COLONIAL PARK, Pa. – If only high school football was 36 minutes instead of 48. Then we’d be talking about one of the biggest upsets in the state this season, and possibly even in Mid Penn history.
Central Dauphin East had a 17-game losing streak entering the day, and State College was figured to win by quite a wide margin. In the end, State College (6-1) came out on top, but CD East (0-7) served notice.
The Little Lions scored 21 fourth quarter points en route to a 21-3 victory over the Panthers Saturday afternoon from Landis Field. All of the scoring came after halftime.
Neither team really got much going offensively in the first half, though the Panthers did move the ball better than their opponent. By halftime, CD East had managed 84 yards of offense and five first downs – SC had 69 (including a dismal 19 yards passing) and just three first downs.
CD East also had forced a pair of Little Lion interceptions, one on SC’s opening possession and the other on the Lions’ final possession of the first half.
The only scoring threat came late in the second quarter, when CD East strung together runs of nine and seven yards by sophomore Aris Scott and a nine-yard run by tailback Christian DeVan to set up a 29-yard field goal attempt by Cody Webster. The kick would have had the distance, but hooked to the right.
Webster helped heighten the hopes of the upset when he connected on a 37-yard field goal with 3:27 left in the third quarter. CD East got its only first down on the possession via a pass interference penalty.
When SC quarterback Dom Mills fumbled on the Lions’ first play from scrimmage, the Panthers appeared to be in business. Scott hit a 12-yard pass to Shelby Wilkerson, and that set the Panthers up 1st-and-goal from the SC 7.
A critical turnover – CD East’s first of the game – came just moments later. Scott’s fumble was recovered by State College at its own eight yard line, and the Panthers’ good fortunes and momentum were no more.
State College embarked on an 11-play drive, 10 runs and one pass, and was capped with a one-yard scoring run by Mills.
After CD East’s next drive was thwarted by a chop block, State College went on a 35-yard drive, which Mills capped with a 10-yard scoring run.
Penn State commit Alex Kenney was bottled up for much of the day. He was held to just one yard on five carries in the first half. He capped the Lions’ scoring with a five-yard touchdown run with less than a minute left in the game, finishing with 34 yards on nine carries, three receiving yards, and a 16-yard kick return.
Mills ran for 38 yards for State College, and went 3-of-9 passing for 22 yards. Colby Way ran for 37 yards and caught a 17-yard pass, and Shane Dorner’s only carry of the game went for 28 yards.
State College ran for 180 yards in the game – 141 of those yards came in the final 12:15 of the game. Through three quarters, SC had run 19 times for 49 yards.
DeVan led the Panthers’ ground attack with 38 yards on 13 carries. Scott went 6-of-16 passing for 59 yards, adding 11 yards on 10 keepers. Nate Stazewski added 14 yards on six carries for the Panthers, who ran for 68 yards on 34 carries and had 127 yards of total offense.
