Cougars deliver Highlanders first loss

Defense ultimately wins 79-point slugfest

The ball was zipping up and down the field and each team was lighting up the scoreboard when Charleroi hosted McGuffey Friday night.

But when it came down to it, a defensive stop made perhaps the biggest impact on the game.

Cornerback Geno Pellegrini broke up a 4th-and-6 pass along the sideline near midfield and the offense did the rest as the Cougars handed McGuffey its first defeat of the season, 46-33, in a Class 2A Interstate Conference clash.

The Highlanders (7-1, 5-1) are a run-first team. So when Charleroi (6-1, 5-1) forced McGuffey into a passing situation with less than three minutes remaining, they had the Highlanders right where they wanted them.

“I was just baiting [McGuffey quarterback Marshall Whipkey] to throw it, and then I broke it up,” said Pellegirini. “We weren’t letting them get a first down. It wasn’t happening.”

Pellegrini’s defense was just another highlight in a brilliant performance. He completed 11 of 20 passes for 193 yards and four touchdowns. He also had a 17-yard scamper into the end zone in the second quarter. He ran the ball 11 times in total for 98 yards.

“The offense was clicking,” Pellegrini said. “That’s the part of the game we pride ourselves on.”

Brayden Milhalcin carried 16 times for 141 yards. His 1-yard plunge with 1:01 remaining, after Pellegrini’s big disruption, put the game out of reach.

Prior to that sequence of events, the teams swapped turnovers on what looked to be promising drives earlier in the fourth quarter.

Pellegrini was picked off by Jake Garrety. The Highlanders gave it right back when fullback McKinley Whipkey fumbled the football.

“With 5:19 left, we’re driving to win and we make a mistake,” said McGuffey coach Ed Dalton. “And he doesn’t really make mistakes. He’s a good player.”

Charleroi pulled away in the end, but most of the game was a back-and-forth battle between contrasting styles of offense. Dalton remarked that it was 1968 vs. 2018m with his option running attack taking on the prolific passing of the Cougars.

McGuffey marched down the field on its first drive, capping it off when Christian Clutter took a short pass and darted upfield for a 29-yard score.

Pellegrini answered on the next drive by hooking up with Legend Davis for the first of three times on the night. Clutter answered with a 39-yard run. Then Pellegrini hit Davis again from 4 yards out. And that was all in the first half. That’s how it went for most of the game, with both offenses having their way until the fourth quarter. Neither team punted in the game. “We knew we were going to need to score some points if we were going to win,” said Charleroi coach Lance Getsy. “For our defense, it was kind of bend, but don’t break.”

Charleroi racked up 440 yards of offense. McGuffey followed behind with 376 offensive yards of their own. Most of the Highlanders’ yards came on the ground, accounting for 280 in total. Clutter carried the ball 20 times for 146 yards and two scores.

Davis hauled in six passes for 68 yards and three scores. Dakota Romantino caught five balls for 125 yards and scored on a 20-yard strike from Pellegrini in the third quarter.

There are three teams in the conference with one loss: Charleroi, McGuffey and Washington. The Highlanders take on Washington next week. Charleroi takes on winless Brownsville and can clinch the conference title.

“We have one more game to take care of business,” Getsy said. “I want these seniors to have one more home playoff game.”