Greensburg CC holds off Leechburg in Eastern Conference showdown

By: Michael Love
Friday, October 25, 2024 | 10:43 PM

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Second place in the Eastern Conference and a possible home playoff game were up for grabs between Leechburg and Greensburg Central Catholic on Friday at Leechburg Veterans Stadium.

The Blue Devils and Centurions went down to the wire.

The GCC defense made one final stand with just over a minute left to preserve a 20-16 victory and put somewhat of a damper on what was a festive Leechburg senior night.

“This win was huge,” Centurions coach John Thompson said.

“To come out here on their senior night — I know it was emotional for them, their parents, and the crowd that showed to support them — we responded. Leechburg is a really good football team. They’re well coached, and those kids played hard.”

GCC was back on the field for the first time in two weeks after Frazier canceled last week’s conference game because of too many injuries and for the safety of its players.

“You could tell we were rusty in the beginning, and with a lot of penalties, that’s not like us,” Thompson said. “Down at halftime, we came back in the second half and played Centurion football the way we are capable.”

GCC defeated Leechburg for the third year in a row, improved to 6-2 overall and finished 5-1 in conference play.

Leechburg, in the WPIAL playoffs for the fourth year in a row after a postseason drought that extended back to 1988, fell to 8-2 overall and ended conference play at 5-2.

“We needed to play a lot better. We made a lot of mistakes,” Blue Devils coach Randy Walters said.

“But we still played hard, and the last time I checked, we’re 8-2. So, we’re going to find out where we fall in the bracket, and we play next week. There are a lot of teams not playing next week. I told the guys I’m proud of them, but we need to clean up a lot of little things.”

Both teams will find out their playoff fates Saturday afternoon as the WPIAL pairings for Class A and the other five classifications will be revealed.

Trib HSSN will have a live pairings show breaking down the matchups at 3 p.m. on tribhssn.triblive.com.

“We’re excited to see who we will get, and we’ll get to work,” Thompson said.

GCC, ahead by four down the stretch in the fourth quarter, looked to seal the win as they drove inside the Leechburg 10.

But on fourth-and-goal from the 2, Samir Crosby, who threw for 146 yards and ran for 149 more, was stopped by the Blue Devils defense for no gain.

With 2:52 left, Leechburg had life, but they had to go 98 yards for the win.

Blue Devils senior Jayden Floyd, who finished 13 of 32 for 143 yards, completed passes of 22 yards to Rocco Vigna and 13 to senior Jake Cummings as Leechburg set up with a first down at its 39.

But the GCC defense forced four straight Floyd incompletions to end the Blue Devils’ rally attempt.

“The defense really stepped up,” Thompson said.

“We wanted to score there, but we had them pinned down near their goal line. We knew what they had to do. They were going to take shots, and they made a couple of plays. The guys never broke. They just kept playing hard. To be able to get those stops, that was huge.”

“We had to throw the ball, and they came up and pressed a little bit,” Walters said.

“I think Jayden made a couple throws where he got rushed a little bit. But (GCC’s defense) played hard and made some nice plays. And our defense came up big to give us a shot at the end.”

Leechburg came out of halftime leading 10-7, but Crosby and the GCC offense turned the deficit in to a 10-point advantage.

The Centurions scored on their first two second-half possessions as Crosby capped both with TD scampers of 11 and 19 yards to lift GCC to a 20-10 advantage.

“(GCC) did a great job with their (offensive) game plan,” Walters said.

“Crosby is an incredible athlete. He was hard to tackle all night. And he threw the ball well, too.”

Leechburg got back to within one score late in the third quarter as Floyd scored on a 1-yard plunge.

The Mason Scitticatt point-after kick was blocked, keeping GCC ahead by four.

Floyd finished with 12 carries for 50 yards.

“Floyd is such a dangerous player,” Thompson said. “He can make so many plays, and he runs that offensive so well. We did a nice job limiting many big runs.”

GCC took the opening kick and marched 65 yards in 11 plays. A 13-yard completion from Crosby to Jackson McMullen capped the drive, and the point-after from Gerald Davis made it 7-0 Centurions with 5:54 left in the first quarter.

Leechburg drove to the GCC 29 on its first time with the ball but was forced to turn it over on downs.

The Centurions were unable to capitalize and had to punt from its 28.

This time, the Blue Devils made the most of their second chance with the ball.

A 51-yard toss by Floyd to Brady Rollinger on the first play of the drive set Leechburg up at the GCC 22. Six plays later, Cummings found the end zone from 2 yards.

Scitticatt added the point-after, and the game was knotted at 7 with 6:23 left in the first half.

Rollinger caught five of Floyd’s passes for 83 yards.

The Blue Devils defense stiffened again and forced a second Centurions punt.

From its own 25, Leechburg took the ball to the Centurions 7 in 11 plays. The Blue Devils weren’t able to punch it in on third down, so Scitticatt was called upon to give Leechburg the lead.

He did just that with a 22-yard field goal with 33 seconds left until the break.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Leechburg