Nov 2, 2005 By Jim Kriek For The 4 min read

Shutouts are getting to be a way of football life with Beth-Center. The Bulldogs made it six zeroes in a row last weekend, with an opening round WPIAL playoff win over Riverview, 36-0. When BC lost 13-12 to Bishop Canevin in game four of regular season play, that was the last time anybody has looked into the Bulldogs’ kennel.

Since then, six opponents have drawn the collar, being outscored 279 to zero, an average of 46.5 to zilch. For the year, BC has given up only 39 points, and two teams, Geibel (12) and Bishop Canevin (13) have accounted for two-thirds of them.

Now, the question has arisen as to whether this might be a record for consecutive shutouts among area teams.

Available records show that in 1940, Masontown (coached by Gene Franks) was involved in 12 shutouts, winning 11 of them. The Gunners started the season with six consecutive shutout wins, lost 6-0 to North Union, then ran off five more in a row to end the season, including a 26-0 thrashing of Millvale to win the WPIAL championship.

For the year, Masontown was in 12 shutouts, outscoring the opposition 188 to 6, and the six points they gave up were their only loss.

The 1937 Masontown team, also coached by ‘The Old Fox,’ posted seven shutouts, five in a row to end the season. The 1947 Gunners had eight zeroes (5 in a row to start the season), and the 1950 lineup collared eight opponents (4 and 4).

Seven shutouts were posted by Belle Vernon in 1976 (4 in a row mid-season) and 1995, and Connellsville had seven in 1991, on the way to the WPIAL Quad-A championship (4 in a row).

Six were hung up by Masontown in 1959, Dunbar Twp. (1964), Uniontown (1964, 1975), German Twp. (1973), Albert Gallatin (1978 and 1979), and Carmichaels 2000 (5 to start the season, when the Mikes outscored everybody 200-0).

But this year’s Beth-Center team has a couple more steps to go to equal their 1975 brethren. That year, the Bulldogs hung the collar on eight opponents, four in a row and six in their last eight games, as they outscored the opposition 215 to 21 in that span.

For the year, BC allowed only 47 points in 14 games, of which Wilkinsburg scored 18 and Peters Twp. 13. All the other 12 opponents combined scored a mere 16 points (1.3 per game), and in two of those games, B-C scored more points in each one than their opponents got in all the other games combined.

And the 1978 Beth-Center lineup blanked six opponents, five in succession.

The 1978 and 1979 Albert Gallatin teams each had six shutout wins. The 1978 team allowed 32 points in 10 games, and, ironically, all three of their losses were shutouts. The 1979 team had four collars in a row.

But getting back to the original question of consecutive shutouts, unless someone can come up with records to prove otherwise, Beth-Center now shares a record for that achievement.

Or, to put it another way, Masontown is the pre-World War II leader, and Beth-Center holds the ‘modern’ record.

How would you like to have seen those two teams go at each other?

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In games the past weekend, Beth-Center padded its leads on both sides of the ball with the win over Riverview. The Dogs maintained their offensive lead with 372 points, and 37.2 per game, followed by Mapletown (28.5) which moved up one spot to second despite losing a first round decision to Bentworth, 35-34 in overtime.

California whipped Western Beaver 26-0 and climbed one place to third (26.4), Waynesburg was idle but advanced one to fourth (25.4), and Jefferson-Morgan, a 49-0 loser to Duquesne in the playoffs, dropped three spots to fifth (25.3).

Defensively, the same five are on top again this week, just shuffled a bit in their positions.

Beth-Center is first, with its allowance dropping to 3.9 per game, far, far ahead of runner-up Mapletown (15.6).

California moved up two places to third (16.0), Laurel Highlands was idle but held onto fourth (16.1), and Uniontown, a 35-7 first round playoff loser to Hampton, dropped two places to fifth (16.2).

Grid notes

Logan Phillips, Carmichaels, had the longest touchdown run, 70-yards, vs Rochester. Donte Valentino (California) ran 55 vs Western Beaver, and Ryan Geisel (Mapletown) 53 vs Bentworth…..Mark Brown (Albert Gallatin) ran 47 yards with a recovered fumble to score against West Mifflin, and Aaron Oliver (Uniontown) went 45 yards vs Hampton…..Valentino was the scoring leader with 18 against Western Beaver, on TD runs of 4, 55, and 10 yards

All five unbeaten WPIAL teams maintained that status for another week….In 3-A, West Mifflin won over Albert Gallatin, 41-12…..In 2-A, South Park beat Laurel, 42-8, and Greensburg Central Catholic won over Riverside, 34-0….In 1-A, Bishop Canevin stopped Apollo-Ridge, 45-7, and Duquesne collared Jefferson-Morgan, 49-0.