Greensburg Central Catholic football runs over Riverview

By: George Guido
Saturday, October 22, 2022 | 4:11 PM

Greensburg Central Catholic’s offense was the model of efficiency Saturday afternoon at Riverview.

The Centurions only needed eight plays from scrimmage in the first half to build a huge lead and clinch at least as share of their first conference title since 2010 with a 48-0 victory.

Greensburg Central, sitting third in TribHSSN Class A rankings this week, moved to 5-0 in the Eastern Conference, 7-2 overall. The Centurions have a 10-7 lead in the all-time series, winning eight of the last nine contests.

“Things were working, our kids came to play and they did a good job,” Centurions coach Marko Thomas said. “Our defense, give it to them, (Riverview) had a nice drive to open the game, and we were able to come to grips and shut it down afterwards.”

Freshman standout Samir Crosby had quite a day in the Oakmont sunshine. He caught scoring passes of 38 and 26 yards, returned an interception 88 yards for another score, had one pass completion for 45 yards and, playing quarterback to open the second half, looked bottled up near the sideline where the Riverside Park baseball infields stands, but broke away and ran diagonally to the end zone.

Said Thomas: “He’s doing a whole lot of things. He had two interceptions again today. He played a little quarterback today to keep him fresh there. He’s a great athlete and a great competitor.”

To illustrate how the day was going for the Centurions, Crosby threw a pass to Aidan Allison in the third period. Allison was hit and fumbled, but Camden Petrunak picked up a loose ball and ran the remaining 21 yards for the final GCC score of the day.

Riverview’s strategy was ball control with the much faster Centurions able to score quickly.

The Raiders (3-6, 1-4) held the ball for 13 plays after taking the opening kickoff. Riverview made it to the GCC 23 before losing the ball on downs.

The Raiders had possession for the first 9 minutes, 10 seconds before the Centurions were able to score on passes of 39 and 38 yards to open the scoring.

“We didn’t try to do anything different. We ran our offense,” said Riverview coach Trevor George. “That’s just part of the system. After a couple of injuries, things slowed down a bit.”

The Raiders tallied five first downs in the first quarter but just three after that.

“You try to find a silver lining: We had six freshmen in the lineup in the second and third quarters,” George said. “That’s huge for program development. Getting a fourth win this season Friday against Springdale would be awesome for our seniors and for us moving forward.”

Riverview hasn’t won four games since 2015.

Greensburg Central will try to clinch the conference crown outright at home Friday against Leechburg. All that’s left for Riverview is the big community bonfire Thursday night before heading to Springdale on Friday

Sophomore running back Johnny Bertucci of Riverview was helped off the field after suffering what looked to be a knee injury in the second period. The severity of the injury was undetermined after the game.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Riverview