Closing the gap: California’s Layhue, EF’s Nigut make move as Brady injured
Colin Brady had another big rushing day during Week 2 with 149 yards but he failed to score before he was sidelined with an ankle injury during West Greene’s 47-14 win over Carmichaels.
Brady, who is questionable for this week’s game at Bentworth, still sits atop the Herald-Standard Touchdown Club standings with 60 points.
The senior’s lead was slice from 20 to 12 thanks to a three-touchdown day from Elizabeth Forward’s Charlie Nigut who scored on runs of 1, 9 and 7 yards in the unbeaten Warriors’ 42-14 win over Shady Side Academy in a rematch of last year’s playoff game.
Nigut’s 18 points upped his total to 48.
Last week’s leading scorer was California’s Jake Layhue who had touchdown runs of 1, 3, 3 and 10 yards along with a two-point conversion for 26 points as the Trojans opened up Tri-County South Conference play with a 48-21 win at Jefferson-Morgan.
Layhue vaulted into third place in the TD Club with 44 points.
Moving into a fourth-place tie with Uniontown’s Cam Jackson and Southmoreland’s Da’sjon Craggette with 42 points were Connellsville’s Jayden McBride and California’s Spencer Petrucci.
McBride caught touchdown passes of 26 and 11 yards and added a TD run of 28 yards for 18 points as he tried to help the Falcons rally for a victory over visiting Trinity but the Hillers got a late score for a 41-40 win.
Petrucci ran for scores of 34 and 7 yards for the Trojans in tallying 12 points.
Yough’s Raidon Kuroda is alone in eighth place with 40 points after scoring a pair of touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the Cougars’ 22-21 loss at Derry.
Lee Qualk, who raced for a 52-yard touchdown to increase his season total to 38 points, gives California three players in the top nine.
Rounding out the top 10 with 32 points apiece are EF’s Jace Brown, Mapletown’s Evan Griffin, Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin and the Pioneers’ Johnny Lampe who put up the second-biggest total of the week with 24 points.
Lampe rang up a football natural hat trick with consecutive touchdown runs of 5, 2 and 2 yards in a span of 6:23 in the second quarter against the Mikes. He tacked on one more score from 9 yards out in the fourth quarter.
There were two other area players with three-touchdown games to spark their teams in victories.
Mount Pleasant’s Jackson Hutter put up his first points of the season with three long touchdowns in the Vikings’ 25-6 win at Valley. Hutter scored on a 63-yard reception and broke off TD runs of 36 and 21 yards.
Bentworth’s Vitali Daniels rushed for touchdowns of 3, 9 and 7 yards in the Bearcats’ eye-opening 28-0 win at Monessen in a game that reverberated through the TCS standings.
Daniels moved into a four-way tie for 14th place with Mount Pleasant’s Garrett Eicher and Waynesburg Central’s Jacob Stephenson and Breydon Woods with 30 points.
Stephenson and Woods scored the only touchdowns as the Raiders improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Century Conference with a 12-0 win over Keystone Oaks.
Albert Gallatin picked up its first win of the season with a strong all-around effort in a 36-0 win over visiting Uniontown which included the longest interception return of the season when Adam Pegg went 94 yards with a pick six.
Connellsville’s Capone Mickens now has the longest fumble return for a score this season going in from 42 yards out against KO.
The local leader in kicking is Elizabeth Forward’s Will Sinay who booted two more field goals from 38 and 30 yards giving him four on the season along with seven PATs for 19 points.