BOTTLED UP — Catholic Central runningback Ryan Holzworth is swarmed by Wheeling Central defenders during Saturday’s game at Harding Stadium. - Andrew Grimm

Wheeling Central scored a long touchdown on its first play from scrimmage and did not look back from there, cruising to a 48-0 victory over Catholic Central. 

“We got out of the gates early and didn’t let up,” Wheeling Central head coach Mike Young said. “I’m proud of them, we had a good win last week and another good one this week, we’ve got to keep it going, though. 

“We’ve got a lot of be proud of, but it’s only one game. We have to keep taking it one week at a time, one game at a time and keep getting better.”

The Maroon Knights (3-1) scored 28 points in the first quarter and led 42-0 at halftime. They out-gained the Crusaders (3-2) by more than a 2-1 margin and never had to punt while not committing a penalty or a turnover in the victory. 

Catholic Central’s Matthew Sprochi fires a pass on Saturday night. - Andrew Grimm

“They came out in the first half and played much harder than we did, I’m a little upset with that,” Catholic Central head coach Eric Meek said. “Some of our guys played hard, we were dealing with some adversity with guys banged up and some sickness, but there’s no excuses — they were the much better football team. But we did have some young men play very hard tonight, they kept going out there and giving it their best and I am proud of them for that. 

“Wheeling Central is an excellent football team, Mike Young is a great coach and good friend, he’s a class act. I wish them well the rest of the way, I hope they win a state championship”

Wheeling Central’s Kade Koroneos had a huge night to lead the way. He hauled in the aforementioned opening score of the game, which was his first of four trips to the end zone in the contest as he rushed for three additional scores. 

All told he totaled 124 yards on nine carries and caught two passes for another 71, leaving him just shy of a 200-yard night. All of his yards were in the opening half. Three of his four TDs came in the opening quarter. 

His opening TD was a 48-yard pass from Nico Kusic, then he rushed for scores covering 4 and 43 yards on the Maroon Knights next two possessions. 

Catholic Cenrral’s Matty Jones attempts to track down a tipped pass during Saturday’s game against Wheeling Central. - Andrew Grimm

Kusic’s 2-yard pass to Joey Hall was the final score of the opening quarter. 

Kusic, who threw for 76 yards and ran for 38, broke a 32-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter and Koroneos added a 39-yard run to pay dirt midway through the quarter. 

Only Wheeling Central’s second scoring drive took more than four snaps to find the end zone, two of scores occurred on the first snap of the drive. 

Robbie Sforza’s 5-yard run in the fourth quarter capped the scoring. 

The Crusaders were able to get a little more offense going in the second half, accounting for 81 of their 136 yards of offense and six of their eight first downs in the after halftime despite the entirety of the final two quarters being played with a running clock. 

Central was on a 13-play drive that covered 62 yards when the clock ran out. 

Daveon Thorn had a team-high 67 yards on 13 carries, while also having a sack and two tackles for loss on defense. Ryan Holzworth had 41yards on 11 totes and Zach Bryan made a pair of catches. 

UP NEXT

Wheeling Central: Hosts Pittsburgh Perry on Hall of Fame night next Friday. 

Catholic Central: Starts a four-week road swing with a trip to Belpre next Saturday night. 

Wheeling Central 48, Catholic Central 0

WC 28-14-0-6 — 48

CC 0-0-0-0 — 0

SCORING

First Quarter 

WC: Koroneos 48 pass from Kusic (Petry kick) 11:41

WC: Koroneos 4 run (Petry kick) 6:48

WC: Koroneos 43 run (Petry kick) 4:53

WC: Hall 2 pass from Kusic (Petry kick) 1:50

Second Quarter 

WC: Kusic 32 run (Petry kick) 11:51

WC: Koroneos 39 run (Petry kick) 5:26

Third Quarter 

None

Fourth Quarter 

WC: Sforza 5 run (no try) 11:01

RUSHING: Wheeling Central 19-194-5TD (Kusic 2-38-TD; Koroneos 9-124-3TD; Czapp 4-30; Sforza 2-8-TD; Bossart 2-(-6); Catholic Central 33-127 (Holzworth 11-41; Sprochi 9-19; Thorn 13-67)

PASSING: Wheeling Central 5-8-101-2TD (Kusic 4-7-76-2TD; Bossart 1-1-25); Catholic Central 4-7-9 (all by Sprochi)

RECEIVING: Wheeling Central 5-101-2TD (Koroneos 2-71-TD; Hall 2-5-TD; Wear 1-25); Catholic Central 4-9 (Bryan 2-8; Holzworth 1-2; Jones 1-(-1)

FIRST DOWNS: Wheeling Central 8; Catholic Central 8

PENALTIES-YARDS: Wheeling Central 0-0; Catholic Central 3-25

FUMBLES-LOST: Wheeling Central 0-0; Catholic Central 1-1

PUNTS-AVG: Wheeling Central 0-0; Catholic Central 5-25