Nov 4, 2023 By The Herald-Standard 5 min read

Greensburg Central Catholic scored the first 27 points Friday night and fended off West Greene’s second-half rally for a 41-22 victory at Plum in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

Greensburg C.C. improves to 8-3, while the Pioneers end the season with an 8-3 record.

The Centurions’ Samir Crosby scored the only touchdown of the first quarter on a 9-yard run.

Aidan Allison’s 79-yard touchdown pass from Tyree Turner and Landon Honick’s 4-yard scoring run gave Greensburg C.C. the lead at halftime, 20-0.

Turner hit Crosby for a 52-yard touchdown pass to extend the Centurions’ lead to 27-0 in the third quarter.

West Greene fought with a 16-0 run over the third and fourth quarters.

Billy Whitlatch started with a 1-yard dive and the two-point conversion. The Pioneers added two more points when the Centurions were called for a penalty in the end zone for a safety.

Whitlatch continued his scoring run with a 10-yard run early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 27-16.

Turner then took over for the Centurions with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Tyree Turner and a 26-yard scoring run.

Turner completed 7-of-11 passes for 247 yards. Crosby caught four passes for 131 yards.

Whitlatch returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

Whitlatch rushed for 177 yards on 31 carries. Lane Allison completed 7-of-14 passes for 109 yards.

South Side 39, Monessen 0 — The Rams shut out the visiting Greyhounds for a first-round victory in the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

Ryan Navarra had touchdown runs of 30, 7 and 2 yards for South Side (11-0). Navarra carried the ball 11 times for 147 yards.

Brody Almashy threw touchdown passes of 44 yards to Meteja Pavlovich and 29 yards to Will Morgan. Chase Hartle had a 16-yard touchdown run.

Monessen finishes the season with an overall record of 4-7.

West Mifflin 40, Mount Pleasant 14 — The Titans scored 20 points in the third quarter to pull away from the Vikings for a WPIAL Class AAA first-round home victory.

Armand Hill scored on runs of 9 and 60 yards in the third quarter for West Mifflin (7-4) in a seven-minute span. Joseph Fleming had a 66-yard interception return for a touchdown.

West Mifflin led 14-0 in the first quarter on Hill’s 10-yard touchdown run and DelRicco White’s scoring run of 69 yards.

Hill led all rushers with 214 yards on 19 carries. White gained 167 yards on the ground on just four carries.

Mount Pleasant (6-5) sliced into its deficit on Cole Chatfield’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Hutter with 6:35 left in the first half.

Hill answered with a 5-yard touchdown run 93 seconds later. Chatfield threw his second touchdown pass of the quarter with his 30-yard completion to Garrett Eicher with a minute left in the half.

Chatfield complete 14-of-20 passes for 211 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Dante Giallonardo caught seven passes for 124 yards. Brody Hutter ran for 49 yards.

Deer Lakes 48, Southmoreland 18 — The Lancers pulled away with 27 points in the second quarter for their first WPIAL playoff victory over the visiting Scotties in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.

Aiden Fletcher scored with 10:16 left in the second quarter on a 3-yard run.

The Lancers’ Nathaniel Moore, grandson of Bob and Carol Fedorko, of Uniontown, returned a fumble 25 yards for a score 16 seconds later. Zier Williams scored a 6-yard touchdown with 8:19 left in the half.

Willams gained 117 yards rushing.

Southmoreland’s Da’sjon Craggette stopped the 28-point scoring run with 54-yard touchdown run at 6:34. Craggette ran for 133 yards on 22 carries.

Deer Lakes responded with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Derek Burk to Zach Grant at 2:31. Southmoreland scored a late touchdown on Ty Keffer’s 6-yard pass from Kadin Keefer with six seconds remaining.

Grant opened the scoring on a 5-yard run at 2:52 of the first quarter.

Burk had a 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and an 8-yard scoring pass to Grant in the fourth quarter. Burk threw for 117 yards. Grant was his leading receiver with five receptions for 57 yards.

Southmoreland (6-5) closed the scoring with Keefer’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Richter at 3:19 of the fourth quarter. Keefer completed 10-of-20 passes for 163 yards.

Imani Christian Academy 52, Waynesburg Central 14 — Imani Christian scored 30 points in third quarter to roll to a victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at UPMC Graham Field.

Imani Christian led 16-0, 16-6 and 46-6 at the quarter breaks.

Dayshaun Burnett led the way for Imani Christian (8-2) with two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. Burnett completed seven passes for 139 yards and three interceptions and carried the ball 15 times for 102 yards.

Markus Williams scored on a 25-yard fumble return and Gabriel Jenkins and David Davis had rushing touchdowns in the third quarter.

Jacob Stephenson had a 3-yard touchdown pass to Zach Jeblits in the second quarter and 21-yard scoring pass to Colby Pauley in the fourth quarter for the Raiders (7-4).

Stephenson completed 10-of-25 passes for 146 yards and four interceptions. Jiblits caught four passes for 37 yards and Jack Ricciuti had two receptions for 41 yards.