McKeesport tops FR, sets up showdown with Gateway

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 19, 2018 | 11:09 PM

Previous Next

Previous Next

McKeesport coach Matt Miller called the final two games of the regular season as revenge games.

That’s because during the 2017 season, Franklin Regional and Gateway were the only teams to defeat his Tigers.

One down and one to go for McKeesport after it dominated Franklin Regional, 36-16, on senior night at Weigle-Schaeffer Memorial Stadium.

McKeesport (8-1, 5-1) will face No. 1 Gateway (9-0, 6-0) in a first-place showdown in the WPIAL Class 5A Big East Conference next Friday. The Tigers and the Gators have clinched playoff berths and are looking for home-field advantage in first round of the playoffs.

“One down, and the big one next week,” Miller said. “The conference title will be on the line. We have a tough road in front of us.”

Franklin Regional (6-2, 4-2), which also has clinched a playoff berth, travels to neighboring rival Penn-Trafford looking to bounce back from its second lopsided loss in the past three weeks. They lost to Gateway, 63-3, on Oct. 5.

McKeesport set the tone on its first drive. A big kickoff return by Devin Sims set up the 11-play, 57-yard drive that senior Konota Gaskins finished off with a 1-yard run. Gaskins ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0.

Ten seconds later, the Tigers were celebrating another score. This time, it was Sims recovering a high snap over Franklin Regional quarterback Adam Rudzinski’s head in the end zone for a 15-0 lead.

“That long drive and that high snap killed us,” Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta said. “Teams like McKeesport, Gateway and Penn-Trafford, you can’t give up 15 points so easy and expected to win a football game.

“We couldn’t duplicate what we did to them defensively last year. That’s a heck of a football team. It took us awhile to get up to their speed, and I was very disappointed with our play in the first half. I saw our heads dragging. We were down, and I ripped them at halftime.”

Franklin Regional did little right the first half. The Tigers put together a 10-play, 59-yard drive with Gaskins capping it with a 3-yard run to make it 22-0 in the second quarter.

Gaskins hit Deamontae Diggs for 57 yards during the drive. They also connected two more times late in the first half for touchdowns of 45 and 35 yards.

The second connection came 16 seconds after the first one, following a Franklin Regional fumble on the kickoff.

“I thought we had good coverage on all three passes,” Botta said. “Their kid made the play, and we didn’t.”

Gaskins completed 3 of 6 passes for 137 yards, all to Diggs, and two scores. Those scores made it 36-0 at halftime and invoked the mercy rule — running clock because of a 35-point lead — for the second half.

“Having a dual-threat quarterback is tough to defend,” Miller said. “Being able to throw a couple touchdown passes took the wind out of their sails. The defensive touchdown was also huge.”

Franklin Regional did what its coach wanted after halftime: win the second half.

The Panthers got a big spark with a 41-yard fumble return by Mike Evans to the McKeesport 29.

Evans finished the drive by catching a 5-yard pass from Rudzinski.

A little later, Colton Johns tackled Gaskins in the end zone for a safety to make it 36-9 and after the free-kick, Rudzinski hit Evans with a 35-yard touchdown pass to make it 36-16 with 7:52 to play.

“I’m glad Matt kept his starters in,” Botta said. “That made the second-half performance by the players more important. But they’re a tough offense to stop, especially with Gaskins. He continued to get better all season.”

Gaskins said he felt his team let up a little in the second half, something it can’t afford next week at Gateway.

“The upcoming game is something we’ve been looking forward to,” he said. “We just have to prepare like we have in the previous weeks. We’re going to have to execute. We can’t be lackadaisical and we have to finish.”

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Franklin Regional, McKeesport