AUGUSTA — Limiting Class 4A Abilene to just 149 total yards, Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan cruised to a 26-0 shutout victory in a non-league matchup on Friday.
This was a neutral-site game played at Augusta High School.
The Panthers won for the second time in three weeks as they improved to 2-3 overall. They will next open up Class 1A-District 1 action on Oct. 11 when they travel to Yates Center. The Wildcats are 0-5 overall following a 32-21 home loss to Leon-Bluestem. Prior to that game, they had been outscored 174-0 in losses to Jayhawk Linn, Northeast-Arma, Southeast-Cherokee and Northern Heights.
After a scoreless first quarter, Colgan took charge before halftime with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns — the first on a one-yard dive by Domenico Bevilacqua and the other on a 26-yard pass play from Gianni Piccini to Jalen VanBecelaere. That gave the Panthers a 14-0 advantage heading into the break.
SMC put the game away after the break. Blaise Dawson scored a pair of second-half touchdowns. In the third quarter, he scrambled in from 20 yards out to push the lead up to 20-0. Then in the final period, Dawson added a 40-yard scamper for six that put the final touch on the victory.
Colgan finished the game with 362 total yards, including 303 on the ground. Bevilacqua had a game-high 119 yards rushing on 19 carries. Dawson added six attempts for 76 yards.