Crouse sparkles in Waynesburg无毛视频檚 win over West Greene
WAYNESBURG 无毛视频� Just call Teagan Crouse the eraser.
Waynesburg Central didn无毛视频檛 play a clean, perfect game in its football opener against visiting West Greene on Friday night but Crouse made sure that few of the miscues were costly with a sparkling performance in the Raiders无毛视频� 50-6 victory.
Crouse completed 9 of 10 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three scores to help Joe Kuhns make a triumphant return to coaching after a year off.
无毛视频淲e came out a little jittery,无毛视频� Kuhns said. 无毛视频淭hat无毛视频檚 to be expected in the first game. There were some execution issues.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檝e just got a couple guys that can make up for mistakes every once in a while. Teagan is one of them. If we don无毛视频檛 do the right action or block the right guy, he无毛视频檚 got the ability to make people miss and make plays.无毛视频�
Crouse无毛视频檚 favorite target was receiver Jack Ricciuti who hauled in four passes for 159 yards, including a 91-yard touchdown. Zachery Jiblits had two receptions for 49 yards, Jeffery Blair caught a pair of passes for 25 yards and Ross Tennant had a 3-yard touchdown reception to go with an 8-yard scoring run.
无毛视频淛ack is a matchup nightmare,无毛视频� Kuhns said. 无毛视频淗e无毛视频檚 going to get doubled a lot this season mostly because of what he did tonight, but we无毛视频檝e got other guys in Jiblits and a kid that无毛视频檚 hurt right now, Ace Litwinovich, who无毛视频檒l be coming back in a couple weeks. We have weapons. But up front we无毛视频檝e got a lot of work to do yet on both sides of the ball.无毛视频�
The Pioneers converted a short fourth-down play with a plunge by freshman quarterback Joel Rizor on their opening drive and attempted another fourth-down play soon after but a high snap gave the Raiders the ball at West Greene 17.
That led to Crouse无毛视频檚 first TD run on a 13-yard scramble. Nate Ricciuti booted the first of his six extra-point attempts and Waynesburg was ahead to stay, 7-0.
The Pioneers moved the sticks once on their next drive but were foiled on another fourth-down play when Jack Ricciuti tackled Rizor for a 1-yard loss at the West Greene 39. Crouse scored on a 27-yard run four plays later to make it 14-0 after one quarter.
After a three-and-out by the Pioneers, Crouse capped a four-play drive, highlighted by a 49-yard completion to Jiblits, with a 9-yard run with 9:01 left in the second quarter.
Rizor completed an 8-yard pass to Kyle Cunningham on a third-and-6 play on West Greene无毛视频檚 next drive but Waynesburg无毛视频檚 defense broke up a fourth-day pass and Crouse went to work again from the Pioneers 39.
Crouse completed passes of 30 and 14 yards to Ricciuti, who made a leaping grab along the right sideline on the former, in a four-play march the he finished with a 3-yard TD pass to Tennant to make it 28-0.
Crouse and Ricciuti weren无毛视频檛 done yet in the first half. Taking over at their own 20 after a West Greene punt, the Raiders struck again when Crouse lofted a long throw down the left side that Ricciuti caught in stride for a 91-yard touchdown and a 35-0 halftime lead.
Pioneers third-year coach Beau Jackson knew his Class A squad faced a stiff challenge in the Raiders, who were a playoff team in Class 2A last year.
无毛视频淭hey无毛视频檝e got good athletes over there,无毛视频� Jackson said. 无毛视频淲e had trouble getting off the field on defense. On the offensive end we couldn无毛视频檛 get third-down conversions. I think a lot of it on both sides of the ball was just they无毛视频檙e a lot faster than we are. We knew with Crouse at quarterback and Ricciuti at receiver along with Jiblits that they could cause some problems for our defense.
无毛视频淚 think anybody in the stands probably saw our game plan was keep it on the ground, keep the clock rolling. We thought if we had a chance it was going to be between the tackles. We converted a couple early. We had a bad shotgun snap and even had a few under center that were bobbled and we无毛视频檝e got to fix that.无毛视频�
Kuhns wasn无毛视频檛 completely satisfied at halftime despite his team无毛视频檚 large lead.
无毛视频淚 told them in the locker room we want to be process driven not results driven and we didn无毛视频檛 run the ball very well,无毛视频� Kuhns said. 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e going to focus on that this week and see if we can get better at that aspect of the game.无毛视频�
Waynesburg opened the second half with a five-play, 64-yard drive that featured a 24-yard pass by Crouse to Ricciuti, a 22-yard run by Roan Tustin and an 18-yard pass by Crouse to Blair, and was capped by Tennant无毛视频檚 6-yard touchdown run.
West Green responded with its best drive of the night, an 11-play, 56-yard march, highlighted by Rizor无毛视频檚 11-yard completion to Matthew Wassil on a fourth-and-7 play. Jacob Orndoff capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run with eight seconds left in the third quarter.
无毛视频淚t was encouraging to see us continue to play hard, put together a nice drive and get a touchdown there from Jacob,无毛视频� Jackson said.
The Raiders无毛视频� final drive lasted 11 plays, again covered 64 yards, and was finished off with a 1-yard TD burst by Jackson Brunell.
Crouse was the Raiders无毛视频� leading rusher with six carries for 70 yards.
Rizor paced West Greene with 16 carries for 29 yards and Cunningham, also a freshman, had 10 attempts for 26 yards.
Jackson cautioned his players to not get discouraged by the loss.
无毛视频淚 told them it无毛视频檚 just one game so let无毛视频檚 not put our heads down about it,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淲e don无毛视频檛 like the way we performed and executed but again that无毛视频檚 a good team over there we played. I told our seniors that our coaching staff is going to give us everything that we have and I hope that they respond to that as well.无毛视频�
Kuhns, whose first head coaching job was at Waynesburg from 2009 to 2011 followed by stints at California and his alma mater Beth-Center before joining the PennWest California coaching staff, last coached in high school with the Bulldogs in 2021.
无毛视频淚 think I无毛视频檓 a little more calm now than when I was doing it before,无毛视频� Kuhns said. 无毛视频淚 just want to have fun, don无毛视频檛 stress about it. If these kids can perform like this then I won无毛视频檛 be stressed much I guess,无毛视频� Kuhns added with a laugh.
Kuhns无毛视频� son Colby is a member of the Raiders无毛视频� staff.
无毛视频淢y son无毛视频檚 coaching with me now and he got to call the JV offense (in the fourth quarter),无毛视频� Kuhn said. 无毛视频淗e told me hey, that无毛视频檚 cool, and I told him now you know why I love it so much.无毛视频�
As for what he told his team after the victory, Kuhns said, 无毛视频淭hat无毛视频檚 the first one. The fuse is lit for the 2025 season. Let无毛视频檚 keep it burning.无毛视频�