Strong 2nd half helps Greensburg Central Catholic top Mt. Pleasant in coach’s debut

By: Nathan Breisinger
Friday, August 25, 2023 | 11:39 PM

After nearly being shut out in the first half, Greensburg Central Catholic broke through on a Samir Crosby 40-yard touchdown reception as the Centurions never looked back to clinch the first victory of the JT Thompson era, defeating Mt. Pleasant, 37-24, on Friday.

After 20 years of coaching in college, Thompson’s first high school football win was one he will remember.

“It’s emotional,” he said. “When you take over a program and put all that work, commitment and time into it and to see it pay off is awesome.”

While it took some time to see the offseason work come to fruition, Tyree Turner’s connection with Crosby for the biggest play of the first half boosted the offense. Crosby took off on a go route and blew past the secondary for a 40-yard touchdown to close the gap to 9-7 and change the course of the game.

“I was trying to do my best to get the team some momentum to go back in the half with, so I was just thinking of getting in the end zone,” Crosby said.

When looking at the Centurions roster, Crosby is listed as an athlete, and he displayed exactly why that’s the case. Crosby finished with seven receptions for 153 yards, along with a passing touchdown and two interceptions.

“He is an electric football player,” Thompson said. “You get the ball in his hands, he’s hard to tackle. He’s quick. He’s elusive. He’s fast. He’s talented to the point where he can play quarterback, and he made some great scrambling throws on the run.”

One of those plays that was evident of that was the sophomore’s first drive under center for a banged-up Turner. On the first play, the ball was mishandled, which left Crosby scrambling in the end zone. Yet, he was able to get away from danger and fire a dart to Nick Dlugos.

Crosby would finish that drive by flashing similar athleticism by evading two tacklers and tossing a 10-yard pass to Evan Stasko to go up 18.

While Crosby played one series at quarterback, the rest of the evening featured Turner as the signal caller. The 6-foot senior completed 14 of 16 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.

“Me and (Turner) have that connection,” Crosby said. “He’s been teaching me stuff, and he’s a good mentor to be under.”

For Mt. Pleasant, the Wing-T offense found success early as the Vikings pushed the Centurions on their heels all the way down to the goal line on the first three drives.

After missing an opening field goal, the Vikings capitalized on a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Garrett Eicher on the next possession.

From there, the Vikings did not help themselves. Two muffed punts by Luke Nicotera, two interceptions from quarterback Cole Chatfield and a fumble from Eicher allowed Greensburg Central Catholic to pull away in the second half.

“Five turnovers is the whole difference,” Mt. Pleasant coach Jason Fazekas said. “It’s hard to overcome those, so we are going to look to correct those.”

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Mt. Pleasant