Top-ranked Jeannette rolls past No. 2 Imani Christian in Class A showdown

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 7, 2018 | 11:23 PM

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Imani Christian will have to wait a few more months to possibly avenge two 2017 defeats to Jeannette.

That’s because the No. 1 Jayhawks showed the No. 2 Saints that to road to the WPIAL Class A title runs through Jeannette with a 28-12 Eastern Conference victory.

The Jayhawks also defeated Imani during the regular season and in the championship game by a point last fall.

Imani wide receiver Rahmon Hart Jr. and his teammates felt they should have been the WPIAL champions. Instead, Jeannette went on to win its second PIAA championship.

“The entire team stepped up,” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said. “Imani coach (Ronnell Heard) said his team had the best defense in Class A, and our players took that personally. They had something to prove.”

Jackson Pruitt returned an interception 42 yards on the first play of the game, and Marcus Barnes caught three touchdown passes from Seth Howard as Jeannette (3-0, 2-0) rolled to the win at McKee Stadium.

“I told Jackson because they completed things against him last year, that they’d come after him,” Hall said. “He stepped up on the first play and the entire defense did the entire game.”

Jeannette’s defense didn’t allow Hart Jr. to reach the end zone. The first pass from Israel Reed to Hart Jr. was picked off by Pruitt.

Reed completed 12 of 28 passes for 122 yards and three interceptions.

Howard and Zach Berginc also picked off Reed. Hart Jr. had six catches for 69 yards.

Barnes, who finished with eight catches for 122 yards, caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Howard to give Jeannette a 14-0 lead not even two minutes into the game.

Imani struck on the ensuing kickoff when Tevaughn Alston returned it 84 yards for a score.

But Barnes and Jeannette quickly answered as Barnes hauled in a 3-yard pass to make it 21-6 midway through the opening quarter.

“Seth played well,” Hall said. “We had opportunities to score two or three more touchdowns, which is something we have to work on.”

Penalties and turnovers derailed scoring opportunities for both teams in the second quarter, but Imani finally put together a scoring drive to trim the deficit to 21-12 in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Juaron Thompson.

The humid night took its toll on the Saints in the second half as they had numerous players go down with cramps. Many players could hardly walk off the field after the game.

The game was also delayed for more than 20 minutes with 8:45 left when DaShaun Wright was injured and was taken from the field on a stretcher. After play resumed, Jeannette iced away the game when Barnes caught a 10-yard scoring strike from Howard.

Howard complete 10 of 13 passes for 137 yards and rushed for 101.

Imani, which breezed to easy victories against Richard Wright Charter and Springdale, was unable to put together a consistent passing attack against the Jayhawks. Reed was sacked five times and Imani was flagged numerous times for holding as it tried to hold off Jeannette’s defense.

Imani had 14 penalties for 143 yards, and Jeannette was flagged 13 times for 137.

“Our game plan was to go no-huddle and try to tire them out,” Hall said. “We did a great job with that, and our conditioning was a lot better. Our defensive line did a great job of pressing the quarterback against their great athletes.”

Drake Petrillo and Justin Cramer each had two sacks

Hart Jr. did intercept two Jeannette passes in the end zone, but Pruitt and Barnes stole the show.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Imani Christian, Jeannette