Walker, Jackson lead Pioneers to 36-0 win over GCC
ROGERSVILLE鈥� The last time West Greene won a football playoff game was all the way back in 1993, when the team made it to the WPIAL championship game.
Since then, the Pioneers hadn鈥檛 made it past the first round of the WPIAL playoffs. Each of the past two seasons, West Greene qualified for postseason play but was trounced by Rochester.
That 25-year winless playoff drought came to an end Friday evening as Kolin Walker, Ben Jackson and the Pioneer defense dominated Greensburg Central Catholic from start to finish, rolling to a 36-0 victory to advance to the Class A semifinals.
鈥淚t feels outstanding, just because the kids have been knocking on the door for the previous two years,鈥� West Greene coach Brian Hanson said. 鈥淭hey had a long drought there for a while. But this group of kids, they鈥檝e just been so determined that they weren鈥檛 going to walk out of here with a loss tonight.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of them.鈥�
Record-breaking running back Ben Jackson usually gets all the attention for West Greene (10-1), but for a majority of the first half it was Kolin Walker stealing the show. Walker opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run with 4:32 to go in the first quarter.
On the Centurions鈥� ensuing drive, Walker sacked quarterback David Altimore, forcing a fumble that Jackson scooped up and returned 14 yards for a touchdown.
Two plays later the Centurions fumbled again, with the Pioneers鈥� Austin Crouse recovering this time and returning the ball 44 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 21-0 with 26 seconds left in the first quarter.
Walker added his second rushing touchdown late in the first half, scoring from 12 yards to make it 28-0. By the time the teams went to the locker room, Jackson had accumulated 122 yards on 14 carries, while Walker carried the ball eight times for 72 yards and both offensive touchdowns.
鈥淐ome playoff time, I think we have to be balanced in terms of our rushing attack because it makes us much harder to beat when you have to worry about 鈥� like a two-headed snake 鈥� both of them,鈥� said Hanson. 鈥淲hen you have two backs who can block, you can do these types of things. It just makes our whole team better when Ben and Kolin are chewing up yards.鈥�
Jackson ended up finishing the night well-ahead of Walker in terms of yardage thanks to a 70-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the second half, which activated the Mercy Rule and a running clock, but the two-headed rushing attack was near impossible for the Centurions to stop.
Jackson finished with 212 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, and Walker added 112 yards on 14 carries.
鈥淲e give all the credit to the line, they worked really hard,鈥� said Walker. 鈥淲e have a couple of young guys who are stepping up. We had some injuries early in the season, but we鈥檙e pulling through.鈥�
Hanson also praised senior linebacker Andrew Litton, who he referred to as 鈥渢he Ben Jackson of the defense,鈥� for his play after returning from an injury.
The biggest story for GCC (7-4) was turnovers. The two fumble returns for touchdowns were massive momentum swings and the Centurions turned the ball over on downs four times, two of which were in Pioneer territory in the first half.
鈥淲e gave them 14 points and we can鈥檛 do that because (Jackson) is going to get more than that on his own. That just destroyed us mentally and emotionally,鈥� said Greensburg Central Catholic coach Bret Colbert.
West Greene moves on to the semifinals Friday to take on third-seeded Sto-Rox, which defeated Jeanette, 15-6.
WPIAL Class A Playoff Sum
Quarterfinals
Greensburg C.C.聽 聽0-0-0-0 鈥� 0
West Greene聽 聽 聽21-7-8-0 鈥� 36
First Quarter
WG: Kolin Walker 7 run (run failed), 4:32
WG: Ben Jackson 12 fumble return (Kolin Walker run), 1:21
WG: Austin Crouse 45 fumble return (Kevin Thompson kick), :26
Second Quarter
WG: Kolin Walker 12 run (Kevin Thompson kick), 3:55
Third Quarter
WG: Ben Jackson 70 run (Gavin Scott pass from Kevin Thompson), 11:39
Records: Greensburg C.C. (7-4), West Greene (10-1).