MONROEVILLE, Pa.— The Central Catholic Vikings stomped the Seneca Valley Raiders 42-7 Friday with the aid of a pair of wide open touchdowns from Penn State commit Peter Gonzalez.
The Vikings (8-1) received the opening kickoff, with their first drive stalling out near midfield on a failed fourth-and-one. Seneca Valley (3-6) capitalized on the opportunity, taking an early 7-0 lead on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Sean O’Shea to Amari Henson.
From there on out, it was all Vikings.
Central Catholic responded less than a minute later on a 74-yard deep shot from Payton Wehner to Gonzalez, who got behind the secondary and ran to the endzone untouched. Wehner found the 6-foot-3 wideout again on the two-point conversion try, but the Raiders stood him up short of the end zone.
A short punt gave Seneca Valley the ball in plus territory to begin the second quarter, but Vikings’ freshman defensive back Larry Moon strip sacked O’Shea on fourth down. Wehner put Central Catholic up 14-7 with a touchdown to Vernon Settles and a two-point conversion to Colsen Gatten.
The Vikings’ star-studded defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive. Four-star Penn State commit Anthony Speca and three-star Pitt commit Ty Yuhas earned back-to-back sacks before Xxavier Thomas, another Division 1 prospect, broke up a pass on third down.
Central Catholic couldn’t capitalize on another short punt, as Raiders’ defensive back Kai West snagged a toe-dragging interception to keep Seneca Valley in it.
Central Catholic Pulls Away
Playing in a driving rain in the second half, Central Catholic turned to the ground game. Junior running back Elijah Faulkner powered the Vikings on their first offensive drive of the third quarter, eventually cashing in with a one-yard touchdown to make it 21-7.
The Vikings went up 28-7 later in the frame, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Wehner to Gonzalez.
Facing fourth-and-ten early in the fourth quarter, Gonzalez again worked his way open on a catch-and-run that put Central Catholic in the red zone. Faulkner cleaned up the leftovers with an 11-yard touchdown tote to make it 35-7.
Freshman running back Roman Thompson got in on the action late in the fourth quarter with a score of his own.
Week 9 WPIAL Friday Night High School Football Scoreboard
