Local Sports

Mitchell’s record night leads Central

Junior standout accounts for nearly 500 yards, 8 TDs in 66-54 victory over Conotton Valley

STEUBENVILLE -- Special does not begin to describe the night Rahim Mitchell had for Catholic Central on Saturday night.

With the Crusaders entering the night on the playoff bubble, the junior playmaker came through with a performance for the ages. He accounted for nearly 500 yards of offense, a school record eight touchdowns and came up with several key plays on defense to lead Central to a 66-54 victory over visiting Conotton Valley.

“Rahim Mitchell is pretty darn special,” Catholic Central head coach Greg Bahen said. “If he’s not the best player in the Valley, I don’t know who is and I mean that. It’s both ways, offense, defense, he’s just special.

“Big players step up in big games, and that’s what he did. He stepped up in a big game. He’s just a special kid, he’s growing up and it’s fun to watch. I told him we were going to feed him tonight and he just had a special night. I’m happy for him and happy for our kids.”

Mitchell finished the night with 417 yards on 34 carries, also a school record, and seven rushing touchdowns, while hauling in two passes for another 82 yards and a score to finish with 499 yards of total offense.

He had scoring runs that covered 22, 23, 20, 18, 9, 45 and 47 yards, the last two of which came in the fourth quarter as the Crusaders, now 6-3 and winners of five-straight, surged ahead. On most of those runs, he broke tackles in the backfield and found ways to escape and elude.

His receiving score went 56 yards. His other catch with one second left in the opening half set up a Central score right before the break.

On defense, he intercepted two passes, recovered a fumble and broke up four more passes, including one on a key fourth down in the fourth quarter. The Crusaders defense got six stops/turnovers on the night and Mitchell directly factored into four of them.

The game featured 14 lead changes, a combined 120 points and 1,098 yards of combined total offense. It took over three hours complete.

“I’ve never been a part of a game like that,” Bahen said. “I’m kind of at a loss for words, really. Our kids played their butts off and it was just a total team effort. We found a way to win and I’m just really happy for the kids.

“There was a lot on the line tonight and our kids stuck together, battled hard and found a way.”

Outside of Mitchell’s big night, quarterback Matty Jones threw for three touchdowns and 222 yards and Central’s offense as a whole compiled 676 total yards. He found Michael Fabbro in the corner of the end zone with no time left in the first half to send Central to the locker rooms up 39-36. Fabbro (four catches for 110 yards) also had a 43-yard touchdown catch on which he broke multiple tackles. The catch at the end of the half was overtop double coverage while coming down in bounds.

Central overcame several moments when it looked as if Conotton Valley was on the verge of taking the upper hand and kept responding, sign of the team’s maturation throughout the season.

“We didn’t fold, we showed mental toughness,” Bahen said. “When I took this job, I think I’m a lot different than what they were used to, but they bought in and believed. It took some time, but we’re seeing the fruits of that labor now. The belief we have in ourselves right now is special and fun to be a part of.

“We had every opportunity to fold in this game and we never did, we preach next play and that’s what we did, we moved on the next play.

“I was hard on them (early in the season) about being young and immature, and they are growing into young men, maturing, fighting through adversity and sticking together. I heard them on the field, there was no whining or moaning and groaning or finger pointing, they just kept telling each other to go make the next play and we made enough of them to win.”

The Rockets (5-4) unique offense gave Central a big challenge as quarterback Kaden Leggett went 29 of 53 for 378 yards, five touchdowns and two picks. He also ran for 33 yards and another score. Garrett Reiter caught 12 passes for 180 yards and two scores.

They ran 68 plays that counted, 53 of them were passes.

While the Rockets racked up yards and points, Central did have some big plays on defense from players not named Mitchell -- Skylar Longo having two tackles for loss, Jones breaking up two passes, Nate Irvin finishing with a pair of sacks and a TFL, Kyran Busic had a TFL and Daveon Thorn and Seth White each broke up a pass.

“It wasn’t always pretty defensively, they’re very good at what they do, but we made big plays when we needed them and bounced back from adversity,” Bahen said of the defense. “We didn’t have many stops but we got big, timely stops when we needed them most.”

PLAYOFF WATCH

The game was a big one in the Division VII, Region 27 playoff race. Conotton Valley entered the week in position to get a home game in the playoffs, and with the loss, goes into its Week 10 matchup with Vienna Mathews in the bubble spot dropping to No. 12, according to Joe Eitel’s unofficial rankings.

On the flip side, Central entered week on the outside looking in, got some help on Friday night to enter Saturday’s game in 12th, and with the win, Eitel had Central jumping up to No. 8 in the region, giving them a chance to not just make the playoffs, but contend for a home game.

UP NEXT

The Crusaders will look to extend their winning streak to six and wrap up a playoff spot when they host Wellsville (1-8) next Saturday night at Harding Stadium on senior night.