STEUBENVILLE — A win is a win and Harrison Central got one Saturday night inside Harding Stadium.

The Huskies turned two interceptions into touchdowns as they earned a hard-fought 21-7 victory over Catholic Central. Both teams now stand at 3-4.

“We’ll take it,” Harrison coach Anthony Hayes said. “It wasn’t pretty but we needed to prove we could come back and have success after experiencing success. That’s something we haven’t been able to do this season.

“To come off a big emotional win over St. Clairsville last week and follow it up with a win tonight–that’s huge for our young guys going forward.”

In posting the triumph, Harrison Central answered the door each time opportunity knocked.

The first opportunity came after the Crusaders gambled on fourth and short in their own territory and came up short. Taking over at Central’s 35, the visitors struck quickly, scoring on a 13-yard run by multi-talented junior quarterback Kobe Mitchell. Jace Madzia’s conversion kick made it 7-0.

Early in the second quarter, Catholic Central moved from its own 28 to the Harrison 13. The threat ended when Cale McAfee intercepted a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage. Hayes’s club then moved 89 yards for its second score. The two big plays of the drive were a 24-yard Mitchell to McAfee pass and a 20-yard Tucker Coultrap run.

The score came as Coultrap plunged over from a yard out. Madzia again nailed the extra point.

After the Crusaders made it 14-7 thanks to Jeffrey Dawson’s 4-yard run in the third quarter, they mounted a threat midway through the final quarter. The drive, however, was halted by a Mitchell pick.

Three snaps later, Mitchell and Coultrap connected for a 34-yard touchdown to seal the deal.

“We always feel like we could have done a little better and I think we left some opportunities on the field tonight,” Hayes said. “But we capitalized on turnovers and that’s always a positive. We made a nice throw late to seal it.

“Our defense played really well tonight. Central threw the kitchen sink at us. They ran all kinds of formations at us. Coach (Anthony) Agresta does an outstanding job with his team. His kids are fundamentally sound and play hard for him. They have a lot of good days ahead.”

Central let a huge opportunity slip away when Ryan Manneh recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, giving his team the ball at the Harrison 40. The Crusaders moved to the 35 before turning it over on downs.

“It was a great effort–the kids laid everything out there, no question about that,” Agresta said. “It wasn’t about effort. Ball games usually comes down to about six to eight plays, they probably won the majority of those so that was the difference.

“We were down there close in the first half and threw the interception. On the play before, we dropped a touchdown pass that would have tied the score. They turn around and throw a 50-50 ball up the sideline and their kid makes a catch. They end up scoring making it 14-0. It probably should have been 7-7 at the half. Those two plays went their way. If it comes down to a half dozen plays, you have to make them.”

The Huskies finished with 124 yards on the ground, Coultrap led the way with 44 yards. Mitchell completed 9 of his 15 passing attempts for 102. McAfee had seven catches for 66 yards and collected 41 rushing yards.

Dawson paced Central with 122 rushing yards on 24 carries.

UP NEXT

Central will look to rebound when Morgantown Trinity visits Harding Stadium Saturday.

“We still think we have an outside shot at the playoffs at 6-4, so we have to play for next week,” Agresta said. “Hats off to Harrison Central–they made plays tonight when they had do.

“But we sure had our opportunities. We just didn’t seem to take advantage of them tonight.”

Harrison Central will look to keep rolling when it welcomes unbeaten Oak Glen to Cadiz on Friday.

“We have Oak Glen coming to our place and they are an outstanding football team,” Hayes said. “We’ve watched their guys grown since they were in junior high. We like a good challenge–that’s why we practice hard, put the work in and bust our tails. We want to play in these kind of games.

“I know Oak Glen will be ready to go and it will be the responsibility of myself and my staff to have our guys ready to go.”