Crusaders jump on Oak Glen early

BROKEN UP — Catholic Central’s Jimmy Hernon goes up to break up a pass while defending Oak Glen receiver Lucas Zoellers during Saturday’s game at Harding Stadium. – Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — As far as fast starts go, they don’t get much better than the one Catholic Central had Saturday night.

The Crusaders offense stuck for three first-quarter scores and the defense didn’t allow Oak Glen to get a first down until the second quarter while also forcing a turnover to kick start a 35-7 Crusaders victory.

The win is the fifth-straight for Central, now 6-1, and their ninth-straight home victory going back to the start of last season.

“I thought we were very, very sharp offensively and defensively,” Catholic Central head coach Eric Meek said. “We’re very, very happy with the way we played. That’s our ninth-straight win at home.

“We’ve got great kids and great assistant coaches. We want this next month and hopefully more to be about our seniors and they’ve won a lot of games here and a lot of games over the last two years overall, but we’re not satisfied. We want to keep getting better.”

Central, which Joe Eitel’s unofficial rankings had staying in second place in the Division VII, Region 27 standings after the win, led 21-0 after one quarter.

The lead was 28-0 at halftime before Tommy Pergi returned the opening kick of the second half 82 yards to score the final Central points. Peyton Rauch went 5 for 5 on extra points.

Pergi’s big return was his third trip to the end zone a third different way as he also rushed for the game’s opening score, a 17-yard run, and hauled in a 58-yard pass from Matthew Sprochi for another.

Once Oak Glen settled in after the rough start, the Golden Bears (0-6) were able to move the ball at times, finishing the game with 188 rushing yards and nine first downs, but they didn’t move the sticks until two minutes into the second quarter when the deficit was already four scores.

“They scored quick on their first drive and we threw an interception and gave them a short field after that and got behind fast,” Oak Glen head coach Doug Taylor said. “They’re a good football team, I think they’re a team that’s gonna go far in the playoffs this year. They’ve got some really good players, they run the ball well and they play defense well.

“We moved the ball a little bit. We made some adjustments and I thought we ran the ball well in the second half, but we just had a hard time staying in front of the sticks.”

Devan Jusczak led Oak Glen with 79 yards on 15 carries and had a 16-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter to stop the running clock and avoid the shutout.

For Central, Pergi racked up 64 yards on just six carries, Sprochi ran for a 31-yard score in addition to the long passing score and Ryan Holzworth racked up 65 yards on 10 totes, all in the second half after the Crusaders subbed.

The flying start began with the defense forcing a three-and-out, setting up a quick three-play scoring drive capped by Pergi.

After another three-and-out, Sprochi fired the deep shot to Pergi to make it 14-0, then, after Noah Hough picked off an Oak Glen pass, Jimmy Hernon rushed for a 4-yard score to make it 21-0 two plays later.

The Golden Bears had a pair of promising drives stall in the Central end, the first ending in a turnover on down and the second a Timmy Milhalyo interception.

Sprochi broke free of defenders for his scoring run on the first snap of the second quarter on the ensuing possession.

UP NEXT

Oak Glen: Returns home Friday to host Tyler Consolidated.

Catholic Central: Has a key showdown with Wheeling Central on the road Friday night.

Catholic Central 35, Oak Glen 7

OG 0-0-0-7 – 7

CC 21-7-7-0 – 35

SCORING PLAYS

First Quarter

CC: Pergi 17 run (Rauch kick) 8:37

CC: Pergi 58 pass from Sprochi (Rauch kick) 5:35

CC: Hernon 4 run (Rauch kick) 3:59

Second Quarter

CC: Sprochi 31 run (Rauch kick) 11:53

Third Quarter

CC: Pergi 82 kick return (Rauch kick) 11:27

Fourth Quarter

OG: Jusczak 16 run (Wright kick) 6:49

RUSHING: Oak Glen 42-188-TD (Jusczak 15-79-TD; Sauers 8-33; Maher 10-39; Adams 2-2; Clouston 7-35); Catholic Central 29-211-3TD (Pergi 6-64-TD; Hernon 5-31-TD; Sprochi 2-30-TD; Jones 1-1; Holzworth 10-65; Irvin 4-16; Ralston 1-4)

PASSING: Oak Glen 1-10-15-2INT (Adams 1-7-15-INT; Sauers 0-3-INT); Catholic Central 1-4-58-TD (Sprochi 1-3-58-TD; Jones 0-1)

RECEIVING: Oak Glen 1-15 (all by Chappell); Catholic Central 1-58-TD (all by Pergi)

FIRST DOWNS: Oak Glen 9; Catholic Central 8

PENALTIES-YARDS: Oak Glen 3-25; Catholic Central 0-0

FUMBLES-LOST: Oak Glen 0-0; Catholic Central 2-1