Westinghouse cements itself as City League favorite with 38-7 win over Allderdice
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Friday, September 23, 2022 | 12:14 AM
Westinghouse’s Sincere Smith catches a touchdown pass past Allderdice’s Hausan Marshall during their game on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Sincere Smith (8) celebrates his third touchdown with Taymir O’Neal during their game against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Deshaun Blackwell celebrates a Bulldogs touchdown with teammates during their game against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse quarterback Keyshawn Morsillo eludes Allderdice’s Sha’ heem Bey during their game on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Sincere Smith (8) celebrates his first touchdown with Terrell Searcy (53) during their game against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Ty Abrams blocks a kick by Allderdice punter Jah Maldanado during their game on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse quarterback Keyshawn Morsillo carries past Allderdice defenders during their game on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Sincere Smith (8) celebrates a Bulldogs touchdown with quarterback Keyshawn Morsillo (4) and Lloyd Penn during their game against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Musa Bangora scoops and scores against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Troy Brown pressures Allderdice punter Jah Maldanado during their game on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse quarterback Keyshawn Morsillo looks to pass against Allderdice during the first quarter on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse’s Sincere Smith scores a touchdown against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Westinghouse quarterback Keyshawn Morsillo (right) celebrates with Sincere Smith after connecting for a touchdown during their game against Allderdice on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Allderdice quarterback Azerick Jetter throws a pass against Westinghouse on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Allderdice’s Cornell Weems battles Westinghouse’s Keyshaun Robinson for a pass during their game on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.
Keyshawn Morsillo threw three touchdowns Thursday night and helped Westinghouse solidified itself as the team to beat in the City League with a 38-7 victory over Allderdice at Cupples Stadium.
The game was a rematch of last year’s city championship game, won by Allderdice.
Westinghouse’s performance wasn’t always dynamic — Morsillo passed for only 100 yards — but the Bulldogs as a team were opportunistic. Along with Morsillo’s three TDs, Westinghouse (5-0, 3-0) returned a fumble for a touchdown and took a kickoff to the end zone.
“We had something to prove, but that wasn’t even our best football right there,” said Morsillo, who threw touchdown passes of 13 and 45 yards to Sincere Smith and a 14-yarder to Lloyd Penn. “We had a lot of mistakes going on. We should have had 60 on the board, if I’m being honest.”
Thirty-eight points were more than enough on this night against Allderdice (1-4, 1-1), which was held to 48 yards from scrimmage in the first half. The Dragons scored their only touchdown on an 8-yard catch by Cornell Weems shortly before halftime, but by then, they already were trailing by 22 points.
Both teams were hurt by turnovers and penalties, but some of Allderdice’s mistakes led directly to Westinghouse points.
In the second quarter, the Dragons botched a punt attempt under heavy pressure, and Westinghouse’s Musa Bangora scooped up the fumble and returned it 28 yards for a 22-0 lead. Later in the quarter, Westinghouse’s Roderick Jeter returned a kickoff 67 yards for a 30-7 halftime lead.
“You can’t make the mistakes we make,” Allderdice coach Jerry Haslett said. “We make too many mistakes. In football, the team that makes the most mistakes is going to lose. That’s what happened.”
Yet, if Allderdice needs any encouragement, the Dragons can look to last season. In 2021, Westinghouse won 41-12 in the regular season and Allderdice bounced back to win 14-0 in the City League finals.
“It’s been that way back and forth for the last five or six years,” Haslett said. “We get them, they get us. They get us, we get them. We’ll see them again.”
Westinghouse scored on its first possession, a 13-yard touchdown from Morsillo to Smith for a 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs had a short field after Jeter returned an interception to Allderdice’s 30.
Allderdice quarterback Azerick Jetter completed 6 of 23 passes for 71 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
A 14-yard touchdown pass from Morsillo to Penn pushed Westinghouse’s lead to 14-0 with about seven minutes left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs then scored the two return touchdowns to lead 30-7.
Smith added a 45-yard TD catch on the first possession of the third quarter.
“We spread the ball around,” said Morsillo, who completed 7 of 14 passes. “We’ve got key guys at every position — wide receivers, running backs, the backup quarterback — everybody’s getting the ball.”
Westinghouse is chasing its third City League title in four seasons.
After winning in 2019 and ’20, they were disappointed a year ago when Allderdice beat them in the finals. But Thursday’s win was more about the future than the past, said Bulldogs assistant James Cowart, who filled in as head coach.
Coach Donta Green, ejected from a previous game, was unavailable Thursday.
“Those kids who beat us in the (2021) championship, half of them aren’t here anymore,” Cowart said. “There’s nothing we can do about 2021. It’s about us. … Our goals are bigger than the city. We want to be playing football at Thanksgiving time.”
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: Allderdice, Westinghouse
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