WVSSAC Super Six Football Championships

Fourth Straigt in Sight - Central overwhelms Weirton Madonna
Saturday, November 24 , 2007
By NICK BEDWAY- The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register

Thirteen down and one to go.

Wheeling Central Catholic High School’s undefeated football team moved to within one victory of its second straight 14-0 season and a fourth West Virginia Class A state championship in a row by rolling past Weirton Madonna 47-6 on a frigid Friday night at Wheeling Island Stadium.

Jumping to a huge lead in the first half as they have done on virtually every occasion this fall, Coach Mike Young’s Maroon Knights ended a fine season for the gritty but outmanned Blue Dons (11-2) to assure a rematch against Williamstown at 7 p.m. next Saturday night also on the home field.

The Yellow Jackets made it back to Super Six weekend by shutting out of their long-time rival, St. Marys, 23-0 Friday night in the other single-A semifinal held at Williamstown. In last season’s state final, the Yellow Jackets hung in gamely against the Maroon Knights before coming up short by a 14-7 score.

‘‘We’re thrilled to be in the state championship game for the fourth year in a row. It’s a great feeling,’’ Young said. ‘‘I understand Williamstown also had a big win and that’s a credit to their program. I think they are going to be excited to come in here and play us. I know we will be prepared for what should be a nice evening of high school football.’’

Young also had a few words concerning the speculation the Maroon Knights may be stepping up into to the Class AA division next season. But he refused to say if a decision had been made.

‘‘People say we should move up. If that happens or if we stay where we are at, it won’t change anything about what we do. We are going to play Wheeling Central football and that means playing as hard as we can against every opponent.’’

Extending its school record and current Ohio Valley-best winning streak to 32 in a row, the Maroon Knights got on the shoulders of senior quarterback Alex Peluchette and he gave them quite a victory ride.

Nearing the end of a spectacular three-year run as Wheeling Central’s starting QB, Peluchette passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more scores against the Blue Dons. On his first touchdown run which covered 8 yards in the opening quarter, Peluchette refused to go down until he dove over a Blue Dons defender and landed in the end zone. He also ran a keeper up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown and had scoring aerials of 1 yard to Ethan Williams and 10 yards to Andrew Richardson.

The Maroon Knights also got a typical night from senior tailback Chris Martin as he accounted for 147 yards on 16 carries, including a 2-yard touchdown to open the scoring. His senior running back buddy Chris Klemm amounted for a 64-yard run in the fourth quarter and a total of 104 yards overall. Klemm was rewarded for his efforts with a 1-yard TD carry to close out the scoring with 9 minutes remaining in the game.

Central’s other touchdown came on a 17-yard DeVaughn Gordon burst up the middle late in the second quarter.

Young admitted having his heart jump up into his mouth watching Peluchette nearly bent over backward on his swan dive into the end zone. ‘‘Alex can be relentless when he carries the football,’’ Young said. ‘‘He wants to get the ball in the end zone or get the extra yard when we need it.’’

But Young pointed out Peluchette’s game is also about leadership and knowledge.

‘‘From the git-go, Alex has performed like a born natural leader. He’s taken that leadership role for three years now and we’ve won a lot of football games with him as our starting quarterback. He knows how to play this game better than anybody.’’

The frigid temperature and the enthusiasm displayed by the Weirton Madonna defense, kept this from being a perfect performance by the Maroon Knights. Central fumbled five times and lost possession on four occasions, including once when a short punt bounced off the heel of a blocker and was recovered by the Blue Dons. Another fumble occurred at the Madonna 1, to prevent another Central touchdown.

‘‘The cold weather did have an effect on us,’’ Young said. ‘‘I think it may have caused a couple of our turnovers but coach (Bob) Kramer did an excellent job in preparing his kids to try and stop what we do on offense.

‘‘He is an excellent guy and a class act. I think he does a great job with the kids in his program.”

The Blue Dons also did a better at hanging around in the game longer than most of Central’s opponents in 2007. The Maroon Knights did take a quick 14-0 lead by scoring on their first two possessions, but Madonna countered with a first-quarter TD of its own.

After forcing a Madonna punt, Martin carried five times for 49 yards as Central drove from its own 34 to paydirt on seven plays. Martin, whose longest run in the early march covered 18 yards, got the score from the 2 by going off the right side behind guard Dan Gordon.

After forcing another punt, the Maroon Knights chewed up 71 yards on six plays to score again. Peluchette not only had a tackle-breaking run of 16 yards, he also threw a block that helped spring Martin for a 15-yard advance. On first-and-goal from the 8, Peluchette ran left out of the pocket and went in for the score.

But Madonna showed some spunk by responding to march 73 yards, highlighted by Corey Hirkala’s diving catch along the left sideline of a pass from quarterback Sal Conti for a 34-yard gain. The score came on the final play of the first quarter when sophomore running back A.J. Klein made a Martin-type cut along the sideline and carried the ball for the final 23 yards. A pass attempt for the two-point conversion failed, leaving Central in front 14-6.

The Maroon Knights were able to put the game away with 20 points in the second quarter to move on top by 34-6. After runs of 6 and 17 yards to start the initial surge, Peluchette went right and cut through a big hole from the 4 as the lead was extended to 21.7.

Central then tallied twice in the final 1:55 of the half. DeVaughn Gordon, taking a direct snap, went up the middle from 15 yards out. Bryce Hartman’s recovery of a Madonna fumble set up the 1-yard toss from Peluchette to Williams in the back of the end zone.

With the Maroon Knights' defense in control during the second half, Young’s team added two more scores as Peluchette found Richardson from 10 yards out in the left corner of the end zone and Klemm carried the ball across from the 1 after his dazzling 64-yard run.

When the Central coaches took their starters out for keeps in the fourth quarter, Kramer did the same with his players.

Overall, the Maroon Knights limited the Blue Dons to 77 yards rushing and 61 through the air. Central ran for 280 of its 386 yards in the first half. Peluchette was 7 of 12 through the air for 86 yards.

Although his team went down to defeat, Kramer was pleased with their effort.

‘‘Our kids played their hearts out. We got beat by a much better football team,’’ he said.

The veteran Madonna coach, who led his team into the state finals in 2004 where the Blue Dons also fell to Wheeling Central, labeled this season a huge success for his players.

‘‘It was a great year,’’ he said. ‘‘We won the OVAC and Mason-Dixon Conference championships. Winning the OVAC is second to winning a state championship. That was a great accomplishment because it had been 20 years since Madonna had won one.”