OLSH loses star QB in warmups; No. 1 Bishop Canevin clinches 1st conference title since ’11

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, October 23, 2022 | 12:18 AM

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Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s Nehemiah Azeem is one of the WPIAL’s top passers, but 15 minutes before kickoff, the Chargers found out they wouldn’t have him in the lineup.

The quarterback hurt his knee during pregame warmups at Dormont Stadium, leaving OLSH in a dire spot as No. 1 ranked Bishop Canevin rolled to a 40-0 win Saturday night in a rematch of last year’s WPIAL Class A final. The victory clinched at least a share of the Black Hills title for the Crusaders, who now appreciate their own quarterback depth just a bit more.

Bishop Canevin junior Jason Cross passed for a touchdown and rushed for two more, but he’s not the only quarterback on the roster. Sophomore QB Kole Olszewski has thrown for more than 1,000 yards this season, but he wasn’t needed much in this lopsided win over OLSH.

“Everybody always tells us, ‘Why do you always go with two?’” Bishop Canevin coach Rich Johnson said. “The old saying is, ‘If you have two, you’ve got none.’ But we’ve got two. Sometimes one is hot and one is cold. They complement each other.”

The conference title was the 11th overall for Bishop Canevin (8-1, 6-0) and the first since 2011.

“It means a lot, but we’re not done yet,” said Cross, who led the Crusaders on four first-half touchdown drives and a 34-0 halftime lead. “We worked for it. We knew what we wanted. We got it.”

Canevin completes its schedule next week at Carlynton (0-9, 0-6), with a chance to claim the conference title outright.

OLSH (7-2, 4-2) started wide receiver Dorrien Tate at quarterback, and later tried running backs Brandon Brazell and BJ Vaughn behind center, but never got the offense going. The Chargers didn’t earn a first down until the third quarter.

Azeem ranks third among WPIAL passers with 1,963 yards, but “twisted something” during warmups while rolling out, causing his knee to swell, OLSH coach Donnie Militzer said.

Combined, OLSH’s three fill-in quarterbacks went 4 for 19 passing for 18 yards.

“You can’t replace No. 2,” Militzer said of Azeem. “Literally, 15 minutes before the game, we’re getting someone ready to play quarterback. That’s not an ideal situation, but I’ve got to do a better job as a head coach to make sure we have somebody ready if that happens. But you don’t expect it, that’s for sure.”

OLSH’s playoff status remained in limbo. The Chargers host Cornell (3-3) next week and would be guaranteed a spot with a win.

Canevin’s players and coaches were surprised when OLSH took the field Friday without Azeem.

“When we came out, he didn’t come out,” Johnson said. “We saw him walking gingerly over. We didn’t know what was going on.”

“Regardless of whether they had him or not, we knew what we were coming into the game to do,” Cross said. “We handled business.”

Cross completed 4 of 11 passes for 103 yards and threw a 40-yard touchdown to Tyjer Clayton early in the first quarter. Cross added a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs before half.

The Crusaders scored on four of six possessions in the first half. A’Zjaun Marshall scored on a 23-yard run, and Xavier Nelson added a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The score remained 34-0 until Canevin’s Matthew Mickle scored on a 63-yard touchdown run in the middle of the fourth quarter. With a 40-point lead, the clock ran continuously for the final five and a half minutes under the mercy rule.

“We didn’t execute perfectly,” Johnson said, “but if we can win games by 40 and we don’t execute perfectly, you can’t get too mad.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Bishop Canevin