Brock Harmon (photo courtesy Pictures Plus)

COLONIAL PARK — If something is working, it’s usually a good idea to keep doing it.

That theory worked exceptionally well for the Chambersburg football team Friday night at Landis Field, where the Trojans earned a hard-fought 26-20 Mid Penn Commonwealth victory over Central Dauphin East.

The win boosted the Trojans’ record to 6-1 (3-1 MPC).

The Chambersburg offensive line had their way with the Panthers (2-5, 1-3 MPC) and Keyshawn Jones was the happy recipient.

Jones ran the ball 31 times and piled up 311 yards and two touchdowns. That gives the mercurial junior running back 1,285 yards for the season — in seven games.

Trojan center Brock Harmon said, “Keyshawn always gives us a chance to gain big yards. As long as we give him a chance, he’ll do something good.”

“I was up against a guy my size, so I was confident, and had a good feeling early (that we could run),” right tackle Jake Corwell said. “We love having Keyshawn as our running back.”

Keyshawn Jones (photo courtesy Pictures Plus)

All together, Chambersburg rolled to 423 yards on 49 carries — that’s 8.6 per carry. The line also included Tucker Karn at right guard, Wyatt Hull at left guard and Tucker Eiker at left tackle, plus Garner Funk at tight end.

“We hoped to break Keyshawn open in some seams, but we did not expect anything like that,” Trojan coach Mark Luther said.

The defense also did its part, coming up with an excellent second-half performance, shutting East out and allowing only 51 yards and two first downs.

Safety Tyeshawn Worrell said, “We came out with a lot more energy and got to the ball quicker. We had to stop them from getting to the outside.”

“We saw what adjustments we had to make for the second half,” said linebacker Carmen Pompeii. “They were fast and got outside on us.”

However, the game was still in doubt until the final minute.

Chambersburg held a 26-20 lead and was driving when quarterback Brady Stumbaugh lost a fumble at the East 21. The Panthers still had 3:10 remaining.

On the second play, QB Shawn Brown ran around his left side and appeared to have room for some yardage. But end Bryce Diller poked the ball free and cornerback Kevin Lee fell on the ball at the CDE 36.

Jones carried 18 yards for one first down, but East held strong until Chambersburg faced a fourth-and-1 at the CD East 5 with 41 seconds left.

Luther said, “We were definitely going for it. Even if we didn’t get it, they had no timeouts and the whole field to go.”

Stumbaugh knifed through the line for four yards to the 1 and all it took was one kneel down for the victory.

The Panthers matched every Chambersburg score with one of its own in the first half. Jones scored from 15 yards out to begin the scoring, but Brown hit Stephon Brown with a pass in the flat on East’s first play and he scooted 80 yards for a touchdown.

Jones scored from the 4 after running 58 yards to set it up, but the Panthers got even with a 35-yard run by Bryce Baker.

It took Chambersburg just two plays to go ahead again. Jones rambled for 48 yards, then took a break for a play, and Kyere Morton came in and scored from 32 yards out for a 19-13 lead.

CDE snuck ahead 20-19 with a score just 25 seconds before halftime. The elusive Shawn Brown ran 22 yards to the 1 on fourth-and-1, then scored on the next play.

The only score of the second half came in the third period, when Stumbaugh found a hole and scurried 12 yards to the end zone.

There were two big plays in the second half. One was Diller’s forced fumble. The other was a 47-yard touchdown pass from Shawn Brown to Stephon Brown that was called back for ineligible receivers downfield.

Bryce Diller (photo courtesy Pictures Plus)

Luther said, “Brown was definitely going to run on that play, then he pulled up and threw the pass. I think they had one guy 9-10 yards downfield.

“Sometimes you need some luck, and we’ve been lucky at times this year. Those kinds of things never seemed to happen to us the last few years.”

So now the Trojans enter the last three games of the regular season ranked No. 3 in District 3, and the stakes get higher with Harrisburg coming to Trojan Stadium next week.

Harmon said, “This just feels amazing. The team, the community, the school … everything is different this year.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” Luther said. “We did not come out flat like we did last week. And what’s phenomenal is that they keep getting better each week.”

Chambersburg 26, CD East 20
Chambersburg          13   6   7   0   —   26
CD East                         6  14   0   0   —   20
First Quarter
Ch — Keyshawn Jones 15 run (kick blocked), 8:25
CDE — Stephon Brown 80 pass from Shawn Brown (kick failed), 8:11
Ch — Jones 4 run (Tyler Luther kick), 2:08
Second Quarter
CDE — Bryce Baker 35 run (Hossam Aly kick), 9:47
Ch — Kyere Morton 32 run (kick blocked), 9:11
CDE — Sh.Brown 1 run (Aly kick), 0:25
Third Quarter
Ch — Brady Stumbaugh 12 run (Luther kick), 6:03
Team Statistics
                                              Chbg          CDE
First downs                           21              12
Rushes-yards                     49-423       37-198
Passing yards                       26              105
Total offense                        449             303
Passing                                3-7-0           5-7-0
Fumbles-lost                         1-1             1-1
Punts-average                   3-34.7         5-39.8
Penalties-yards                   2-15            6-40
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Chbg, Jones 31-311, Stumbaugh 14-66, Morton 2-34, Andrew Shetter 2-12. CDE, Baker 19-119, Sh.Brown 9-57, Emmanuel Niang 7-17, Devon Lee 2-5.
Passing — Chbg, Stumbaugh 3-7-0-26. CDE, Sh.Brown 5-7-0-105.
Receiving — Chbg, Jones 1-12, Garner Funk 1-9, Shetter 1-5. CDE, Sh.Brown 2-102, Larry English 1-3, Khisahn Lester 1-1, Baker 1-(-1).