CLAIRTON, Pa. — The Clairton Bears (4-0, 1-0) are off to a historic start after silently dismantling the Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions (2-2, 0-1), 47-0, at Neil C. Brown Stadium on Friday night.
The game turned out to be a “Senior Night” of sorts as the game was originally planned to be played at Thomas Jefferson High School on Saturday afternoon. That was until the planned renovations for Neil C. Brown Stadium were pushed back until next week.
Clairton went and ahead and decided to let their seniors get at least one true home game this season after figuring out that they could.
The Bears entered the game with a dynamic mix of a high-flying potent offense and a stingy, shutdown defense.
Despite not reaching the 40-point mark until the fourth quarter, the Bears defense carried the load in this one, just as they have been all season.
Through the first three games of the season, opposing offenses managed to score a whooping zero points on the Bears defense. That trend continued against the Centurions.
The Bears started the game with the ball but after picking up one first down, they were forced to punt.
Once they got the ball back after a Centurions three-and-out, the Bears tried to engineer a scoring drive.
After picking up a first down on the first play of the drive, the Bears offense stalled out due to a bad snap and they were forced to punt.
Luckily for the Bears, the Centurions ran into the punter and it resulted in a fresh set of downs. The Bears used ten more plays after the penalty to score the game’s first points of the game as Drachir Jones punched in a rushing score from 3 yards out.
After another three-and-out by the Centurions, the Bears scored again, using 13 more plays in the process. Donte Wright scored the Bears second touchdown of the night, punching it in from a yard away.
The Bears carried a 14-0 lead into halftime. In the first half, the Bears defense did not allow a single first down, forcing a total of -12 yards of offense.
The Centurions opened the second half with the ball and immediately did more on offense than the entire first half. On the second play from scrimmage, Samir Crosby scrambled for 17 yards and then hit Jerry Davis for a 10-yard gain.
Unfortunatley for the Centurions, this was all that their offense could do as they went backwards on the next three plays and were forced to punt.
The Bears then went and extended their lead to three possessions on Jones’ second rushing touchdown of the night.
Quarterback Jeffery Thompson would score the Bears fourth rushing touchdown of the night as the third quarter expired and then senior leader Zae-mear Correll kicked off the fourth by recording an interception and a long rushing touchdown of his own on consecutive plays.
In the process of blanking the Centurions offense, the Bears defense recorded a fumble recovery and an interception, both in the second half.
Next week, the Bears travels to take on Frazier while the Centurions return home to host Brentwood, with both being conference games.
