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Big first quarter carries Leopards to 49-7 road victory

By Jim Downey 6 min read
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Belle Vernon scored 28 points in the first quarter and 42 by halftime for a 49-7 road victory Friday night at Ringgold in a Big 6 Conference game.

The Leopards improve to 3-1 in the conference and 4-3 overall. The Rams slip to 0-4 in the conference and 1-8 overall.

Curtis Wade completed a 22-yard pass to Anthony Crews to open the scoring. Ringgold responded in a big way on the next drive when Demetri Lowe gathered in Ty Anderson’s pass and sprinted 83 yards to the end zone. Anderson completed 8-of-15 passes for 132 yards and Lowe had four receptions for 111 yards.

Belle Vernon then scored 42 unanswered points, including 21 more in the first quarter.

Crews caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Wade, Kole Doppelheuer powered one yard into the end zone and Wade found Deaubre Lightfoot open for a 53-yard scored pass.

Wade completed all 10 of his passing attempts for 233 yards. Doppelheuer rushed for 146 yards on 12 carries. Crews caught four passes for 118 yards.

Alonzo Wade scored a pair of touchdowns on short runs in the second quarter.

Chase Petrosky closed the scoring on a 13-yard run in the third quarter.

Elizabeth Forward 31, Southmoreland 3 – The Warriors rolled to a home win over the Scotties to pull atop the Interstate Conference standings.

Elizabeth Forward improves to 4-0 in the conference and 6-3 overall, while Southmoreland goes to 3-1 in the conference and 7-2 overall.

Southmoreland is on the road at Greensburg Salem in the conference finale and Elizabeth Forward travels to Mount Pleasant.

Southmoreland’s Jake Kaylor spotted the visitors a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter with a 26-yard field goal.

The Warriors’ Luke Holdren tied the game on a 33-yard field goal early in the second quarter after an interception.

Charlie Nigut took the game over from that point with a 19-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds left in the first half. The running back scored on a 3-yard run at 7:03 in the third quarter and a 2-yard run with 10:27 remaining in the game.

Nigut finished with 127 yards rushing on 29 carries.

Andrew Grese closed the scoring on an 8-yard run with just 30 seconds left in the game.

The Warriors’ Ryan Messina completed 11-of-16 passes for 189 yards. Grese caught five passes for 187 yards.

Southmoreland freshman Anthony Smith completed 8-of-20 passes for 68 yards. Elliot Premus caught four passes for 59 yards. Camden Phillips carried the ball 10 times for 84 yards.

Mount Pleasant 31, Derry 14 – The Vikings bounced back from a loss to Southmoreland with an Interstate Conference home victory over the Trojans.

Mount Pleasant improves to 3-1 in the conference and 5-4 overall, and will play for a share of the conference title when the Vikings host Elizabeth Forward.

Jarett Garn scored 18 points in the first quarter on a 56-yard touchdown pass from Cole Chatfield, a scoring run of four yards, a 45-yard field goal and four extra points.

Chatfield hit Garrett Eicher on a 35-yard scoring pass in the first quarter. Chatfield completed 9-of-15 passes for 222 yards.

Brody Hutter scored on a blocked punt return in the second quarter.

Derry’s Dylan Pitzer scored a touchdown against his former teammates in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard scoring pass from Anthony Sacco.

Sacco completed 10-of-22 passes for 133 yards. Max Doherty finished with 172 yards on 14 carries.

Greensburg Salem 37, Yough 8 – The Golden Lions steadily pulled away for an Interstate Conference road victory.

Greensburg Salem (2-2, 6-3) led 7-0, 17-0 and 30-8 at the quarter breaks.

Yough (0-4, 2-7) avoided the shutout on Raidon Kuroda’s 65-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Shaffer in the fourth quarter. Kuroda completed 6-of-20 passes for 100 yards.

Waynesburg Central 49, Charleroi 23 – Jacob Stephenson was part of five touchdowns to lead the Raiders to a key Century Conference road victory.

Waynesburg improves to 3-2 in the conference and 5-4 overall. The Cougars slide to 1-4 in the conference and 1-8 overall.

Stephenson had touchdown runs of 1, 7, 8 and 67 yards, and threw a 65-yard scoring pass to Jack Ricciuti. Stephenson ran for 197 yards on 16 carries and completed 9-of-14 passes for 163 yards.

The Raiders’ Jeffery Blair scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter.

The Cougars’ Jackson Keranko had touchdown passes of 21 yards to Noah Pletcher and 55 yards to Daniel Nusida. Connor Luckock added a short touchdown run.

California 56, Beth-Center 14 – Lee Qualk ran for five touchdowns and 257 yards in the trojans’ Tri-County South Conference home win.

Qualk had scoring runs of 37, 54, 8 and 23 in the first quarter, and added a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Adin Keyes had touchdown runs of 47 and 39 yards in the second quarter for California (6-0, 7-2). Keyes gained 101 yards rushing on four carries.

Daniel Duncan returned a punt for a touchdown for the lone touchdown in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs’ Teagan Veatch returned the kickoff after Keyes’ first touchdown for a 90-yard score at 7:43 of the second quarter.

DeSean Whipkey added a 2-yard touchdown run for Beth-Center (1-5, 1-7).

Jefferson-Morgan 54, Avella 20 – The Eagles scored the first touchdown and the Rockets answered with four scores to remain unbeaten in the Tri-County South Conference.

Jefferson-Morgan improves to 6-0 in the conference and 9-0 overall.

The Rockets answered Noah Kimberland’s 16-yard touchdown run with scoring runs of 26 and 5 yards by John Woodward and Houston Guesman’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Baker.

Guesman found Jase Bedilion open for a 29-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Guesman completed 6-of-10 passes for 104 yards.

The Rockets’ Johnny Gilbert scored on runs of 16 and 19 yards, and Ethan Crowe ran for 7 and 10 yards in the second half.

Charles Pugh threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Wright and Broden Hamm ran for a 2-yard score for Avella (2-4, 3-6).

Bentworth 54, Mapletown 12 – Ben Hays scored three touchdowns and threw for three more in the Bearcats’ Tri-County South Conference home victory.

Hays had touchdown runs of 65 and 28 yards, and finished with 195 yards rushing on 20 carries. He also returned a punt 55 yards for a score.

Hays had two touchdown passes in the second quarter, the first to Lucas Burt for 54 yards and the second was 38 yards to Tristan Hackinson, and a 3-yard scoring pass to Gavin Piasecki in the third quarter. He completed all five of his passing attempts for 90 yards.

The Bearcats’ Preston Jaquay sprinted 51 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Bentworth (3-3, 5-4) finished with over 400 yards of total offense.

Colton Spitznogle ran for two touchdowns and gained 68 yards rushing for Mapletown (9-6, 1-8).

Albert Gallatin 48, Brownsville 6 – Caleb DeHaven had four rushing touchdowns in the Colonials’ victory over the visiting Falcons.

DeHaven scored on runs of 75, 5, 40 and 47 yards, and finished with 223 yards rushing on just seven carries.

Adam Pegg had touchdown runs of 40 and 22 yards for Albert Gallatin (5-3). Jeremiah Darnell added a short touchdown run.

Brownsville’s Exzavier Vargas caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Horabik.

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