Whitlatch runs wild as Pioneers roll past Bentworth
Colin Brady was out with an ankle injury but that was no problem for West Greene on Friday night.
The Pioneers still had Billy Whitlatch.
West Greene rode a 242-yard rushing performance from Whitlatch to a 39-6 victory at Bentworth to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Tri-County South Conference.
Whitlatch carried the ball 24 times and scored three touchdowns. He deflected credit for his performance to his teammates.
“I give it all to the team,” Whitlatch said. “I’ve got to appreciate my lineman. Those holes, anybody could’ve run through.”
Johnny Lampe ran 10 times for 73 yards and had two touchdown receptions as West Greene churned out 17 first downs. Pioneers quarterback Lane Allison completed four of eight passes for 87 yards and three touchdown.
Allison got West Greene on the board first when he connected with Cooper Chambers for a 27-yard TD catch in the first quarter.
West Greene increased its lead to 18-0 by halftime with two second-quarter touchdowns on AllisonĢƵ 11-yard pass to Lampe and WhitlatchĢƵ 15-yard run.
Whitlatch added TD runs of 14 and 5 yards in the third quarter sandwiched around AllisonĢƵ 10-yard touchdown pass to Lampe for 39-0 lead.
Bearcats quarterback Vitali Daniels completed 10 of 21 passes for 160 yards and a late 54-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Washington but was intercepted twice. The Pioneers also recovered a pair of fumbles.
First-year West Greene coach Beau Jackson has only lost once in his first five games but still saw room for improvement after the victory over the Bearcats (1-1, 2-3).
“I know early, especially offensively, we did play a little bit sloppy,” Jackson said. “Penalties killed us on defense.
“But what I’m proud of about these guys is we fight and we play with a lot of effort.”
Bentworth was coming off a big win at Monessen but came up short in an attempt at pulling a second straight upset.
“We’ve got to regroup,” first-year Bearcats coach David Pordash said. “We knew Monessen and West Greene and California were the top three in the conference. We handled Monessen.
“We had some good drives against West Greene but we had fumbles, interceptions, some things that hurt us.”
Pordash went to his bench and found some players he feels can him the Bearcats down the line.
“The positive thing is we found some personnel by playing other kids,” he said. “We’re still young but we’re getting there. We’ll be OK.”
Bentworth goes to Jefferson-Morgan next.
“They’re a tough team,” Pordash said of the Rockets. “They play us tough every year. ItĢƵ always a dogfight. ItĢƵ going to be a good game.”
Jackson doesn’t look to change much as West Greene hosts Monessen in Week 5.
“We’re going to keep doing what we do,” Jackson said. “We’re at that time of year where we have our identity. We just go day by day. ThatĢƵ been our goal all year is get better every single day.”
Westley Burchianti contributed to this story.

