Bishop Watterson defeats Bishop Hartley to remain unbeaten

Columbus, Ohio – Jake Uhlenhake was looking to make an impact Friday night against Bishop Hartley after he had to sit out Bishop Watterson’s previous game while recovering from a mild concussion.

But the junior wide receiver never could have guessed that he would turn in the best performance of his career by making five catches for career-highs of 116 yards and three touchdowns to fuel the Eagles’ 35-7 victory over the Hawks in both teams’ Central Catholic League opener.

Uhlenhake - who missed eight games, including last year’s matchup at Hartley, after suffering a broken collarbone last season - was almost at a loss for words while trying to describe his emotions on the field afterwards. He had only two touchdown catches in his entire varsity career before his offensive explosion against the Hawks Friday night.

“I had faith that I was going to come back healthy and help my team in some way tonight, but I never dreamed I was going to have a game like this,” said Uhlenhake, whose squad improved to 6-0 overall. “It wasn’t fun to be on the sidelines for so long last year, and it was frustrating to miss another game this year. But there was no way I was going to miss this one, and it’s an amazing feeling because I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

Uhlenhake benefited from the pinpoint accuracy of quarterback AJ McAninch, who was 23-for-30 passing for 287 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Midway through the first quarter, McAninch fired an 8-yard scoring pass to Uhlenhake, who ran a quick slant pattern up the left side of the field. Early in the second quarter, McAninch zipped the ball to Uhlenhake as he was in full stride, sprinting down the center of the field, resulting in a 53-yard touchdown pass.

“AJ was right on the money with every pass he threw to me,” Uhlenhake said. “My first touchdown was a slant route, and AJ threw it in the perfect spot where only I could catch it. The second one hit me as I was running toward the end zone.”

On Watterson’s next possession, Uhlenhake then made a lunging, left-handed catch on a deep throw by McAninch down the left sideline for a 38-yard touchdown, which put the Eagles ahead 21-0 with 8:34 remaining in the second quarter.

“Jake has good speed for a tall, lanky guy, and I trusted him that if I threw it over him that he would beat his guy and get under it,” McAninch said. “It was awesome to get him back for this game, because he’s been a big target for us, and he showed what he’s capable of.”

McAninch put on a dazzling display over the first two quarters by completing 14 of his first 17 passes for 228 yards and three scores while guiding the Eagles to a 28-7 halftime advantage.

The senior quarterback also engineered a 10-play, 59-yard touchdown drive late in the second quarter, which he topped by pitching the ball left to Zack Weber, who scored on a 1-yard run with just 62 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

“AJ put the ball in the right spots and our wide receivers made big plays,” Watterson coach Brian Kennedy said. “When AJ plays like this, I don’t know how you defend us, because he found our receivers when they were open and also squeezed the ball through some quarter-sized windows. And when there wasn’t any place to throw it, he made great plays by throwing the ball away or tucking it and running it.

“It wasn’t a surprise to us at all that Jake could have a game like that, either. He’s been injured, but we knew what he was capable of. That third catch was something special. I didn’t even think he had caught it at first, and then we saw he had it in one hand in the end zone.”

McAninch, who has made a verbal commitment to play baseball at Marshall University, capped his performance by throwing a fastball of a pass into the chest of tightly-covered receiver, Cal Mangini, for a 2-yard scoring strike that put Watterson ahead 35-7 with 6:26 left in the game.

“Hartley had good coverage, so there was nothing I could do but throw it through his chest,” McAninch said with a chuckle. “I don’t know if this was the best game I’ve ever had. There were some throws I’d like to have back, and I’ve still got a lot of room to grow.

“But my teammates made a lot of great plays, and it feels good to beat our league rivals to stay undefeated. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Watterson’s defense turned in another stout effort, forcing a total of five turnovers, including stopping the Hawks on fourth down conversion attempts twice.

Senior linebacker Braxton Rundio recovered a fumble at Watterson’s 14-yard line early in the second quarter to end the Hawks’ first scoring threat, and he intercepted the ball at the Eagles’ 20 and returned it to Hartley’s 36 early in the fourth quarter to set up his team’s fifth touchdown.

Senior defensive lineman John Spencer also recovered a fumble at Watterson’s 41 late in the second quarter, setting up the Eagles’ fourth score.

“Our entire defense played well,” Kennedy said. “Dom Purcell (a senior strong safety and Navy football recruit) has been very good every single night, and this game was no exception. (Defensive tackle) Landon Purcell had a big sack for us, and (strong safety) Elliot Bauer and (linebacker) Zack Weber played really well, too.”

Mangini finished with eight catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, and Weber rushed for 26 yards and a touchdown on eight carries to help pace the Eagles’ offense.

Quarterback Matt Galich was 10-for-17 passing for 161 yards, and Robert Lathon ran for 62 yards and a touchdown on 18 attempts to lead Hartley, who dropped to 4-2 overall.

The Hawks had seven fumbles on the exchange between their center and quarterback in the first half alone, and one more in the second half, to slow their offense.

Lathon scored on a 9-yard run up the middle to pull Hartley within 21-7 with 5:08 remaining in the second quarter.

But after the Hawks recovered the ball at Watterson’s 45 on a successful onside kickoff attempt on the very next play, Hartley fumbled away a bad snap exchange just three plays later.

The Eagles, who went 3-0 to win the CCL last year, have defeated Hartley two consecutive seasons, after losing the previous 11 meetings. Watterson leads the all-time series 31-14.

“Watterson did a lot of good things and we needed to play better,” Hartley coach Brad Burchfield said. “We were able to move the ball decently, but those (fumbled snap exchanges) stood out and we obviously need to fix that. They put us behind the eight-ball a little bit with those big plays early, and we just had too many turnovers and penalties.”