When Chartiers Valley visited West Mifflin Friday night in a battle of WPIAL Class AAA Big Seven conference unbeatens, some may have expected a wild night. If so, they got what they paid for in this week's Eat 'n Park Game of the Week.
The wildness began way before the opening kickoff, as the game was delayed over an hour because the referees went to the wrong field in Uniontown. But when they finally got to the right place, the two teams made it worth the wait.
Beau Carson, this week's guest on Pop Quiz, got it started for Chartiers Valley on their second drive of the game, taking an end around 54 yards for a touchdown, and a Joe Pacella extra point made gave the Colts a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
(Chartiers Valley senior RB Beau Carson's 54-yard touchdown run in the 1st quarter)
In the second quarter, Carson got a big first down pickup on a pass from sophomore quarterback Wayne Capers, Jr., this week's Clearview Student-Athlete of the Week, setting up a 22-yard touchdown scramble by Capers and a 14-0 lead with around nine minutes remaining in the second quarter.
West Mifflin struck back when quarterback Imir Sanders found D.J. Hayes on a 27-yard pass down the left sideline, and the Titans would make it 14-7 going into the half.
The second half started with a West Mifflin drive that ended with a punt, but Chartiers Valley's Sean Lapcevic could not hold on and the Titans recovered the ball near midfield with a chance to tie the game. They did on the very next play when Sanders hit Scott Perhach for his second touchdown throw of the game.
(West Mifflin senior QB Imir Sanders threw for all three West Mifflin touchdowns)
Late in the third quarter, Lapcevic made up for the fumble hauling in a 37-yard pass from Capers, setting up the Colts deep in West Mifflin territory. They capped off that drive when Capers, after scrambling around in the backfield, finally found Lapcevic for a 14-yard touchdown pass, giving them the lead again, 21-14.
(Chartiers Valley sophomore QB Wayne Capers, Jr. -- this week's Student-Athlete of the Week -- threw for a touchdown and ran for another)
West Mifflin would not go away quietly, and the Titans drove deep into Chartiers Valley territory late in the fourth quarter. Then Sanders found Ricky Olasz on a play action pass for his third touchdown pass of the night, this one from 34 yards out to pull within one.
Stefon Yancy lined up to kick the extra point for the Titans, but Chartiers Valley stopped them cold when lineman Corey Rekasie helped break through the line and Dylan Croftcheck blocked the attempt, keeping the Colts ahead by one point.
"On another extra point, I felt like I could get past him," Croftcheck said about the game-changing special teams play. "He went down pretty low and I just put my hands above him and kind of hopped over him, and I just put my arms up and got it."
After a late Chartiers Valley punt, West Mifflin had an opportunity to take the lead with a little more than a minute left, but Carson stepped in front of a Sanders pass and took it 40 yards to the end zone, sealing a 28-20 victory for the Colts and moving them into a tie with Thomas Jefferson for first place in the conference.
(Beau Carson's 40-yard interception return for a touchdown was his second score of the game and sealed the win for the unbeaten Colts)
"If our offense isn't doing it, our defense is," Capers told Channel 4 Action Sports' John Meyer after the game. "If our defense does something great, our offense steps up, so it's us balancing each other out."
Chartiers Valley (4-0) will return home next week to face Trinity (1-3), while West Mifflin (3-1) will go on the road to Belle Vernon (2-2).
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