West Greene tops J-M to earn home playoff game
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Billy Whitlatch (22) breaks a tackle on a long run against Jefferson-Morgan during the first quarter of Friday night鈥檚 game at Kennedy Field. Whitlatch rushed for 258 yards and three touchdowns in the Pioneers鈥� 31-16 victory.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Colin Whyte (51) and Kameron Tedrow (65) combine on a sack of Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Houston Guesman during Friday night鈥檚 game at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Houston Guesman releases a pass against West Greene during Friday night鈥檚 game at Kennedy Field. Guesman threw for 88 yards and a touchdown, ran for 72 yards and led his team with nine tackles but it wasn鈥檛 enough as the Pioneers beat the Rockets, 31-16. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Johnny Lampe (29) looks for a hole after taking a handoff from Lane Allison (12) during Friday night鈥檚 game against Jefferson-Morgan at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan's Collin Bisciglia follows John Woodward on a running play against West Greene聽during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
West Greene coach Beau Jackson congratulates Billy Whitlatch as he comes off the field after running for a 30-yard touchdown in the second quarter of Friday night's game against Jefferson-Morgan at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan's Houston Guesman tries to elude West Greene's Parker Burns during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
West Greene coach Beau Jackson (wearing headset) talks to his players during a timeout in Friday night's game against Jefferson-Morgan at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan's Houston Guesman (2) runs against West Greene during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
West Greene's Billy Whitlatch (22) follows Johnny Lampe (29) on a running play against Jefferson-Morgan during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan wide receiver Deakyn Dehoet signals that he's open during Friday night's game against West Greene at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan's John Woodward is tackled by West Greene's Seth Burns during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
West Greene's Johnny Lampe (middle) works his way over the goal line for a touchdown during the first quarter of Friday night's game against Jefferson-Morgan at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan coach Shane Ziats relays the play call to Jamison Robinson during a game against West Greene at Kennedy Field on Oct. 20. Ziats led the Rockets to their first playoff appearance in 11 years. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Jefferson-Morgan's John Woodward (23) brings down West Greene's Johnny Lampe (29) during the first quarter of Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan's Deakyn Dehoet is tackled by West Greene's Seth Burns during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan's John Woodward looks for running room against West Greene during Friday night's game at Kennedy Field.
West Greene coach Beau Jackson watches the action during Friday night's game against Jefferson-Morgan at Kennedy Field.
Jefferson-Morgan coach Shane Ziats gives his players instructions during Friday night's game against West Greene at Kennedy Field.
ROGERSVILLE 鈥� He is one of the best running backs in the WPIAL.
But on this soggy Friday night, Colin Brady was just another face in the crowd on the West Greene bench.
What he watched was something special. Again.
Billy Whitlatch rushed for 258 yards on 26 carries and scored three times to help West Greene to a 31-16 victory over Jefferson-Morgan in a Class 1A Tri-County South Conference game at Kennedy Field.
It鈥檚 the second time Whitlatch has filled in for Brady as the Pioneers鈥� feature back and rushed for over 200 yards. He ran for 242 yards in a 39-6 win at Bentworth on Sept. 22.
Whitlatch has 1,037 yards on the season and his running helped the Pioneers clinch a first-round home playoff game when the WPIAL begins in two weeks.
鈥淚 was just trying to take advantage of my situation,鈥� said Whitlatch. 鈥淚 know I can go out there and run as hard as I can. I have the best offensive line in the conference. It鈥檚 easy to get those yards when you have a line like that.鈥�
Whitlatch鈥檚 30-yard touchdown burst around left end with 4:18 left in the second quarter put the Pioneers ahead to stay, 13-8. He added two more in the second half on runs of 5 yards in the third quarter and 23 yards in the fourth quarter with the latter giving the hosts a commanding 31-8 lead with 8:10 left.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a cliche but it鈥檚 true. He plays with a lot of heart,鈥� said West Greene head coach Beau Jackson.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to take anything away from Colin or Billy but I think that says a lot about our offensive line (that Brady and Whitlatch each went over 1,000 yards).鈥�
West Greene is 5-1 in the conference and 7-2 overall while Jefferson-Morgan is 4-2 and 5-4.
鈥淲e were (disappointed) we weren鈥檛 going to be first place,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淏ut we talked about how important second place was.鈥�
Brady was sidelined by a shoulder injury. Jackson said he is not sure of when he will return.
Brady has 5,253 career rushing yards, one of three players to surpass 5,000 rushing yards from West Greene. Ben Jackson and Rodney Wilson are the other two.
Brady, who came into the game with 1,089 and a team-high 15 touchdowns yards this season, was introduced pregame for West Greene senior night.
West Greene built a 13-8 lead at halftime but Jefferson-Morgan blew an opportunity to take the lead.
West Greene used the running game to control the half. Each team had only one possession in the first quarter.
The Pioneers went 86 yards in 12 plays and Johnny Lampe busted over from the 1-yard line with six seconds left in the first quarter. Patrick Durbin kicked the extra point.
Jefferson-Morgan came right back with quarterback Houston Guesman hitting Collin Bisciglia on a fourth-down touchdown pass from the 11-yard line. Guesman ran for the two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead with 6:40 left in the half but Whitlatch鈥檚 go-ahead score came just 2:22 later.
鈥淎 home field game (in the playoffs) is really important but we let it slip away,鈥� said Jefferson-Morgan head coach Shane Ziats. 鈥淲e knew they had three good running backs. (Brady) is good but (Whitlatch) and (Lampe) are good backs.鈥�
Jefferson-Morgan drove inside to West Greene 10-yard line with a little more than a minute to go but Guesman fumbled the snap and was tackled for a loss in the final seconds and time ran out in the half before the Rockets could get off another play.
West Greene extended its lead to 19-8 on Lane Allison鈥檚 6-yard touchdown pass to Lampe early in the third quarter and the Pioneers pulled away from there.
Jefferson-Morgan finally got on the board again on Guesman鈥檚 24-yard touchdown run with 5:07 remaining to cap the scoring.
Lampe backed up Whitlatch with 51 yards on nine carries. West Greene had 309 yards on the ground. Allison was 2 of 4 passing for 32 yards with his other completion going to Seth Burns for 26 yards.
Guesman carried the ball 10 times for 72 yards and completed 7 of 11 passes for 88 yards and one TD but was intercepted twice by Allison and Burns. Deakyn Dehoet had four receptions for 38 yards and Jamison Robinson pulled in one pass for 36 yards for J-M. Collin Bisciglia rushed for 51 yards on 10 attempts.
Guesman also had a team-high nine tackles.
The Rockets, who host Carmichaels next week, have already locked up at least a third-place finish in the conference.
The Pioneers can clinch sole possession of second place with a victory at Mapletown in their regular-season finale but their win Friday night gives them the tiebreaker over J-M and the home playoff game in the event the two tie for second.
While West Greene has secured home field advantage in the first round the possibility still exists that 鈥渉ome鈥� game could be played somewhere else if rain is in the forecast since Kennedy Field has a grass surface.
The WPIAL forced the Pioneers to play a first-round 鈥渉ome鈥� game on the turf at nearby Waynesburg Central in 2018 although it granted West Greene a home game at Kennedy Field the following year and again in 2021.