GCC hangs on against Monessen to give Bret Colbert his 1st coaching win

By: Zack Zeigler
Friday, August 23, 2019 | 11:48 PM

Week Zero presents a chance for some of the top teams across the WPIAL to play nonconference games as they prepare for their conference schedules.

Greensburg Central Catholic coach Bret Colbert will remember Friday’s opener against Monessen as his Centurions held off a late rally to earn a 21-18 win. It was Colbert’s first coaching victory.

Colbert said while it was great to get his first win, it was just like any other win he had in his career.

“I’m just part of this,” he said. “I just had fun, and I am out here having fun. Whether I am a head coach or an assistant, I am just out here with these guys having fun.”

After both teams were forced to punt on their first possession, the Greyhounds took the ball at their own 44-yard line. After a 24-yard run by Isaiah Beltram, Monessen took advantage of two key Centurion penalties that set them up with first-and-goal on the Centurions 10-yard line.

The Greyhounds would push the ball to the 6-yard line and faced a fourth-and-goal. Greensburg Central would jump offsides giving Monessen a chance at the 3-yard line, and Jalen Brice ran up middle for a score to give the Greyhounds a 6-0 lead with 3:35 to go in the first.

“We expect that quick offense early on,” Monessen coach Mike Blainefield said. “We expect to come out firing, and today it was nice to have contact with a different team. We expected to be up early. I just knew we had to get that hold and try to stay stable.

“It has been a long time since we faced those guys. It was nice to get back out on the field, but we just ran out of gas there at the end. There were simple mistakes we couldn’t recover from, and that’s what did us in.”

Defense ruled the final three minutes of the first as Monessen forced a GCC fumble on the ensuing possession. However, three plays later the Centurions took the ball back on a Luke Mazowiecki interception. The quarter would end with Monessen still clinging to its 6-0 lead.

Mazowiecki was at it again in the second quarter grabbing his second interception of the game and setting up the Centurions with a first-and-goal at the Greyhounds 10-yard line. David Altimore would give his team its first lead of the game two plays later, finding Ben LaCarte in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown to give the Centurions a 7-6 lead.

“I was not surprised at all by Mazowiecki,” Colbert said. “He is always in position and always ready to go. He kind of calls the defense and makes sure everyone is lined up and ready to go. He is always around the ball.”

After forcing a three-and-out, Altimore connected with Brandon Brown for a 61-yard touchdown to extend GCC’s lead to 14-6 with 4:43 to go before halftime.

“We were just thinking there is no lead that is comfortable,” said Colbert. “As you can tell in this game, we were not comfortable until the end of the game.”

Monessen put together a drive to end the half, going 30 yards to the Centurions 20-yard line with 40 seconds remaining. Elijah Davis tossed a pass toward Darius Stevenson in the end zone on a flea-flicker, but Davis was past the line of scrimmage, forcing a turnover on downs.

GCC took a knee to head into halftime with the Centurions leading Monessen, 14-6.

The Centurions came out firing in the second half, taking the ball down to the Monessen 23 in their first drive. Altimore capped it by hitting Brandon Brown with a 23-yard scoring strike to extend the Centurions’ lead to 21-6.

“Obviously, we needed that last score,” Colbert said. “We’re always trying to get more, but getting that extra score was big for us.”

Monessen answered on the next drive, taking the ball 80 yards on 12 plays and eating up just under seven minutes. Isaiah Beltram scored on a sweep to cut the GCC lead to 21-12.

Monessen blocked a GCC punt with 1:44 left in the game, putting the Greyhounds at the GCC 17. It took Monessen just four plays to get into the end zone on a Jalen Brice 2-yard touchdown run, bringing the score to 21-18 with 28 seconds to play.

“(The final drive) lets us know that it’s not over,” Blainefield said. “We still got room to improve, and we can still fight through games for all four quarters.”

Monessen attempted an onside kick, but it was unsuccessful and Greensburg Central took a knee to end the game.

Despite the loss, it was a big game for Beltram, who rushed for 154 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Blainfield has seen Beltram work hard all offseason and knew it was a matter of time before he broke out.

“(Beltram) is coming off a phenomenal offseason,” Blainefield said. “He did very well carrying the ball, and he is working through some injuries right now. We have a lot of carries for that kid and there will be many more 100-yard games from him.”

Monessen returns to Class A Tri-County South action next week when it takes on California, and Greensburg Central faces Class A Eastern Conference foe Riverview.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Monessen