Andrew Shetter’s interception sealed Chambersburg’s 28-19 win over Red Lion on Friday.
CHAMBERSBURG — The Chambersburg football team is becoming known for its big-play potential on offense.
Rightly so. And that happened three times for touchdowns Friday night in a non-league game at Trojan Stadium against Red Lion.
But the Trojan defense and special teams can take a good deal of the credit for a 28-19 victory over the Lions that raised Chambersburg’s record to an improbable 3-0.
The Trojans held Red Lion (2-1) to just 86 yards of offense on 33 plays (2.6 average) in the second half and shut them out thanks to two interceptions, a blocked punt and punt coverage that kept the Lions pinned deep in their territory.
Chambersburg nursed its 21-19 halftime lead until the offense finally cashed in after the blocked punt to score the touchdown that put it safely ahead with 2:06 left.
“The effort on defense was phenomenal,” Trojan coach Mark Luther said. “We put them in a lot of third-and-long situations, although too many times we let them get big plays. We have to keep learning on the field — those plays are hard to simulate in practice.”
In the second half, Red Lion had 12 first-down plays. Those plays totaled 10 yards, plus an interception.
“When we have somebody bottled up, we know we have to stop them and give our offense a chance,” said middle linebacker Andrew Shetter, who was all over the field.
The Lions ran only three plays in Trojan territory in the second half — two resulted in five-yard penalties and the other was the blocked punt.
Chambersburg DB Kyere Morton said, “Field position was big. We were trying to make sure they couldn’t complete a deep pass on us.”
Tyeshawn Worrell played well on special teams (photos courtesy of Pictures Plus).
Defensive end Garner Funk said, “We watched a lot of film. They threw a lot of short passes and we adjusted, although they did make some good plays.”
Finally, after starting second-half possessions on its own 45, 46, 45 and 30, and Red Lion’s 45 and not coming up with even one first down, the Trojan offense cashed in after Levi Mixell blocked a punt of Zach Mentzer’s with 5:21 left in the game to put the ball on Red Lion’s 25.
Chambersburg got its only first down of the second half on third-and-14 when Brady Stumbaugh found Morton over the middle for a 29-yard play to the Lions’ 2.
After a loss, a penalty and a 9-yard catch by Terrell Williams, the ball was back on the 2, with third-and-goal. Morton gained a yard, then Luther rolled the dice and went for the touchdown on fourth down. Stumbaugh made it work by slanting in from the 1 with 2:06 left. Tyler Luther’s extra point made it a nine-point advantage at 28-19.
Mark Luther said, “The staff talked about it. If we don’t score, we give them the ball at their 1. They have a good kicker, so they wouldn’t have had to go the whole length of the field, but still a long way. If we kick a field goal, they could get a good return and be in better shape.”
Shetter then sealed the victory by intercepting Mentzer.
“They were hurting us all game with that screen pass,” Shetter said. “It was a situation where somebody had to make a play, and I just happened to be the one who was there.”
In the first half, Chambersburg had a big-play field day. The second play of the game was a 70-yard pass from Stumbaugh to Kevin Lee, who took the ball off a Red Lion defender’s hands and waltzed into the end zone.
Keyshawn Jones played a decoy early and did not touch the ball in the first quarter. But on the first play of the second quarter, he sprinted around his right side and motored the length of the field for a 96-yard touchdown.
The Lions, who had scored on a safety when a punt snap went through the end zone, and on a 25-yard Eli Workinger field goal, put together a 16-play drive that took 8 1/2 minutes and overcame a third-and-17, and a third-and-22, to make it 14-12 on Tyler Ness’s four-yard run.
Randy Fizer then picked off a Stumbaugh pass and danced 82 yards for a touchdown with 33 seconds left in the half to give Red Lion a 19-14 lead.
Chambersburg’s idea of running out the clock was to give Jones another carry, and the crowd voiced its loud approval when Jones beat feet around the right end again, sprinting 80 yards for a TD with 0:11 left and a 21-19 halftime lead.
That left it up to the defense, and it came through.
The Trojans travel to Altoona (2-1) for a Mid Penn Commonwealth game next Friday.
NOTES: Tyeshawn Worrell downed punts by Tyler Luther at the Lion 2 and 4 yard lines … DaQuan Rogers had an interception for the Trojans … Jones finished with 179 yards on 12 carries … Chambersburg had 344 yards of offense, of which 246 came on the three scoring plays in the first half … The game was delayed for 25 minutes because of pregame lightning in the area.
Chambersburg 28, Red Lion 19
Red Lion 5 14 0 0 — 19
Chambersburg 7 14 0 7 — 28
First Quarter
Ch — Kevin Lee 70 pass from Brady Stumbaugh (Tyler Luther kick), 11:36
RL — Safety, punt snapped out of end zone, 8:43
RL — Eli Workinger 25 field goal, 4:37
Second Quarter
Ch — Keyshawn Jones 96 run (Luther kick), 11:47
RL — Tyler Ness 4 run (Workinger kick), 3:22
RL — Randy Fizer 82 interception return (Workinger kick), 0:33
Ch — Jones 80 run (Luther kick), 0:11
Fourth Quarter
Ch — Stumbaugh 1 run (Luther kick), 2:06
Team Statistics
RL Chbg
First downs 10 5
Rushes-yards 32-61 23-197
Passing yards 171 147
Passing 20-31-2 9-16-1
Total offense 232 344
Punts-avg. 6-39.2 6-38.3
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 9-63 6-50
Individual Statistics
Rushing — RL, Ness 14-33, Zach Mentzer 14-30, Workinger 1-(-1), Fizer 3-(-1). Chbg, Jones 12-179, Stumbaugh 8-12, Andrew Shetter 1-4, Kyere Morton 2-2.
Passing — RL, Mentzer, 20-31-2-171. Chbg, Stumbaugh 9-16-1-147.
Receiving — RL, Jason Nazarenus 6-71, Workinger 6-59, Ness 3-15, Fizer 3-15, Ben Hornberger 1-6, Devante Dennis 1-5. Chbg, Lee 1-70, Williams 3-32, Morton 1-29, Jones 3-13, Tanner Hunt 1-3.
Interceptions — RL, Fizer. Chbg, DaQuan Rogers, Shetter.