When Woodland Hills coach George Novak gathered his team around him on the field after the game last night, he did a complete game summary in three short statements.

"Defense, nice job," Novak said.

"Offense, nice job."

"Special teams, nice job."

And that was it. Not much was missing from Woodland Hills' performance as the Wolverines belted Central Catholic, 27-3, in a big WPIAL Class AAAA Big East Conference game.

Woodland Hills, the Post-Gazette's No. 3 Class AAAA team, got a splendid effort from its defense against Central Catholic's Damion Jones-Moore, the No. 2 rusher in the WPIAL. The Wolverines (4-1 overall, 1-0 in conference) also got a big game from their own standout running back. Special teams play also was solid.

OK, so the Wolverines threw for only 21 yards. But it was a rotten night to throw the ball, with hard rain a few times during the contest.

"To be honest, I didn't think it would be this easy," said Dom Timbers, Woodland Hills' senior halfback. "This is a huge game against Central -- and 27-3?"

Timbers, a Syracuse recruit, left Central Catholic before his junior year, transferring to Woodland Hills. Then he ran away from Central Catholic for much of the game. He finished with 161 yards on 26 carries.

"It was good playing my old classmates, but there was no trash talking," Timbers said. "It was good sportsmanship."

But Woodland Hills' defense wasn't too kind to Central Catholic's offense. The Wolverines limited Central Catholic (3-2, 0-1) to 149 total yards. Jones-Moore, a sophomore who came in with 721 yards, was held to 81 on 18 carries. He had no gain or minus yardage on nine of his attempts.

The three points Central Catholic scored was the lowest offensive output against a WPIAL team in Terry Totten's five years as coach. The lowest was a 35-0 shutout against Lakeland, Fla., last year.

"All week we just talked about getting 11 guys to the ball and that was it," Woodland Hills defensive end Richard Gray said. "We came out hyped and played together."

Gray's nickname is "Bump." But he was more like "Crash" to Central Catholic's offense. He had two sacks, recovered a fumble, forced a fumble and made a number of other plays. More and more Division I colleges are taking an interest in this 6-foot-2, 240-pound senior.

"He's kind of been overshadowed by some other players, but he's a big-time player," Novak said.

The win moved Novak into 10th place on the WPIAL's all-time list of winningest coaches, passing former Kiski Area coach Dick Dilts. Novak is 235-117-1.

"He's been building for this team," Totten said. "They're good, but I'm disappointed in us."

Hard to believe this was the same Central Catholic team that clobbered a pretty good Upper St. Clair team a week ago. Then again, Central Catholic, ranked No. 4 in Class AAAA, lost to Mt. Lebanon two weeks ago.

"I think we have to question some of our personnel," Totten said. "But you wonder how much you want to change things or just stick with what you've been doing."

Woodland Hills' first play from scrimmage was a sign of things to come as Cameron Thompkins ran 43 yards. Thompkins caught a 9-yard pass from John Yezovich on fourth down to keep the drive alive and Timbers ran 10 yards on the next play for a touchdown.

Central Catholic's Matt MacZura kicked a 42-yard field goal with five seconds left in the first quarter to make it 6-3.

Central Catholic was moving again in the second quarter, but on third-and-14 at the Woodland Hills 41, Woodland Hills defensive lineman Khaynin Mosley-Smith, a Pitt recruit, sacked Central quarterback David Smyers and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Gray.

Then on fourth-and-3, Timbers busted through the line, bounced off a tackler and ran 30 yards for a touchdown. Sam Scifo kicked a 28-yard field goal with 15 seconds left in the half to give the Wolverines a 17-3 lead heading into the break.

To start the second half, Timbers carried six consecutive plays and scored a touchdown on a 7-yard run. Scifo added a 33-yard field goal with 6:02 remaining.

"I thought we played great at times, but then we gave up some plays," Novak said. "They have a lot of speed. We were fortunate we got some big turnovers and made a couple field goals."

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Woodland Hills' Dom Timbers is taken down by Central Catholic's Nyejel Thomas last night.

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