Unbeaten West Jefferson hands Catholic Central first loss

A 47-27 loss to West Jefferson (5-0) on Friday at Hallinean Field slowed Catholic Central’s momentum, but the Irish (4-1) showed again how much they’ve improved by scoring one more point than the first four teams the Roughriders faced combined to score.

“Our two starting tackles were quarantined and we were already short (on players),” second-year Catholic Central coach Ty Myers said. “I think the first half we stayed with them. We were competitive. But they’ve got 70 kids, and we dressed 17. At the end of the day, I’m proud of the way our boys fought. The coaches knew going into this game we would need a lot of luck because of our numbers. They just wore us down.”

West Jefferson reached the halfway point of the regular season undefeated for the third time in the last five seasons. It outscored its first four opponents Urbana, Paint Valley, Greenon and Cedarville 170-26. The Irish were almost as dominant, beating Lancaster Fairfield Christian, Grove City Christian, West Liberty-Salem and Triad 165-26.

The Roughriders led the Irish 18-14 at halftime. Catholic Central stayed in the game thanks to two big plays.

Ashton Young recovered a fumble by teammate Daniel Kamara and ran 62 yards for a touchdown with 6:16 left in the first half. Then after a 1-yard touchdown run by Spencer George extended West Jefferson’s lead to 18-7, Young returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.

Those were the eighth and ninth scores of the season for Young, who had four receiving touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and a return touchdown in the first four games.

“That kid’s the best athlete in the OHC,” Myers said. “He’s lightning in the bottle. They started kicking away from him. Sometimes he takes on eight or nine guys by himself. Phenomenal athlete and even a better kid. He’s a monster.”

West Jefferson took control with two touchdowns in the third quarter. Tyler Buescher threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to MJ Book, and then George ran for an 8-yard score.

The Irish scored their final two touchdowns on short runs by Tyler Young in the fourth quarter.

Catholic Central, which last week reached 4-0 for the first time since 2016 when it finished 6-4, was seeking its first 5-0 start since 2007, when it finished the regular season 10-0 and reached the state semifinals.

This was the second meeting between Catholic Central and West Jefferson since West Jefferson joined the OHC in 2018. West Jefferson beat the Irish 55-6 that season.

Catholic Central (4-1) will start Ohio Heritage Conference South Division play in Week 6 at Madison Plains. Entering this week, the Irish had as many victories as the other five teams in the division combined.

“Our confidence is high,” Myers said. “When I first took over, a lot of kids had the loser mentality. Whenever they got a little adversity, a little uncomfortable, they wanted to quit. We had to get them used to being uncomfortable. We’re playing ironman football. You’ve got to be in tip-top shape. You got to take some lumps. You’ve got to fight through some things. I think our total mindset in our culture has changed.”