from quarterback Clay Mason, and covering the final three yards to score on the first play of the second quarter. Adam Pettit’s conversion kick cut the lead to 12-7.
The Pioneers had a chance to take the lead after driving to the Geibel 35 on the next series. But the Gator defense stiffened and took over on downs to begin a 65-yard drive in eight plays.
A big play was quarterback Chris Erdely’s pass to Nowicki that covered 16 yards to the Pioneers’ five, setting up Henckel’s third touchdown run of the half and an 18-7 lead with another failed conversion play.
Henckel’s fourth touchdown run covered 20 yards to cap a 31-yard drive set up by a Pioneer penalty on the third quarter kickoff return. Colin Roble added the conversion kick for a 25-7 lead.
On the next Pioneer possession, the Gators recovered a fumble at the 5-yard line, and Erdely scored on the second play for a 32-7 lead after Roble’s kick.
West Greene scored its second touchdown early in the fourth quarter when Dillon Main ran 10 yards to the end zone to cut the lead to 32-14 with Pettit’s kick.
The Gators scored the final touchdown with 49 seconds left when Martin Berish scored on a 12-yard run and Roble added the extra point kick.
West Greene hasn’t won a game since a win over Geibel Catholic in 2007, but coach John Coss said the Pioneers will keep on battling to improve.
“We’re not quitting,” Coss said. “I told them that I don’t quit. They’re going to work harder this week.”
Coss said his team had “a lot of letdowns here and there and they killed us.”
Geibel Catholic coach Ron Marciante said the Gators treated the game like the playoffs.
“Our goal this year was to get in the playoffs. This week was our first playoff game and next week will be our second playoff game (at Jefferson Morgan).”
Marciante said Henckel had good blocking from the Gator front line. “Our line blocking was incredible. The holes were there, all we had to do was hit them.”
He added, “The kids from West Greene don’t quit. They keep coming after you.”
West Greene hosts Mapletown on Friday.