McKeesport’s passing fancy produces 54-0 win over Plum

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 22, 2018 | 11:11 PM

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McKeesport’s flexbone option offense provides enough matchup problems for opposing defenses, but the Tigers threw in another dangerous wrinkle against Plum: a proficient passing attack.

Konota Gaskins threw four touchdown passes, and McKeesport dealt Plum its fourth consecutive loss with a 54-0 rout in a Class 5A Big East game Saturday afternoon at Weigle-Schaeffer Memorial Stadium.

“It’s very nice,” said Gaskins, a senior. “Honestly, I never would have thought I’d have the opportunity to (throw that much), but coach (Matt) Miller is an open-minded coach, and that’s what he did. It’s honestly really nice.”

Gaskins threw five passes, completing four of them — 22-, 20- and 6-yard touchdown strikes to Deamontae Diggs in the first half and a 55-yard flip to Quaran Sayles in the second half.

There were times McKeesport didn’t throw four touchdown passes in a season, let alone a game, given the Tigers’ usual reliance on a powerful run game.

That element was working against Plum, too, as the Tigers (4-1, 3-1) rolled up 279 yards on the ground to go along with Gaskins’ 103 through the air. Gaskins led the way with 92 rushing yards, and Sayles (36 yards), Taiveon Baker (9), Marcquis Butler (5) and backup quarterback Terrance Glenn (32) ran for touchdowns.

“For the most part, we were doing our job, (and) we shut them down,” Plum coach Matt Morgan said. “But the thing with this offense is, if you don’t do your job, they make you hurt, make you bleed. They were doing a good job with that. It comes with experience, and some of (our) guys are brand new doing it.”

McKeesport was coming off an uncharacteristic down offensive performance in a 20-9 loss to Penn-Trafford, a game in which the Tigers lost four fumbles. Despite another two turnovers Saturday, the offense was humming for most of the afternoon.

“We put a lot of work in this week to try to get back to where we were a couple weeks ago,” Miller said. “We took a little step backwards (last week) — Penn-Trafford’s a great football team and caused us some problems — so we worked on our stuff, and it obviously worked out pretty well today.”

After McKeesport took a 7-0 lead on Sayles’ touchdown run on its opening possession, Gaskins hit Diggs three times for scores to give the Tigers a four-touchdown lead at halftime.

Gaskins took advantage of single coverage on the 6-foot-5 Diggs, especially on the second and third score. The 20-yarder came on fourth down, when Gaskins threw the ball up for grabs in the back of the end zone and Diggs came down with it, and the 6-yarder was a fade route.

“It’s always something I would love to (take advantage of), but sometimes it doesn’t work into our schemes,” Gaskins said.

Plum (1-4, 0-4) was shut out for the second time in the past three weeks; the Mustangs have lost four straight games since a Week Zero win over Highlands and have been outscored, 184-13, in that span.

Saturday Plum got running back James Schropp back from injury, and he rushed for a team-high 67 yards. Quarterback Hunter Linhart added 49 yards passing, but the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs three times in McKeesport territory, including twice in the first half when the score was within reach.

A botched punt also set McKeesport up at the Mustangs’ 6-yard line late in the first half, and the Tigers converted on the next play.

“I thought we played tough in the first half,” Morgan said. “The kids gave a lot in the first half. We have some new guys in there playing positions they’ve never really played before. Some mistakes were made, and a couple hiccups at the end of the first half when they scored two quick touchdowns on us, you can’t make those mistakes and expect to do it against a team like McKeesport.”

Plum hosts Penn-Trafford next week, and McKeesport heads to Latrobe.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: McKeesport, Plum