Bulldogs dominate in 60-6 victory over West Greene
Beth-Center's Anthony Gilpin (6) tries to get the ball past Dalton Wildman (5) and a West Greene teammate on Friday evening at Beth-Center's stadium in Fredericktown.
Beth-Center's Gino Faieta (12) is forced out of bounds by West Greene Friday evening at Beth-Center Stadium in Fredericktown.
Holly Tonini
Beth-Center’s Gino Faieta (12) brings the score up to 21-6 with a touchdown against West Greene Friday evening at Beth-Center’s stadium in Fredericktown.
FREDERICKTOWN – No one could have imagined that when Beth-Center joined the Tri-County South they would be this dominant. Always a strong program the Bulldogs have taken that to new heights since their move to the conference back in 2008. That dominance has continued for the Bulldogs this season as they improved to a perfect 5-0 Friday night with a 60-6 over West Greene.
The Bulldogs used a strong offensive rushing effort to move its record to 33-2 in its four plus seasons in the Tri-County South, a conference much maligned for its lack of playoff success for more than a decade.
Despite the lack of conference strength, one has to admit what Beth-Center is doing is impressive. Those two conference losses in the past handful of seasons came to Monessen, now a part of the Black Hills Conference. Just 10 times in those 35 conference games has an opponent score more than 10 points. Quite simply as good as the offense has been at racking up points and building leads, it’s been the defense powered the way Friday night as the Bulldogs allowed just one first down all night.
Things got off to a good start for West Greene as running back Donnie White took the first play from scrimmage for a 79-yard touchdown run to give the Pioneers a 6-0.
The slow start and somewhat sloppy play for Beth Center had head coach Ed Woods concerned moving forward.
“I was a little disappointed in the first half,” Woods said. “I think maybe we were caught looking ahead to Jefferson next week.”
However Woods’ team took the lead right back and left no doubt, marching right down the field, using an eight-play drive to take a 7-6 advantage on a 23-yard touchdown run by Cody Durant.
After Beth-Center’s defense clamped down and forced a three and out, the Bulldogs would add on with a seven yard touchdown run by junior Matt Riggle to make it 13-6.
Things went from bad to worse on the ensuing offensive play for West Greene when White fumbled and was knocked out of the game and carted off the field. The injury was later determined to be a concussion to the Pioneers’ top player.
This time it took just four plays for Beth-Center to push it across the goal line as Durant added his second touchdown, this time from nine yards out to extend the lead to 21-6.
After a quiet second quarter the Bulldogs finished the half with a pair of touchdowns. The first of which came courtesy of quarterback Gino Faieta, who plunged in from five yards out.
West Greene’s offense couldn’t run out the first half clock and the BC special teams took advantage as Riggle returned the punt 63 yards all the way to the West Greene two-yard line. Riggle then pounded it in from four yards out to finish the first half scoring at 35-6.
Despite the sloppiness on offense the defense for Beth-Center was reliable all night.
“I think our defense has played pretty well all season,” Woods said of the unit that has only surrendered two touchdowns in five games.
Back on the offensive end it was more of the same in the second half as the Bulldogs continued to add on. Durant added a 13-yard touchdown run at the 7:22 mark in the third quarter to make it 42-6. After a West Greene interception, BC got a touchdown run of six yards from Jason Stay to make it 48-6.
Beth-Center added to more fourth quarter scores to push the final to 60-6.
West Greene’s offense was non-existent without White, finishing with just 25 yards of total offense after the early 79-yard touchdown. The Pioneers didn’t have a first down until the 2:21 mark in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs travel to Jefferson-Morgan next week for a conference showdown and a chance to see if they can finally be tested in the Tri-County South. West Greene is out on conference against Vincentian for homecoming.
Tri-County South Conference
West Greene 6-0-0-0 — 6
Beth-Center 21-14-13-12 — 60
First Quarter
WG: Donnie White 79 run (kick failed), 11:41
BC: Cody Durant 23 run (John Berdar kick), 9:41
BC: Matt Riggle 7 run (kick failed), 6:25
BC: Durant 9 run (Gino Faieta run), 5:36
Second Quarter
BC: Faieta 5 run (Berdar kick), 3:07
BC: Riggle 4 run (Berdar kick), 0:34
Third Quarter
BC: Durant 13 run (Berdar kick), 7:22
BC: Jason Stay 6 run (rush failed), 1:59
Fourth Quarter
BC: Tony Welsh 15 run (rush failed), 7:44
BC: Welsh 42 run (rush failed), 3:56