ELLENBORO, W.Va. — Wheeling Central Catholic head coach Mike Young has seen his team respond to adversity and rise to the occasion plenty of times.
The two-time defending Class A champion Maroon Knights continue to do both and as a result, No. 10 Wheeling Central is within one win from a third straight trip to the Super Six.
In Saturday’s quarterfinal against No. 2 Ritchie County, the Maroon Knights scored on their opening drive, which was enough for a defense that had two timely interceptions in a 13-0 win over the Rebels at Chuck Schofield Memorial Stadium.
“Our kids stepped up,” Young said. “I can’t say enough about the physicality and emotion they played with.”
The game’s opening drive — which proved to be one of the more important series — saw the Marron Knights (8-4) cover 64 yards in 13 plays, while using 7:02 of the first-quarter clock.
It ended with Adam Murray, better known for his defensive prowess, stretching the ball across the goal line on a fourth-and-goal run from the 1 to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead.
The Rebels (10-2) looked as though they may also score on their opening series after converting a pair of third downs, but just as they approached the red zone, quarterback Ethan Haught had a pass intercepted by Trey Helms at the Maroon Knights’ 3.
“We had plenty of opportunities the rest of the game to get the ball down the field and get it in the end zone,” Ritchie head coach Rick Haught said. “I don’t know if that was a big momentum swing for them, because it’s not like they scored again until the end. But the kid made a play and the later in the playoffs you go, one or two plays a lot of times seems like it dictates the game.”
Central’s got into the red zone on its second series, but Rine’s pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-7 from the Rebels’ 17.
With the rain picking up, Ritchie regained possession with 6:26 to play in the opening half. The Rebels punted after picking up two first downs, allowing the Maroon Knights to hold the seven-point halftime lead.
Neither team scored on its opening series of the second half and both followed with a three-and-out on its second possession.
“In the second half, the field conditions were really tough,” Young said. “But we had really good ball security out there.”
The Rebels took over at their own 21 with 11:45 left, but were forced to punt after picking up one first down. Central’s C.J. Rose then got a hand on the punt, causing it to travel just 17 yards.
Starting at the Ritchie 44 with 8:44 remaining, the Maroon Knights had a chance to wrap up the win. It appeared they would do just that after moving the chains and then putting themselves in third-and-1 following Rine’s 12-yard pass to Jalen Creighton.
However, Rine was stopped for no gain on third down, before Murray was brought down for a loss of 3 yards on fourth down, allowing the Rebels to take over at their 25 with 4:58 left.
Haught found Kayden Procacina for 12 yards and the duo connected again for 8 more on fourth-and-5 to position the Rebels at midfield.
But Haught’s pass was picked off on the next play by Jordan Waterhouse, who returned it 27 yards just across midfield with 3:20 to play.
From there, Waterhouse ripped off gains of 13 and 17 yards on the ground, before reaching the end zone from 21 yards with 2:03 remaining.
“When we needed some big runs, Jordan Waterhouse was relentless,” Young said.
Waterhouse finished with 29 carries for 165 yards, while Rine continued to get the job done filling in for the injured Curtis McGhee behind center. Rine finished 9-of-14 for 124 yards, with Creighton catching seven passes for 82 yards.
That was plenty enough offense to back a unit that blanked the Rebels, who entered having scored 40 or more points in nine of 11 contests.
“Against Central, you can do some misdirection one play and you might get 5 or 7 yards,” coach Haught said. “But you come back to it a little bit later and they’re real quick to adjust to what they see, so hats off to them.”
McGhee dressed, but did not play until the last 42 seconds when he took a pair of knees to run out the clock.
“Curtis is an emotional leader on and off the field,” Young said. “He has the utmost respet of his teammates. They know how bad he wanted to play. He’s going in for surgery the day before Thanksgiving, but we wanted to give him that last hurrah out there of representing us going into the semifinals.”
Wheeling Central will play at Pendleton County next week in a Class A semifinal.