Central Dauphin used a strong first half of running the ball up the middle of the State College defense to build what would eventually be a lead that was too tough for the Little Lions to overcome. Fueled by powerful running from Running back Raleigh Sirb, and a couple long td runs the Rams improved to 6-0 at State College’s Memorial Field.
The Rams opened the scoring on their second drive, a very methodical 9 play, 62 yard drive that ended with a 3 yard td run from QB AJ Millar. Both teams then traded drives, each ending in missed field goal attempts. Central Dauphin didn’t need long drives on their next two scores. Following a 3 and out series from the Little Lions, Sirb burst through the center of the line and sped 58 yards untouched. The kick made it 14-0 with 5:37 left in the 2nd. On the very next CD drive, Reid Albright scampered 53 yards and just like that it was 21-0.
“We never gave up. We have some tough kids here and we just kept doing what we do” said SC coach Matt Lintal. With 2:52 remaining in the first half, the Little Lions drove to the Ram 5 where Tyler Snyder found Kellen Valentine in the corner for a half ending score. The drive was aided by several Ram penalties that included a roughing the kicker penalty that kept the series alive early on but it was an important drive for the Little Lions heading into the break. “We gotta clean that up” said Central Dauphin Head Coach Glen Mcnamee.
Running back Raleigh Sirb took a handoff on the Rams first offensive play of the second half and made quick work of the 20 yards separating himself from the endzone to give his team a 28-7 lead just 2 minutes into the third quarter. That’s 3 touchdowns covering 131 yards on the last 5 Ram offensive plays. The opportunity came courtesy of a Micah Parsons sack and then an interception by DB Andrew Johnson to set up the Rams at the SC 20. “We have some big guys up front that work very hard in the weight room to give us the running game we have” said Mcnamee. “It also helps to have players like Parsons and Clayton Tinkham.
But State College still felt like they had some momentum following the last second td pass in the first half. The ensuing kick went out of bounds giving the Little Lions the ball on the 35. Matt Lintal made a quarterback change to help give his struggling offense a spark and it lit a fire that nearly burned the Rams lead.
With the aid of a couple untimely penalties for the Rams, State College marched 65 yards, fueled by 4 straight completions from Drew Friberg. Jordan Misher scored from 3 yards out to cut into the lead the Rams had built on a strong first half. The Little Lions then reached into their bag of tricks and recovered the onside kick. As momentum built, so did the confidence of their offense. The Lions settled for a 44 yard Noah Shwab field goal to make it a 28-17 game. “We didn’t give the a pep talk or anything at halftime” said Lintal. “We just said we gotta go out and do what we do.”
The Little Lions tightened up their defense that gave up 250 yards in the first half. “We just gave up a couple big plays there in that first half” said Lintal. The next CD possession ended in a punt that put the Little Lions at their own 29 with just under 12 minutes remaining. Friberg completed passes of 18 and 15 yards, then Jordan Misher busted loose down the sidelines for 22 yards. The drive reached the 3 yard line but on 2nd down, Misher lost control of the ball before crossing the goal line and the ball skipped out of the endzone give the Rams the ball at the 20.
Central Dauphin was able to use up just enough time to make a comeback effort tough, and a series of unusual penalties and events took away any momentum that State College had left following their last heartbreaking mishap. Parsons put a stamp on the comeback block with another sack and Reed Albright mailed in the last score.
“We’ll go back to work and learn from what we did wrong tonight” said Lintal. “I’m proud of my team. They played very good again. This is the third undefeated team we’ve faced, I’d just like to see one of them leave not undefeated.”
State College will try to rebound against Harrisburg while Central Dauphin continues their quest for an undefeated regular season when they face Carlisle.
2 Responses
The physical dominance by CD was absolutely obvious. Those Rams have definitely committed to their strength program. Their next REAL test won’t come until they face another team with the same size and strength. That won’t come for at least 6 weeks.
No doubt, they have some beef up front on both sides..