HS football roundup: Rockets, minus injured DeHoet, fall to Laurel
Jefferson-Morgan was forced to play its WPIAL Class A first-round football playoff game without star senior Deakyn DeHoet and fell at fourth-seeded Laurel, 35-0, Friday night.
DeHoet, who was injured in the second half of the Rockets’ loss to California in last week’s regular-season finale, finished his season as the area’s leading scorer with 28 touchdowns and four two-point conversions for 176 points and combined for 1,534 yards of offense with 816 rushing and 748 receiving.
Luca Santini threw touchdown passes of 15 and 16 yards to Ethan Hamilla and ran 5 yards for another TD as the Spartans (10-1) gradually pulled away.
Laurel led 14-0 after the first quarter, 21-0 at halftime and 28-0 after three quarters. The Spartans defense forced four turnovers.
John Woodward led 13th-seeded J-M (8-3) with 32 rushing yards. Triton Farabee completed 4 of 14 passes for 25 yards.
Hopewell 42, Southmoreland 6 — The seventh-seeded Scotties’ quest for the program’s first playoff victory fell short as visiting Hopewell pulled away with a 21-point fourth quarter to win the WPIAL Class 3A first-round game at Russ Grimm Stadium.
Nasir Wade’s 21-yard fumble return for a touchdown gave the 10th-seeded Vikings (7-4) a 21-0 lead in the second quarter before Southmoreland (9-2) scored its lone TD on a 20-yard pass from Dawson Wolfe to Averyon Darnell to make it 21-6 at halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Wade scored on touchdown runs of 2 and 41 yards in the fourth quarter and James Armstrong added his second TD run of the game with a 1-yard plunge to help Hopewell seal the victory.
The Vikings took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on Armstrong’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Brody Rock and his 31-yard TD run.
Wade had 17 carries for 117 yards. Armstrong connected on 8 of 14 throws for 87 yards with Avery Bokor pulling in four passes for 54 yards.
Wolfe completed 7 of 17 passes for 74 yards.
The Vikings outgained the Scotties 304 yards to 116.
South Allegheny 61, Waynesburg Central 13 — Joey Gamret ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns as the third-seeded Gladiators defeated the visiting Raiders in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round playoff game.
Alijan Cook completed 9 of 12 passes for 132 yards, including touchdown passes of 22 and 10 yards to Drew Cook and 24 yards to Tyrone Claytor, for South Allegheny (10-1).
The Gladiators, who are guided by former West Greene coach Brian Hanson, led 21-0 after the first quarter and 47-6 at halftime.
Teagen Crouse completed 6 of 10 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns, including one on a hook and ladder play in the fourth quarter, for No. 13 Waynesburg (5-6). Crouse threw a pass to Jack Ricciuti who caught it and lateraled to Zachery Jiblits who then sprinted 69 yards for the score with Nate Ricciuti adding the extra point to cap the game’s scoring.
Crouse also threw a 17-yard TD pass to Ace Litwinovich in the second quarter. Jiblits had two catches for 106 yards.