Basinger leads Mustangs’ stampede
California’s 24-14 victory over West Greene was not only a battle of the top two teams in the Tri-County South standings but also a clash of two of the area’s top running backs in the Pioneers’ Ben Jackson and the Trojans’ Jelani Stafford.
While those two waged a fairly even battle, it was Laurel Highlands quarterback Conner Basinger who stole the show this week in the Herald-Standard Touchdown Club.
The Mustangs’ quarterback scored six touchdowns in a 52-13 victory at Ringgold to jump into fifth place in the standings with 80 points on the season.
Jackson and Stafford didn’t disappoint.
The Pioneers’ junior running back scored all of West Greene’s points with two touchdowns and a two-point conversion while rushing for 192 yards.
Stafford, the defending TD Club champion, helped his team come out on top as the senior fullback also put up a pair of TDs and ran for a two-point conversion while rushing for 105 yards.
Jackson remains solidly on top of the standings with 150 points, 54 ahead of second-place Bailey Lincoski of Beth-Center, who now is at 96 after a three-TD performance in a loss at East Allegheny.
Stafford jumped into the top 10. He is at 60 points and tied with Uniontown’s Dom Richter, who added another kickoff return for a TD, his third of the year, among his two scores.
Yough’s Dustin Shoaf scored one touchdown in a loss to Aliquippa, and also threw a TD pass against the Quips, but still fell into third behind Lincoski with 94 points. Belle Vernon running back Mason Pascoe added one TD and is fourth with 84 points, just ahead of Basinger.
Basinger’s big day came about because of a number of factors, according to LH coach Jake Just.
“It really starts with are we able to move the ball with our A-back,” Just said. “We have Christian Burchick and Cheikh Dossou at that position, and Cheikh carried the ball four times for about 90 yards. Then teams have to honor him, and when they start diving in on him, Conner is able to pull the ball. Also our offensive line played extremely well Friday night.
“When those two things are put in motion, then Conner is able to get the A-back and we’re able to pull the ball and pitch the ball on the edge, it really allows for him to find his area and get in the open space. And he’s a tremendous athlete. He gets a lot of yards after contact.”
The Mustangs had other effective weapons against Ringgold as well.
“Ryan Fike, Robbie Sleighter and Riley Bosley are the wing backs, and they all had big games also on Friday night,” Basinger said. “That really opened up the offense.”
The Mustangs played well despite being hit by injuries, according to Just.
“We had to play a freshman at center,” Just said. “We had to play a lot of young guys. We’re down four of our top seven linemen right now. So this group really had to gel during a game-time situation, and the did that.”
Bentworth sophomore running back Trent Cavanaugh follows Basinger in the TD Club standings in sixth place with 74 points. Rounding out the top 10 are Southmoreland’s Ronnie Robinson (70), Charleroi’s Brayden Mihalcin (66) and Hunter Perry (64), and Richter and Stafford.
The Bearcats’ Owen Petrisek also had a productive day with four TDs in a 44-15 win at Avella, putting him in 16th place with 50 points. Belle Vernon running back Larry Callaway scored three TDs in a 54-0 win against Trinity and is now in 15th place with 52 points.
Two teams that continue to spread out the scoring are Charleroi and Monessen. The Cougars, who fended off Southmoreland in a high-scoring affair, 56-27, and Greyhounds, who rolled over Chartiers-Houston, 46-12, each had six different players record touchdowns.
Perry, Mihalcin, Dom Pellegrini, Dakota Romantino, Legend Davis and Ethan Codeluppi all crossed the goal line for Charleroi. Perry and Romantino each scored twice.
For Monessen, Vaughn Taylor, Justin Towler, Devin Whitlock, Isaiah Beltram, Antwon Tucker and Marquell Smith each found the end zone once.