Sep 23, 2016 By Bill Hughes for The 4 min read

FALLOWFIELD TWP. — It was far from pretty, but Charleroi rode Geno Pellegrini’s five total touchdowns as it concluded its non-conference schedule Friday night with a 48-28 win over Greensburg Central Catholic at Myron Pottios Stadium.

“He is a bad man and really stepped up today,” Charleroi coach Donnie Militzer said of his sophomore quarterback. “He wanted to make a statement and I am really happy for him.

“We played well offensively and it started with him.”

Pellegrini’s first touchdown, a 5-yard run, opened the scoring with 5:34 to go in the first half.

His second scoring run was from 1-yard out three minutes later on fourth down, and Charleroi seemed to be in total control.

However, GCC quarterback Dom Eisaman hit Alvin Ross with a 42-yard touchdown pass on the last play of the first half to cut the Charleroi lead in half heading into intermission.

Militzer took responsibility for the touchdown.

“That’s our fault and we need to go two high safeties on that,” he said. “We made the adjustment and it led to the pick-six late.”

Up until that play, Charleroi limited the Centurions to 47 yards on 30 plays.

With 5:44 to play in the third quarter, Eisaman hit Bruce Leonard from 26 yards out to tie the score.

The Cougars regained the lead on the next drive when Pellegrini hit Dakota Romantino on a 78-yard touchdown pass and then after Pellegrini had an interception, he raced 17 yards for a touchdown on Charleroi’s next drive to make the score 27-14.

After a GCC score made the score 27-21, Charleroi answered.

On the drive, freshman Brayden Mihalcin picked up a huge block from Jake Stefanick and raced 36 yards to the GCC 49.

On the next play, Pellegrini scored from 49 yards out with 5:10 to play to give Charleroi a 34-21 lead.

A Greesnburg C.C. touchdown cut Charleroi’s lead to 34-28, but Mihalcin added a 34-yard score and Eric Tedrow returned an interception 28 yards to close out the scoring with 1:57 to play.

Charleroi concluded its non-conference schedule with a 3-0 record, but it has to clean up it penalties and fumbles.

The Cougars fumbled six times, losing four, while the teams combined for 27 penalties for 236 yards.

“We have to eliminate stupid penalties and big plays,” Militzer said.

Charleroi returns to Century Conference play next week when it heads to Bentworth.

“We went undefeated in our exhibition games, but we have to start winning conference games if we want to make the playoffs,” Militzer said. “our physicality was a key tonight too.”

GAME NOTES: Charleroi had 408 yard of offense on 53 plays while GCC had 313 yards on 68 plays. … Mihalcin finished with 104 yards on 18 carries, while Pellegrini was 9-of-18 for 184 yard passing and added 83 yards rushing. … Charleroi limited GCC to negative yards rushing until the last drive of the game. … Eisaman finished 16-of-35 for 299 yards passing, but threw intereptions to Pellegrini, Tedrow, and Aaron Briggs.

Non-conference

Greensburg C.C.  0-7-7-14 — 28

Charleroi            0-14-13-21 — 48

Second Quarter

C: Geno Pellegrini 5 run (Sean Cole kick)

C: Pellegrini 1 run (Cole kick)

GCC: Alvin Ross 42 pass from Dom Eisaman (Ethan Slike kick)

Third Quarter

GCC: Bruce Leonard 26 pass from Eisaman (SLike kick)

C: Dakota Romantino 78 pass from Pellegrini (kick failed)

C: Pellegrini 17 run (Cole kick)

Fourth Quarter

GCC: Quicy Clark 1 run (Slike kick)

C: Pellegrini 49 run (Cole kick)

GCC: Jassan Eubank 2 pass from Eisaman (Slike)

C: Brayden Mihalcin 34 run (Cole kick)

C: Eric Tedrow 28 interception return (Cole kick)