STEEL VALLEY — Two seconds into his team’s 31-0 defeat at Steel Valley Friday night, Charleroi coach Nick Milchovich had to have a bad vibe. He had to use a timeout because there were 12 Cougar defenders lined up for the first defensive play of the Century conference contest. “We didn’t play well at all,” Milchovich said. “There isn’t much else to say.” On the opening drive, Steel Valley drove into the Charleroi red zone but as it has done all year long, Charleroi’s defense stiffened up. “We held them to the field goal on the opening drive and it seems we had momentum on Jermaine’s (Thurston) interception,” Milchovich said, “but the penalty was called.” After Charleroi (2-5, 1-5) went three-and-out, the Iron- men tried to go deep, but Josh Farner and Thurston blanketed Brian Grise with Thurston coming down with an apparent interception. But the Cougars were called for pass interference. Three plays later, Ryan Sabo ran an option keeper to give the hosts a 10-0 lead. Two second quarter touchdowns ballooned the hosts’ lead to 24-0 at halftime. Charleroi came out to start the third quarter with its best drive in weeks. Dave Grillo (37 yards) and Thurston (33) yards rushed for 70 yards on the drive, but on a screen pass inside the 10-yard line from Adam Amprim, Thurston attempted to stretch for a touchdown but fumbled. “By then, things had snowballed,” Milchovich said. “Just everything seemed to go against us.” For the game, Marcus Pollard led the winners with 175 yards on 23 carries. Steel Valley (5-2, 4-2) finished with 250 yards on 51 carries. Thurston led Charleroi with 72 yards on 10 carries. John Bristol led Charleroi with two catches while Ethan Hank, among the WPIAL leaders in receptions and yards, was shut out. Charleroi heads to first-place Brentwood (6-1, 5-1) Friday before closing out its season with senior night against Burgettstown (0-7, 0-7) Oct. 27.

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