Sam Vessah (photo courtesy Pictures Plus)

CHAMBERSBURG  — For the first time this season, Chambersburg got manhandled.

Central Dauphin had its way with the Trojans, especially in the first half, and rolled to a 35-14 Mid Penn Commonwealth football victory Friday night at Trojan Stadium.

Adam Burkhart was the chief bully for CD, rushing 16 times for 137 yards and two short touchdowns, and catching two passes for 69 yards and a pair of scores. The Rams led 28-0 at halftime.

“They’re a big team and we’re a little undersized,” Chambersburg coach Mark Luther said. “We had been winning by using a lot of heart and desire, but for the first half of this game they really dominated the line on both sides of the ball.”

The Trojans fall to 6-3 (3-3 MPC), while the Rams are now 6-3 (4-2 MPC).

Once again, Chambersburg played better in the second half than in the first, outscoring CD 14-7.

“The kids didn’t quit and we fought hard in the second half,” Luther said. “But that’s too big of a hole we built for ourselves.”

The study Burkhart (6-foot, 208) was hard to bring down once he got a head of steam up — he had 121 yards on the ground by halftime. And quarterback Noah Hoffman had a good target in receiver Nick Chimienti, who caught six passes for 91 yards and a score.

The Rams scored on their first two possessions, starting from their own 45 and the Trojan 49. The first finished with a fourth-and-6 pass of 27 yards from Hoffman to Chimienti.

In the second period, Chambersburg gifted CD a score when a fumbled punt was recovered on the Trojan 9 and Burkhart cashed in after two runs to make it 21-0.

Chambersburg then put together its best drive of the game, moving 69 yards in 13 plays, and converting two third downs and a fourth down. But the drive ended with 1:53 left in the half when Chimienti intercepted Brady Stumbaugh at the goal line.

And the Rams then inserted the dagger, taking just five plays to race 97 yards. In three straight plays, Burkhart had a 33-yard run, Chimienti caught a pass for 34 yards and Burkhart took a short pass 22 yards for a TD with 0:12 left to raise the score to 28-0.

At the half, the Trojans had just 29 yards on the ground and 50 passing.

Luther said, “Everybody is packing the box against us to stop Keyshawn (Jones). And we’re not executing as well as we hoped. We knew we’d get to the point where we’d have to throw the football, and we show flashes of doing it well.

“But we’re not consistent enough yet. We need to be able to back off defenses to allow us to run the ball. They were bringing guys off the edge all night and pressuring Brady. He’s an awesome kid, and he’s come a long way, but he’s still learning a lot.”

Stumbaugh completed 12 of 28 passes for 131 yards and Jones was held to 43 yards on 20 carries.

Chambersburg did get on the scoreboard with a 42-yard, nine-play drive in the third quarter, with Stumbaugh running for a first down on fourth-and-1, hitting Brady Hughes for 19 yards to the CD 4 and then sweeping left for a touchdown to make it 28-7.

But later in the same quarter, the Rams used a 47-yard pass in the flat to Burkhart that went for 47 yards to score its final touchdown.

The Trojans had one more scoring drive, bridging the third and fourth quarters. Sophomore receiver Sam Vessah got involved, catching a pass for 11 yards for a first down, and Stumbaugh found Hughes with a pass for 30 yards on which Hughes made a circus catch.

After two consecutive 15-yard CD penalties, Chambersburg used some trickery. Hughes came in as the quarterback, rolled to his right and threw to Vessah, who held onto the ball in the end zone as he got whacked for a 26-yard TD.

Vessah, who had not caught a varsity pass until he snared four for 55 yards Friday, said, “I had no idea I’d be used like this tonight. I just try to work hard in practice and wait my turn. I wanted to show I could do what I was supposed to do.

“On the touchdown, I had a perfect grip on the ball. I went up and caught it and made sure it was secure before I got hit. It was very exciting.”

Chambersburg will end the regular season next Friday at Carlisle. The Trojans are still No. 7 in the District 3 power rankings and a win next week would ensure a place in the playoffs.

NOTES: Stumbaugh went over 1,000 yards passing for the season; he now has 1,107 yards … He completed passes to six different receivers Friday … In its last four games, Chambersburg had had only seven penalties for 54 yards.

Central Dauphin 35, Chambersburg 14
Central Dauphin        14   14   7   0   —   35
Chambersburg            0     0    7   7   —   14
First Quarter
CD — Nick Chimienti 27 pass from Noah Hoffman (Derek Krug kick), 8:35
CD — Adam Burkhart 1 run (Krug kick), 5:13
Second Quarter
CD — Burkhart 1 run (Krug kick), 9:33
CD — Burkhart 22 pass from Hoffman (Krug kick), 0:12
Third Quarter
Ch — Brady Stumbaugh 4 run (Tyler Luther kick), 6:26
CD — Burkhart 47 pass from Hoffman (Krug kick), 2:00
Fourth Quarter
Ch — Sam Vessah 26 pass from Brady Hughes (Luther kick), 10:34
Team Statistics
                                             CD            Chbg
First downs                        12               12
Rushes-yards                  32-187       32-66
Passing yards                    175            157
Passing                             10-17-0     13-31-2
Total offense                      362            223
Fumbles-lost                       1-1             3-1
Punts-average                  3-30.3       4-28.0
Penalties-yards                  8-83           2-15
Individual Statistics
Rushing — CD, Burkhart 16-137, Hoffman 3-13, Tyler Leisher 4-12, Daniel Ficca 3-10, Tyrell English 2-6, Timmy Smith 2-5, Tim Dao 2-4. Chbg, Keyshawn Jones 21-43, Jayden Jones 4-30, Stumbaugh 7-(-7).
Passing — CD, Hoffman 10-16-0-175, Kyle Eagle 0-1-0-0. Chbg, Stumbaugh 12-28-1-131, Hughes 1-1-0-26, K.Jones 0-1-0-0, Malachi Blair 0-1-1-0.
Receiving — CD, Chimienti 6-91, Burkhart 2-69, Leisher 1-12, Smith 1-3. Chbg, Vessah 4-55, Hughes 2-49, Tanner Hunt 3-18, Garner Funk 2-18, DaQuan Rogers 1-15, Andrew Shetter 1-2.
Interceptions — CD, Chimienti, Myron Brooks.