HERSHEY, Pa. – Just in case he needs a backup career plan, Cedar Cliff junior quarterback Andrew Ford might want to consider a career in the medical field.
His dissection of Hershey’s defense was, well, surgical.
Ford accounted for 432 of his team’s 538 total offensive yards and had a hand in all six touchdowns as Cedar Cliff (4-0) remained undefeated with a 41-27 victory over Hershey (3-1) Saturday afternoon from a sunsplashed Henry Hershey Field on the picturesque campus of Milton Hershey School in Derry Township.
Hershey High normally plays its home football games at nearby Hersheypark Stadium, but the venue was unavailable to use to host a football game this weekend due to activities and a concert for an event called FarmAid. So the Trojans played their game at Milton Hershey instead.
But if Hershey was looking for aid in trying to contain the Colts’ spread offense, it found none. Instead, Ford and company created headaches for the Trojans all afternoon.
“They (Hershey) came to our place last year and hung 41 on us,” said Cedar Cliff head coach Jim Cantafio. “I think our kids wanted it more and I think our kids are in good shape (compared to this time last year).”
Cantafio, and Ford, too, noted the key to solving Hershey’s defensive package was to take advantage of the Trojans’ aggressiveness with its front four on the line, despite the fact the Colt offensive trenchmen gave up what Cantafio called “a considerable amount” of size to their counterparts. Try as Hershey might, they just couldn’t quite solve what No. 7 threw at them.
“I just try to put my team in a good situation,” Ford said. “Today, they needed me to run.”
So run Ford did, to the tune of 120 yards and five touchdowns on 16 carries while scoring on runs of 22, 5, 1, 14 and 30 yards. And when he wasn’t running, he was using a series of screen and intermediate passes to receivers Ajlane Youssef and Jake Scott and running back Xavier Baney.
In the first half alone, Ford completed 17 of 20 pass attempts and the Colts tallied 18 first downs. At one point in the opening 24 minutes, Cedar Cliff had run 40 plays to Hershey’s nine. The Colts had rendered Hershey’s strength practically useless.
“That’s what it is,” said Trojan head coach Mark Painter. “In a (shootout) game like this, it comes down to stops and mistakes. They are a team that can score points in bunches.”
It appeared as though Hershey would make the game into a track meet when Jailen Harmon rocketed 97 yards on the hosts’ second offensive play to tie the game at 7. It turned out it was as close as Hershey would get.
Ford scored the Colts’ next three touchdowns to help build a 28-7 halftime lead. He added a 53-yard laser to Aljane after Hershey cut the CC lead to 28-14, and his fifth touchdown run, the aforementioned 30-yarder, put the game out of reach. In addition to his 120 yards rushing, Ford threw for 312 yards, completing 24-of-31 passes.
“We’ve got the right guy at QB, buddy,” Cantafio said. “I’ve told people time and time again that he’s going to be the best QB to ever come from central Pennsylvania. And I firmly believe that.”
Ford, who has thrown for 1,218 yards and 15 touchdowns and run for 256 yards and eight additional scores through four games, was quick to note the play of his line – “I give them all the credit,” the lefty said. “They made my job easy.”
He also talked about feature wide receiver Jake Scott, who snagged 11 passes for 117 yards and leads Cedar Cliff with 30 receptions and 438 yards through four games.
“Jake Scott is central Pennsylvania’s best-kept secret, but I don’t think he’s much of a secret anymore,” Ford said. “He (Scott) came with me to some of the camps I attended over the summer and we had that chance to work and (develop that connection).”
Ford is also astute on the Colts’ football history – he noted that it is the first time since 1997 that Cedar Cliff has started a season 4-0.
Hershey added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to provide the final margin. The scores were sandwiched around Ford’s 30-yard scoring run.
NOTES: Cedar Cliff running back Xavier Baney ran for 89 yards Saturday and now has 309 yards rushing through four games. Baney’s career high in rushing yardage for a single season is 334, set last year. Baney has also scored 20 career rushing touchdowns for the Colts….Hershey quarterback Zach Drayer threw for 195 yards and rushed for 49 as the Trojans piled up more than 400 yards of offense – most of that in the second half……Drayer booted a pair of long punts in the first half, one of which went 55 yards.
Cedar Cliff 14 14 7 6 – 41
Hershey 7 0 7 13 – 27
Scoring
1st quarter
CC – Andrew Ford 22 run (Noah Malone kick)
HER – Jailen Harmon 97 run (Ben Haines kick)
CC – Ford 5 run (Malone kick)
2nd quarter
CC – Ford 1 run (Malone kick)
CC – Ford 14 run (Malone kick)
3rd quarter
HER – Nick Kroutch 53 run (Haines kick)
CC – Ajlane Youssef 53 pass from Ford (Malone kick)
4th quarter
HER – Jesse Campbell 2 run (Haines kick)
CC – Ford 30 run (kick blocked)
HER – Harmon 8 pass from Drayer (kick failed)
HER CC
Rushes-yds 23-213 38-226
Passing 12-26-1 24-31-0
Passing yds 195 312
Total offense 408 538
1st downs 17 28
Penalties 4-20 5-28
Turnovers 1 0
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Cedar Cliff: Andrew Ford 16-120 5 TD; Xavier Baney 17-89; Youssef Ajlane 1-14; Mike Viti 1-8. Hershey: Zach Drayer 15-49; Jailen Harmon 2-103 TD; Nick Kroutch 2-57 TD; Jesse Campbell 2-6 TD; Jimmy Eberle 1-0; Dallas Ricker 1-3.
PASSING: Cedar Cliff: Ford 24-31-0-312 TD. Hershey: Drayer 12-26-1-195 TD.
RECEIVING: Cedar Cliff: Jake Scott 11-117; Youssef 7-132 TD; Baney 4-45; Nate Orris 1-15; Viti 1-5. Hershey: Harmon 4-71 TD; Campbell 4-41; Adam Luchansky 2-67; Ian Whelan 1-5.
