County football teams suffer winless week
Week 7 was a tough one for Greene County teams, as they went 0-5 last Friday night.
With two more weeks left in the regular season, only two squads are still alive for the playoffs, Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan.
And it looks like the Mikes-Rockets’ Week 9 match-up might be a play-in game for the postseason that decides the fourth and final playoff spot out of the Tri-County South Conference.
Waynesburg Central was officially eliminated from the WPIAL’s second season last week with a hard-fought 21-12 defeat to Southmoreland.
The Raiders (1-6, 1-5) trailed 14-0 midway through the second before quarterback Colin McCracken found wideout Cole Garrett for a 15-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-8.
Trailing 14-6 after three quarters, Waynesburg got an explosive play from its signal caller when McCracken rumbled down the sidelines on a 62-yard scoring run. Despite the touchdown, the Raiders’ two-point pass fell short to knot the game up.
After a failed onside kick, Southmoreland scored a long touchdown run of its own and was able to hold onto the 9-point win to break their three-game losing skid.
McCracken had a stellar night under center, rushing for 111 yards and throwing for 107 on 8-of-22 passing. Jack Fudala (56 yards) and Zach Eisiminger (50 yards) were the other leading rushers for the Raiders.
Waynesburg hosts McGuffey (5-2, 4-2) tonight for its final home game of the 2015 season. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on greenesports.net.
Since 2004, the Raiders are 0-7 against their Washington County rival. McGuffey won last year’s meeting, 34-14.
Carmichaels fought valiantly with conference-leading Frazier last week, but a second half push by the Commodores gave them separation from the Mikes and a 49-21 win over Carmichaels.
The Mikes (3-4, 3-3) struck first in the opening quarter with a 20-yard scoring toss to Coty Allen from David Morgan. A Shawn Dulaney two-point run gave the home team an early 8-0 lead.
Frazier bounced back with the next 21 points in the game and then added three touchdowns in the third quarter to pull away from Carmichaels.
Before the Commodores collected the final touchdown of the night, the Mikes tallied a pair of scores by way of a 5-yard touchdown pass to Dulaney from Morgan and a 3-yard plunge into the end zone by Dulaney. Morgan ended his game with 130 yards on 10-of-22 passing.
The Mikes welcome Avella (1-6, 0-6) tonight for a 7 p.m. kick. Carmichaels has won two of the last three meetings against the Eagles, but did drop a 54-13 game last year to Avella.
Jefferson-Morgan took a step out of the TCS last week and suffered a 28-14 setback on the road to Springdale.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Rockets (4-3, 4-2) fell behind 21-0 at halftime.
J-M countered with two scores in the third quarter sandwiched around a touchdown by Springdale.
Joe Headlee gained a 2-yard touchdown run for the Rockets, while Trevor Kniha added a 19-yard scoring run to cap off the scoring in the contest. Bo Ricci made both of his extra point kicks for J-M.
The Rockets will be at home tonight and they will entertain Beth-Center (5-2, 5-1). Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Parker Field and the game will be broadcast on greenesports.net.
J-M has only won one time against B-C in the last 11 meetings. The Rockets captured a victory in 2007 against the Bulldogs and that was the last time a Greene County team defeated B-C. The Bulldogs routed J-M in 2014, 62-0.
Mapletown carried a 14-7 lead into halftime last week, but Bentworth rebounded in the final 24 minutes with 35 unanswered points and a 42-14 triumph.
The Maples (2-5, 2-5) grabbed an early two-touchdown lead courtesy of a pair of touchdown runs of 24 and 19 yards by Dylan Rush. Rush booted both extra point kicks for Mapletown.
After the Bearcats scored a late touchdown in the second quarter, Bentworth exploded for 28 points in the third quarter with its passing game taking over the contest.
Despite the loss, Rush went over 1,000 yards for the season with 128 yards on 31 carries. The sophomore tailback currently ranks high on the list of the Herald-Standard Touchdown Club rankings with a total of 124 points.
Mapletown travels to California (2-5, 2-4) tonight with a 7 p.m. kick.
The Maples are just 2-7 versus the Trojans in the last nine meetings, but did pull down a 41-16 victory last year at home against Cal.
Speaking of California, the Trojans were too much for West Greene a week ago, as the Pioneers dropped a 55-0 decision on the road.
Trailing 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Pioneers (0-7, 0-6) had no answer for the home team, as Cal poured in 28 straight points in the second quarter. The Trojans added 20 more points in the second half for the win.
West Greene has a stiff test tonight, as they travel to conference leading Frazier. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Perryopolis. The last time the Pioneers beat Frazier was in 2005.
The playoff picture is nearly set for some local soccer and volleyball teams as well.
The Waynesburg Central girls soccer team went 0-2-1 in its final week of the regular season, but did finish the 2015 campaign with an 11-3-1 overall record and a second place finish in Section 4-AA with a mark of 10-2.
The second place finish is the Lady Raiders’ highest final section result in school history. Waynesburg will be making its fourth ever trip to the postseason and its first trip to the playoffs since 2008. Waynesburg opens the playoffs Saturday at 2 p.m. against Yough at Mount Pleasant.
The prior three playoff matches were all held in the preliminary round and ended in early exits. In 2008 the Lady Raiders lost 1-0 to Montour, in 2007 they dropped a 3-0 decision to Oakland Catholic and in 2006 they were defeated by Hopewell 8-0.
In volleyball action, both Jefferson-Morgan and Carmichaels are already in the playoffs, but Thursday’s regular season finale will decide who will be second and third place in Section 5-A behind Frazier.
Waynesburg Central wrapped up its Section 5-AA regular season schedule with a home contest against McGuffey on Thursday. Entering that match, the Lady Raiders were 10-3 and tied with South Park for second in the section.
Last week, the Lady Raiders picked up perhaps their biggest win in recent program history with a 3-1 triumph over previously unbeaten Brownsville.
With the win, Waynesburg officially clinched its first playoff berth since 2012.
The volleyball playoff brackets are set to be released on Monday.