HOMER CITY, Pa. – Homer-Center couldn’t have asked for a better start. Bishop McCort Catholic couldn’t have responded much better.
After Gabe Cobaugh returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, the Crimson Crushers scored the next 27 points to turn the early deficit into a lopsided advantage in Friday’s District 6 Class 1A semifinal against Homer-Center Friday.
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Bentley Bainey rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two more as Bishop McCort pulled away for a 46-23 victory to earn a spot in next week’s championship game.
After top-seeded Bishop Guilfoyle turned its semifinal-round game against Moshannon Valley into a 45-14 rout, the third-seeded Crimson Crushers will meet the Marauders at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mansion Park.
Bishop McCort will take an eight-game winning streak into the matchup.
“This is eight in a row for us,” Bishop McCort coach Tom Smith said. “We are not really keeping track, but we are, because everyone counted us out when we were 1-3. The only people who didn’t count us out are the people in our huddle and in our stands who support our program. Nobody chirped, nobody blinked. We just keep getting better every week.”
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Bainey was at the center of Bishop McCort’s response. Less than three minutes after Cobaugh’s opening kickoff return, he scored on a 20-yard run to tie the game.
After the Crushers forced a quick stop, Bainey found freshman Kai Nash for an 89-yard touchdown pass, giving Bishop McCort a lead it never relinquished.
He struck again with 2:05 left in the first quarter, breaking Homer-Center’s contain for a 72-yard touchdown run, then added a 5-yard scoring run in the second quarter.
“I’ve said it all year, Bentley is Bentley, and he is a special player,” Smith said. “With his performance here tonight, that is what we expect from him. He is a great player, and great players have to play great all the time.
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“I am really excited about his performance tonight. He sets up a lot of what we do on offense, just because of his scary ability to run down the field at any second.”
Homer-Center coach Greg Page had to agree.
“He does everything well,” Page said. “He is a tall and rangy presence. He’s got a really good arm, and obviously he’s got world-class small high school speed.”
Other than Homer-Center’s 42-yard field goal from Brady Frazer late in the first half, Bishop McCort’s defense gave no answer, helping the Crimson Crushers take a 27-10 lead into halftime.
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Homer-Center came out of halftime needing an answer to stay in the game.
Instead, Bishop McCort’s defense took away any chance of an early response.
Breylond Wiley intercepted Carson Arone on the Wildcats’ first possession of the third quarter, and Bainey needed just one play to turn it into points, finding Jackson Varga for a 51-yard touchdown.
Varga then intercepted Arone on Homer-Center’s next possession, setting up Ethan Delia’s 17-yard touchdown run that stretched the Crimson Crushers’ lead to 40-10.
Bishop McCort held the Wildcats to fewer than 200 yards of total offense.
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“I thought we came out and executed very well,” Smith said. “We switched things up a little bit defensively, worked on some different things this week, and our kids came out and played it. The mental preparation of our kids just wanting to come out and play good fundamental defense was outstanding.”
That type of defensive effort will be needed again next week, when Bishop McCort faces top-seeded Bishop Guilfoyle with a District 6 Class 1A championship on the line.
“They are a great football team,” Smith said of Bishop Guilfoyle. “But we are a pretty good team with good football heritage, too. We are going to go into that game and give it all we have, and I believe the winner will go on to win a state title.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
