Maples, Mikes knocked out of playoff contention
Monessen built a 24-point halftime lead and hung on from there for a 36-20 win over visiting Mapletown in Tri-County South Conference football action last Friday night.
The loss knocked the Maples out of the playoff race one year after it claimed the TCS regular-season title.
Dennis Hawkins led the way for the Greyhounds (2-4, 3-6) with 401 yards passing on 17-of-27 attempts. He had touchdown passes of 61 and 14 yards to Tyvaughn Kershaw, and 37 and 96 yards to Lorenzo Gardner. Kayden Kolbeck added a 36-yard TD reception.
Gardner caught four passes for 138 yards.
Mapletown’s AJ Vanata had touchdown passes of 5 and 65 yards to Evan Griffin. Vanata completed 8-of-26 attempts for 132 yards and ran for 80 yards on 21 carries.
Evans caught four passes for 103 yards and scored on a 42-yard run.
Bentworth 20, Carmichaels 12 — A.J. Donaldson hit Brandon Yekel for a 71-yard touchdown pass with 3:04 left in the game to get the Mikes within one score, but the host Bearcats held on for a Tri-County South Conference win.
The loss eliminated Carmichaels from playoff contention.
Benjamin Hays scored all three touchdowns for Bentworth (2-4, 3-6). Hays powered in from a yard out in the first quarter. He caught touchdown passes of 10 and 28 yards from Vitali Daniels.
Daniels completed 11-of-24 passes for 225 yards. Hays had six receptions for 121 yards.
Parker Hewitt’s 21-yard touchdown tied the game for the Mikes (1-5, 2-7) with 7:04 left in the third quarter.
Carmichaels’ Billy White carried the ball 18 times for 133 yards. Donaldson completed five passes for 109 yards.
Sto-Rox 18, Waynesburg Central 13 — The Raiders couldn’t hold a 13-6 halftime lead in a Century Conference road loss.
Waynesburg (2-3, 6-3) failed in its first attempt to clinch a playoff spot but can still do so with a victory at winless Charleroi in its season finale. Sto-Rox improved to 2-7 overall and closed its conference slate with a 2-4 record.
Jacob Stephenson scored both touchdowns for the Raiders on runs of 6 and 12 yards. Breydon Woods carried the ball 12 times for 62 yards to top the 1,000-yard mark this season.