Mt. Pleasant routs Uniontown, earns playoff berth

By: Mike Ciarochi
Friday, October 25, 2019 | 10:53 PM

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Mt. Pleasant qualified for the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs with a 35-8 win at Uniontown on Friday night, getting a bit of help from a few other Big East Conference teams along the way.

Coach Jason Fazekas knew his Vikings did all they possibly could have done. The rest — making the playoffs or not — was out of their hands.

Either way, whether they’d be getting ready for a long road trip and a playoff opener next Friday or settling back into the offseason, Fazekas and the Vikings knew when they left the Bill Power Stadium field that they could do so with their heads held high.

“Hey, we won five football games this year,” Fazekas said. “After the struggles we went through last season, I’ll take this any day of the week.”

The Vikings finished 2-8 in Fazekas’ first season last year.

“Last year took so much out of us,” he said. “I mean, I love Viking football and so do these kids. We won five football games and I am so thankful for that. We just came into the year working hard every day to get better. We were just determined that this year has to be better. We wanted to compete and we did that.”

A 2-5 start was not on the mind of any Viking fan, coach or player, but Mt. Pleasant overcame its poor start by winning three of its last four games. Still, the Vikings needed help to qualify for the playoffs.

One shoe fell when Deer Lakes lost to Big East Conference champion North Catholic, 42-21. The other fell when Derry beat Burrell, 56-32, to send the Vikings to the playoffs.

As for this game, Mt. Pleasant relied on its run game, as usual, to hand Uniontown its 32nd consecutive loss and 20th straight home loss. The Red Raiders (0-10) haven’t tasted victory since Oct. 14, 2016, a 27-10 win at rival Laurel Highlands.

Jake Johnson paced the ground game by running for 102 of his 117 rushing yards in the first half. He had 39 in the first quarter, with Aaron Alakson getting a 1-yard scoring run for a 7-0 Mt. Pleasant lead after one.

“We knew they could run the ball,” Uniontown coach Cedric Lloyd said. “They can pound you if you give up your gaps.”

Johnson scored twice in the second quarter as the Vikings opened up a 21-0 halftime lead. He scored on a 29-yard run 4 minutes, 33 seconds before halftime and pulled in a 45-yard pass from Asher O’Conner on the last play of the half.

Mt. Pleasant got the ball back after a Uniontown punt with 18 seconds left in the half and the TD catch and run came one play after O’Conner hooked up with Johnson on a 7-yard play.

“They are not a throwing team, so you don’t expect it,” Lloyd said. “But they executed and we didn’t.”

The Vikings added two touchdowns early in the third quarter to invoke the mercy rule. O’Conner passed to Jonas King for 23 yards before Zac Sellinger picked up a fumbled punt snap and ran it in from the 3 for the last Mt. Pleasant score.

Defensively, Mt. Pleasant limited Uniontown to three yards of offense in the first three quarters before the reserves took over.

“We coached and practiced and took nothing for granted this week,” Fazekas said. “We have been solid on defense for most of the season and tonight was no exception.”

Uniontown picked up 71 yards on the ground in the fourth quarter on three plays, including Torry Robinson’s 38-yard scoring run at 8:50. Robinson passed to Braxton Swaney for the 2-point conversion to cap the scoring.

Tags: Mt. Pleasant, Uniontown