Blue Dons do no wrong in 63-0 victory
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WEIRTON -- Madonna was clicking on all cylinders Saturday and rolled to a 63-0 win over Hundred before a homecoming crowd inside Jimmy Carey Stadium.
The romp got underway on the first play from scrimmage and didn’t end until late in the third quarter. The entire second half was played under a running clock.
“As a first-year coach, maybe I didn’t handle it right, but I just can’t tell my kids to stop playing,” said Madonna’s Dan Rovira after the game. “The Hundred kids played hard, but no one likes this kind of a game.
“However, we are getting better, and it was nice to get all of our kids, especially the freshmen and sophomores getting a lot of playing time. They come out to practice every day and work hard but often don’t get to play. This game was a reward for them.”
The Hornets now have lost all six of their games to start the season.
It was a good way for Rovira’s club to begin the second half of the season and extend its record to 4-2. It is ranked 21st in the Class A state ratings.
The 63 points is the fourth-most points ever scored by a Madonna football team. The 2013 unbeaten state championship team rolled over Wahama, 77-50, in a wild playoff game, and during the regular season that team blasted Clarksburg Notre Dame, 75-16. The Blue Dons scored 64 points against Kennedy Christian in 1971.
After junior Coleton Littleton returned the opening kickoff from the Madonna 30 to the 49, senior Thomas Sessi took a handoff from junior quarterback Santino Arlia and zig-zagged through the Hornet defense 51 yards for the first touchdown with only 20 seconds of time elapsed from the clock. Junior Seth Humberson added two points with a run conversion.
Madonna’s second touchdown came just a minute-and-a-half later when Hundred sophomore quarterback Everett Johnson’s lateral pass was dropped, making it a fumble. Senior Jacob Bonner picked it up and dashed 18 yards to the end zone. Sessi added another 2-pointer with a run to make the score 16-0 at the 10:09 mark of the first period.
The touchdown parade continued with Arlia hooking up with senior Evan Daniels on a 9-yard score, and senior Lucky Pulice got into the end zone when he picked up a loose football after Bonner blocked a punt. Pulice dashed 17 yards for the touchdown. Senior Joe Soos kicked the extra point after the Daniels score, and freshman Dominic DeMarco kicked one through the uprights after the Pulice touchdown. All that gave the Blue Dons a 30-0 lead after one quarter.
The second period found the Blue Dons crossing the goal line three more times. Arlia found freshman Jonah McKay open on a swing pass from 10-yards out, Humberson swept left for a 5-yard score set up by a Sessi interception and Ethan Rowing shook off tacklers and plowed his way 23 yards . With DeMarco successfully booting all three extra points, the Blue Dons went into halftime with a commanding 51-0 lead.
Arlia, who completed 7 of 9 passes for 95 yards and three touchdowns, added his last score on a 34-yard operation that started when he hit Littleton in the right flat, and the junior did the rest.
Fellow junior Cameron Gray, who replaced Arlia at quarterback, found a hole over right tackle and raced 31 yards for the final score of the day. The fourth quarter was scoreless.
“Everybody is happy when we can win a game, especially on homecoming night,” Rovira summed up. “All of our guys got to participate in this win and now we have to get back to work because we know we have to face some teams that will be much more competitive. Beallsville comes to town (Saturday), so we have to get ready for them.”
Madonna 63, Hundred 0
Hundred 0 0 0 0 -- 0
Madonna 30 21 12 0 -- 63
M -- Sessi 51 run (Humberson run)
M -- Bonner 27 fumble return (Sessi run)
M -- Daniels 9 pass from Arlia (Soos kick)
M -- Pulice 17 blocked punt return (DeMarco kick)
M -- McKay 10 pass from Arlia (DeMarco kick)
M -- Humberson 10 run (DeMarco kick)
M -- Rowing 23 run (DeMarco kick)
M -- Littleton 34 pass from Arlia (kick failed)
M -- Gray 43 run (run failed)
RUSHING: Hundred 29-36 (Poe 17-30; Kuhn 8-3; Johnson 4-3); Madonna 22-210-4tds (Sessi 2-62-td; Littleton 2-0; Daniels 1-9; Rowing 1-23-td; Connell 7-54; Gray 5-32-td; Humberson 3-21-td).
PASSSING: Hundred 6-32-2ints (all by Johnson); Madonna 7-9-95-3tds (all by Arlia).
RECEIVING: Hundred (Kuhn 3-16; Rea 2-11; Peters 1-5); Madonna (Pulice 1-16; Quering 2-14; Daniels 1-9-td; McKay 2-22-td; Littleton 1-34-td).
FIRST DOWNS: Hundred 6; Madonna 7.
FUMBLES-LOST: Hundred 2-2; Madonna 2-1.
PENALTIES: Hundred 1-10; Madonna 3-30.