Jeannette gives coach Roy Hall his 100th career win in rout of Avella

By: Kevin Lohman
Friday, September 13, 2019 | 9:41 PM

Before the first quarter was over, Jeannette’s Roy Hall had a pretty good idea he was about to record the 100th victory of his coaching career Friday night.

The Jayhawks scored five touchdowns in the first nine minutes of the game at McKee Stadium, rolling to a 54-0 nonsection win over Avella.

On offense, Jeannette (4-0, 2-0) scored on three of its first five plays from scrimmage. Quarterback James Sanders hit Jackson Pruitt for two scores, first a 16-yarder, then a 10-yarder. After that, Sanders notched his third touchdown pass of the quarter on a 17-yard toss to Bayley Molter.

On defense, the No. 1-ranked team scored twice during Avella’s first 10 plays. After Jeannette forced fumbles to end the first two offensive drives for the Eagles (1-3, 0-1), Pruitt returned an interception 39 yards for a score. On Avella’s fourth drive, Jayhawks sophomore Brett Birch took a pick-six 69 yards to the end zone.

“As a coach, you have to be happy with the way things went out there,” Hall said. “But you always see things you need to work on, too. Other than that stuff, we scored every time we touched the ball with the exception of two or three drives.

“I’m just proud of them. The first two times they touched the ball, we forced turnovers and then capitalized on them. That’s what you want to see as a coach.”

We want to congratulate coach Roy Hall on earning his 100th win tonight. All 100 wins came as the head coach of the Jayhawks ! Great job coach, and congrats on 100! pic.twitter.com/WTQmDR9xbf

— Jeannette Sports (@Jhawkathletics) September 14, 2019

Sanders finished 5 for 5 passing for 54 yards and three touchdowns. Pruitt had two catches for 26 yards and two scores. Birch intercepted two passes, including the pick-six.

Jayhawks running back Imani Sanders finished with 60 yards on three carries, including a 46-yard rushing score in the second half.

Jeannette’s backups impressed as well, with freshman Amari Mack recording an interception on defense to go along with a 10-yard rushing score.

Sophomore Basil Wilson also got in on the action with a fourth-quarter, 5-yard TD run.

“I’ve been coaching here for 34 years. This is my 11th season as head coach. This is probably the most talented group of freshmen that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Hall said. “Every week, they’re getting better and better, and they take advantage of those opportunities to spell the starters. They’re hungry to play.”

The Eagles battled hard through all four quarters, and while they didn’t rack up the offensive stats, they did come through on defense with a number of stops in the second half. Avella defensive back Tanner Terensky aided in that department with an interception. Still, the Jayhawks were simply too much for head coach Ryan Cecchini’s team.

“They’re ranked No. 1 in WPIAL Class A for a reason,” Cecchini said. “They’re a tremendous team. We’ve been beat up the last few weeks and coming in here with just 17 guys is tough. We settled down in the second half and played better. It was a tough week for us but we gave it our all.”

Tags: Avella, Jeannette