WILLIAMSTOWN, W.Va. — Four Maroon Knights found the end zone and the team rallied after the loss of starting quarterback Nico Kusic to injury to deny Williamstown a perfect regular season, 35-33 in the regular season finale for both teams.
In a back-and-forth contest where neither team led by more than eight points, Wheeling Central Catholic played the final two-and-a-half quarters without their senior signal caller after Kusic suffered a broken collarbone while he was tackled on a rushing attempt. Freshmen quarterbacks Wyatt Stephens and Luke Bordas stepped in and Stephens scored on touchdown runs of 42 yards to open the scoring for Central and a 43-yard tote to give the Knights a 35-27 lead with 5:05 to play.
“Our freshman quarterback went in there with Nico and the broken collarbone and losing him,” said Wheeling Central Catholic head coach Mike Young.”The kids showed so much pride and heart in this whole second half, especially. They overcame the adversity and played physical. They are a very good football team. Coach [Chris] Beck does a super job. I am just proud of our kids and the fact they never quit.”
The teams traded touchdown drives in both the first and second quarters. Daniel Cunningham scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter and he reeled in a 30-yard touchdown toss from Breck Allen in the second for Williamstown (9-1). Prior to suffering his injury, Kusic rushed for a 22-yard score in the second stanza and Central led 14-13 at halftime.
The Maroon Knights (6-4) opened the second half with a 30-yard touchdown tote from Dustin Sanner. Williamstown responded with two touchdown drives later in the third. Allen scored on a 2-yard run and he connected with Trenton Hall on a 16-yard touchdown toss on fourth-and-12 with 40 seconds remaining in the third. WHS took a 27-21 lead into the final frame.
However, Central took a lead they would not relinquish when Brady Ernest returned an interception on a fake punt 22 yards for a touchdown. The resulting PAT gave Central a 28-27 lead.
“That definitely gave us the momentum we needed.
“They didn’t play a great game at times. But they played hard. That was the key to our win.”
Stephens’ second touchdown run gave Wheeling Central a 35-27 lead with 5:05 to play. Williamstown used a four-minute drive and a one-yard touchdown run to pull within two points with 1:01 left. However, their two-point conversion attempt was tipped away by Stephens and it fell incomplete.
“This takes us in [to the playoffs] with a lot more confidence and a lot more heart. We know we lost our starting quarterback but to be able to rally around two freshmen quarterbacks the way we did and have kids step up and block and tackle, that says a lot about our chemistry.”