Montoursville shuts-out Central Columbia

MONTOURSVILLE – Montoursville certainly looked the part of a District 4 AA contender on Friday as the Warriors romped over defending Heartland Athletic Conference II champion Central Columbia by a 41-0 score and while Montoursville displayed plenty of positive signs, the Warriors just enough mistakes as well to give themselves plenty to work on in practice over the next week.

“I’m happy with the win and the way our guys came out with some intensity and excitement about playing on our home field with our home opener and that was nice but it was a little sloppy with some penalties that just can’t happen,” said Montoursville coach J.C. Keefer. “We’ve got to take care of that and we had a couple of turnovers – a few interceptions, and we put the ball on the turf twice. There are definitely some things we need to work on but overall I’m pleased with the win.”

Central, meanwhile, one week after being dominated on the stat sheet by Hughesville but coming out on top on the scoreboard by one point thanks to some big plays late as well as a pair of botched PATs by Hughesville, never were able to get close to the Warriors as Montoursville for the most part dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

Cameron Ott put together his second straight 100-yard game as he ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns one week after running for 213 yards in the Warriors’ Week 1 win over Warrior Run. Quarterback Griffin Dunne was efficient in his limited throws, completing 4-of-6 passes for 97 yards, although he was also picked off twice. Alec Rothrock ran for 71 yards on seven carries. Five different players scored touchdowns for the Warriors, who turned the ball over twice to Central’s four times.

Montoursville had more first downs in the first half (12) than Central had in the entire game (7) but committed seven penalties for 80 yards. Of Central’s seven first downs, three were the result of Montoursville penalties.

Aside from the penalties and turnovers, however, the Warriors dominated the Blue Jays, as Central was not even able to cross midfield until midway through the second quarter and for the evening, ran only 16 of its 48 plays in Montoursville territory.

“We made way too many mistakes against a really good football team. That’s just a great football team with really good athletes and we didn’t make plays when we had chances and they did,” said Central coach Jason Hippenstiel. “They took advantage of everything they had.”

Central went three-and-out on its first possession and from there, Montoursville took over and put together a lengthy drive of over five minutes that was capped by Curtis Miller’s one-yard run. The Blue Jays got a nice play from Danny Koch on the Warriors’ next possession as he picked off Dunne near midfield but the Blue Jays returned the favor and more just three plays later as Wyatt Entz gobbled up a tipped Austin Farver pass near the line of scrimmage and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown just before the end of the first quarter.A miscue on special teams by Central helped set up Montoursville for its next score as the Warriors blocked a Central punt on the Blue Jays’ ensuring possession and took over control in Central territory. Two runs for 12 and 25 yards by Alex Rothrock set the Warriors up inside the 1-yard line where Ethan Jones punched it in to put Montoursville up by three score.

Central’s next possession saw the Blue Jays both cross midfield into Montoursville territory for the first time all night and pick up their first first down of the game, as a Steven Shannon connected with Farver for a 43-yard gain but Farver was called for a facemark penalty as he attempted to stiff-arm the defender, which put Central back near midfield and three plays later, Shannon fumbled at the Montoursville 45. Five plays later, Ott scored his first of two touchdowns on the night to give the Warriors a four-score lead.

The Blue Jays were able to penetrate the deepest they got all night onto Montoursville side of the field on their next drive at Shannon picked up a nice 29-yard run on a broken play but the drive eventually stalled at the Warrior 10. Montoursville would then score on two of its first three possessions on the second half.

“Things just didn’t roll our way tonight. The ball didn’t bounce our way and we didn’t make some plays but you’ve got to give credit to Montoursville,” said Hippenstiel. “We made some really big mistakes that gave them some easy touchdowns. Granted they are a good football team but we can clean some things up and certainly give a better effort.”

“I was a little disappointed in some of the disciplinary issues but overall I’m pleased with the way we played,” said Keefer. “I’m kind of in the middle. I’m not displeased with where we’re at but we definitely need to improve.”

 

Central Columbia (1-1)           0          0          0          0    –    0
Montoursville (2-0)                 14        13        14        0    –     41

First quarter
4:15 – (M) Curtis Miller 6-yard run (Jimmy McMahon kick), 11-72, 5:22
:47 – (M) Wyatt Entz 34-yard interception return (Devin Marriott kick)

Second quarter
9:56 – (M) Ethan Jones 1-yard run (Griffin Dunne pass failed), 4-43, 1:05
6:32 – (M) Cameron Ott 15-yard run (Devin Marriott kick), 5-55, 1:59

Third quarter
10:35 – (M) Cameron Ott 30-yard run (Devin Marriott kick), 3-40, 1:25
3:00 – (M) Alex Rothrock 29-yard run (Jimmy McMahon kick), 3-67, 1:04

Statistics
CC                   M
First downs                 7                      17
Rushes-net yards         27-50               33-208
Passing yardage          111                  138
Passing                        7-21-0-2          6-9-0-2
Fumbles-lost               2-2                   2-0
Penalties-yards            5-55                 7-80

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Central Columbia: Steven Shannon (3-20), Danny Koch (9-10), Cole Taylor (2-5), Cody Bowman (3-4), Austin Farver (3-1), Lewis Williams (2-3), Austyn Lopez (1-5), Aaron Farver (1-3), Brittain Cooke (3-(-1)); Montoursville: Cameron Ott (10-101-2), Alec Rothrock (7-71-1), Griffin Dunne (6-14), Curtis Miller (2-7-1), Matt Shea (3-7), Mitchell Rothrock (1-7), Aidan Plants (1-4), Quintin Helm (1-1), Nolan Ott (1-2), Brycen Mussina (1-(-8))

PASSING — Central Columbia: Steven Shannon (3-10-53-0-0), Austin Farver (3-8-52-0-1), Aaron Farver (1-3-6-0-1); Montoursville: Griffin Dunne (4-6-97-0-2), Brycen Mussina (2-2-41-0-0), Taylor Strein (0-1-0-0-0)

RECEIVING — Central Columbia: Austin Farver (1-43), Danny Koch (1-40), Payton Aucker (1-7), Brittain Cooke (1-6), Zach Boyd (1-6), Eli Petersheim (1-5), Cody Bowman (1-4); Montoursville: Alex Erb (3-36), Wyatt Entz (1-61), Derrick Evans (1-36), Chris Scanlon (1-5)