On Friday, Oct. 9, the McGuffey Highlanders traveled to Waynesburg Central to take on the Raiders. After McGuffey won the coin toss and deferred, the Highlanders didn’t look back, winning 54-8.

Waynesburg Central got the ball to start the game, and McGuffey’s defense quickly forced a punt giving the Highlander offense its first opportunity of the game.

McGuffey started moving down the field, and then sophomore runner Kyle Brookman went 28 yards for a touchdown to give McGuffey a 7-0 lead. Waynesburg fumbled on the second play of the ensuing drive, setting McGuffey up with great field position. Brookman quickly found the endzone again, extending the lead to 14-0.

McGuffey continued the first quarter downpour with a touchdown pass from Rocco Falosk to Tyler McCrerey. This brought the score to 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. Falosk and McKinley Whipkey each scored touchdowns in the second quarter. The extra point of the latter score was missed, making the score 34-0.

In the closing seconds of the first half, Waynesburg Central was just a few yards away from a score. They attempted a pass into the endzone, but Jared Johnson picked it off at the goal line and took it 100 yards back for a Highlander touchdown as the clock ran out in the first half. The halftime score was 41-0 McGuffey.

McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton attributed the fast start to “set the tone at the beginning of the game with our physical-ness.”

The entirety of the second half had a running clock. McGuffey punched in a few more touchdowns with freshman Nate Romestan and Connor Crowe each scoring a touchdown, extending the lead to 54-0.

With just over a minute left in the game, Waynesburg avoided being shutout with a 3-yard run by Breydon Woods. A successful two-point conversion brought the game to its final score of 54-8, McGuffey over Waynesburg Central.

The win gave Coach Dalton his 200th victory. 

“When I read all the texts and emails, what sunk in was how many great players, coaches, and administrators I have been lucky to work with over thirty years,” Dalton said. 

Dalton has coached at five high schools and has the all-time best winning percentage at four of them.

As for this season, Dalton does not think the short season hurts the team. 

“In some ways, it might be to our advantage in that we had a lot of returning starters….so it was pretty easy when our kids got in place to get practicing and doing what we always do,” Dalton said.