Nelson powers Prexies past Beth-Center, 35-7
CHARLEROI – Ameer Nelson is No. 1 in the Wash High football program, and he was definitely No. 1 in Prexies fans hearts after his performance Friday night.
Nelson scored four rushing touchdowns for the top-seeded Prexies, who went on to beat No. 8 Beth-Center 35-7 in the WPIAL Class A football quarterfinals at Myron Pottios Stadium.
Nelson scored on runs of 20, 7, and 2 yards to spot Washington a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. He then provided the dagger with a hard-earned 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. He finished with 130 yards on 10 carries.
“As a leader of this team I expected us to come out and get our jobs done,” Nelson said. “I know our coaches are going to get our star players the ball and when I get the ball I want to make the most of it, because we have so much talent on our team.
“When I got the ball, I had my eyes on getting into the end zone and that’s exactly what I was able to do tonight.”
The Prexies (11-1) advanced to the semifinals where they’ll face Fort Cherry. Beth-Center finished 10-2 after winning its first playoff game since 2010 last Friday.
It was hard to imagine a better start for the Prexies, who outgained Beth-Center, 119 to minus-1 in the first quarter.
Washington did not yield a first down to Beth-Center in the first half and the Bulldogs didn’t get their first possession until there was 1 minute, 55 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“A good start was important tonight,” Wash High coach Mike Bosnic said. “That’s what we talked about tonight. We knew if we could jump out ahead that would be big for us. We were able to do so and then were able to hang in there after that.”
The Prexies got the opening kickoff and went 67 yards in 12 plays with Nelson scoring on a 4th-and-8 at the 20. He received a pitch from Prexies quarterback Travon Moye and outran everyone to the boundary before jetting up field and into the end zone.
Then on the ensuing kickoff, Wash High kicked the ball high and short to a vacant spot at Beth-Center 40 and the Prexies pounced on it.
Eight plays later Nelson was in the end zone again and it was 14-0.
Beth-Center finally got its first possession in the final two minutes of the first quarter and went three-and-out.
“We had them at 3rd and 20 (on Washington’s first possession) and we didn’t get the stop,” Beth-Center coach Tim Trump said. “We did some good things on defense at first, but they were still able to score on us and then they got that pooch kick. That set the tone for the game and we just couldn’t recover from it.”
Despite two holding penalties and a false start, Washington managed to find the end zone again on its third possession when Nelson slipped across the goal line from 2 yards out.
Beth-Center struggled to get anything going offensively. Enzo Brown, who led Washington County in rushing yards in the regular season, was bottled up by the Prexies defense and he wasn’t the only one.
A 4-yard scramble by Chase Bebout was Beth-Center’s longest play of the first half.
The Bulldogs were limited to five yards of offense on four possessions.
Beth-Center’s defense forced a turnover on a fumble by Ja’Quay Heyman, but had to punt it away after not gaining a yard in three plays.
After a shanked punt late in the second quarter, Washington got the ball at Beth-Center’s 37 and got another score just before time expired.
A 30-yard run by Nelson set up Jamarie Walker for a five-yard touchdown with five seconds remaining in the second quarter to give the Prexies a 28-0 lead going into halftime.
Washington ran 34 plays in the first half compared to Beth-Center’s 13.
While the result went Washington’s way, the third quarter belonged to Beth-Center.
The Bulldogs got the ball to start the third and held it for the entire frame on two possessions.
Bebout threw a 21-yard completion to Brown which moved the Bulldogs down to the Washington 34.
A few successful Homer Headlee runs up the gut and an encroachment penalty on Washington got the Bulldogs down to the Prexies’ 5 and Brown ran it in from there to cut the lead to 28-7.
Then the Bulldogs recovered a squib kick at the Washington 31.
Beth-Center got down to the Washington five, but a failed pitch play set up a fourth-and-goal at the 12 to begin the fourth.
Bebout threw a pass into the end zone, but it was intercepted by Heyman, who returned it to the Washington 20.
“Our kids don’t quit,” Trump said. “We were in a big hole, but they did their best to respond. I’m proud of my boys.”
Nelson worked as a Wildcat quarterback in place of starting quarterback Travon Moye in the second half. Moye was sacked hard into the turn near midfield in the second quarter. He continued to play in the first half, but did not see a snap after halftime.
Bosnic said holding out Moye was for precautionary reasons.
Nelson fought off a couple tackles to get into the end zone following the Heyman interception to make it 35-7.
On Beth-Center’s next possession, Noah Patton intercepted Bebout on the first play of the drive.
Patton had another interception with 1:23 remaining.
One area Washington will have to clean up for next week is penalties. The Prexies were flagged 14 times for 115 yards. Beth-Center had two penalties for 17 yards.
“We definitely need to clean things up for sure,” Bosnic said.