Oct 28, 2017 By John Tiech for The 4 min read

FREDERICKTOWN — The Washington Little Prexies rolled into Beth-Center Friday night as the Century Conference champions and defeated the Bulldogs, 49-20, in the final conference game of the 2017 regular season.

Washington exploded for 28 points in the second quarter to take the huge lead.

“It’s 150 percent on me,” said Beth-Center coach Joe Kuhns.

“When there’s two minutes left in the half and we’re down nine, I should’ve ran the clock out,” explained Kuhns. “I was getting kind of greedy and that pick six really lit a fuse under them.”

Despite the loss, Beth-Center (4-3, 7-3) stood toe-to-toe against a tough Washington (7-0, 9-0) team for most of the game.

In fact, the Bulldogs started the game swinging, scoring a touchdown on their first possession thanks to a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Bailey Lincoski to make it 6-0 after a failed two-point attempt.

The Little Prexies responded when quarterback Zack Swartz connected with Ronnie Paith for a 15-yard touchdown pass to give them a 7-6 lead, but as time expired in the first quarter Lincoski was halfway down the field for a 62-yard touchdown run to put Beth-Center back on top 12-7 as the Bulldogs failed another two-point attempt.

It was still a good, close game at the beginning of the second quarter, even as Washington’s Nick Welsh broke out for a 31-yard touchdown run to put the Little Prexies back on top 14-12 with 10:25 left in the second quarter, but Washington exploded for three touchdowns in the final 2:42 of the first half to essentially securing the victory.

The first touchdown came off of Swartz’s beautiful 80-yard touchdown pass to Nick Welsh to make it 21-12. Not even a minute later, Paith returned an interception 25 yards to give the Little Prexies a 28-12 edge.

After a quick three-and-out possess by the Bulldogs, Zahmere Robinson produced the final touchdown of the run for the Little Prexies on a 65-yard punt return to give Washington a 35-12 lead with 34 seconds left in the first half.

Washington received the ball to open the second half and wasted no time putting more points on the board.

Welsh had two touchdowns on the ground during the third quarter with the first coming on a 69-yard run and the second on an 8-yard run, giving Washington a 49-12 lead and invoking the mercy rule with 6:42 left to go in the quarter.

Welsh put on a football clinic as he rushed 9 times for 194 yards and three touchdowns and caught an 80-yard pass for a touchdown, accumulating 274 total yards and four touchdowns.

However, the Bulldogs went down fighting.

Beth-Center’s Trevor Anderson found the end zone on a 2-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 49-20 after Lincoski connected with JJ Green for a successful two-point conversion.

Beth-Center held its Senior Night festivities before the game and honored senior football players Trevor Anderson, Anthony Herman, Tim Trump, and Ronald White.

Century Conference

Washington   7-28-14-0 — 49

Beth-Center 12-0-8-0 — 20

First Quarter

BC: Bailey Lincoski 2 run (run failed)

W: Ronnie Paith 15 pass from Zack Swartz (Michael Allen kick)

BC: Bailey Lincoski 62 run (run failed)

Second Quarter

W: Nick Welsh 31 run (Allen kick)

W: Nick Welsh 80 pass from Swartz (Allen kick)

W: Ronnie Paith 25 interception return (Allen kick)

W: Zahmere Robinson 65 punt return (Allen kick)

Third Quarter

W: Nick Welsh 69 run (Allen kick)

W: Nick Welsh 8 run (Allen kick)

BC: Trevor Anderson 2 run (JJ Green pass from Lincoski)

Records: Washington (7-0, 9-0), Beth-Center (4-3, 7-3).