STATE COLLEGE — Chambersburg connected on three huge plays against State College and scored 22 points off of them.
Unfortunately, the rest of the night the offense managed only two first downs and 102 yards.
Malachi Scott
And that allowed the Little Lions to control the ball and the game, taking a 38-22 Mid Penn Commonwealth victory Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
The Trojans (2-2, 0-1 MPC) were unable to move the ball consistently against the Little Lions’ defense. And, in what is becoming a theme for the season, the Chambersburg defense was on the field way too much and had trouble stopping third-down plays. State College ran 60 plays to the Trojans’ 41.
“We did make some big plays, and they’re nice, but unless you’re going to hit five or six of them, I’d rather see a 15-play, eight-minute drive for a score,” Trojan coach Mark Luther said. “And we’re not doing that.”
Chambersburg gave up a big play to the Little Lions and fell behind 7-0, but came right back on its second play. Quarterback Jermere Jones saw Malachi Scott get past his defender on a fly route and got he ball to him for a 77-yard score. A missed extra point made it 7-6.
Luther said, “We bounced right back, and then we missed the extra point. Those kinds of things happen to young teams and they hurt.”
The score remained 7-6 until a State College drive stalled with Grant Hopple making a tackle for a loss on third down, and Quinn Murphy kicked a field goal to make it 10-6.
But on Chambersburg’s next possession, Jones threw to his right and SC’s Branden Price stepped in front and returned it 38 yards for a crushing touchdown.
“It was a football game at that point, then we made a sophomore mistake and then they got away from us a little before the half,” Luther said.
The Little Lions made it 24-6 at the half on an 18-yard pass to Donte Nastasi from Finn Furmanek, and then 31-6 on their first drive of the second half, on a 4-yard run by Furmanek, who hurt the Trojans with 64 yards on 8 carries.
Rhaigeon Parker
But lightning struck for Chambersburg when Rhaigeon Parker returned the kickoff 96 yards for a score. He broke through a wall of defenders, made one move on the last Little Lion tackler and sped into the end zone.
The teams then traded big plays for scores. Furmanek found Price behind the defense for a 50-yard strike, then Jones dropped a perfectly-throw long ball into the arms of a streaking Scott for an 80-yard bomb.
Luther said, “I challenged the kids at halftime to see what they had in them and I think we did some good things. But our defense has simply been on the field way too long.”
NOTES: Altoona Jashaun Green was taken off the field on a stretcher in the third period … While trying a catch in the end zone, his face hit the turf and hurt his neck … Parker and James Lilley each caught two-point conversions for the Trojans — Parker from Jones, and Lilley from Bryce Folmar after the snap went bad … Scott finished with 3 catches for 157 yards.
State College 38, Chambersburg 22
Chambersburg 6 0 8 8 — 22
State College 7 17 14 0 — 38
First Quarter
SC — Owen Yerka 4 run (Quinn Murphy kick), 9:07
Ch — Malachi Scott 77 pass from Jermere Jones (kick failed), 8:19
Second Period
SC — Murphy 35 field goal, 7:47
SC — Branden Price 38 interception return (Murphy kick), 6:10
SC — DOnte Nastasi 18 pass from Finn Furmanek (Murphy kick), 1:29
Third Quarter
SC — Furmanek 4 run (Murphy kick), 8:04
Ch — Rhaigeon Parker 96 kickoff return (Parker pass from Jones), 7:50
SC — Price 50 pass from Furmanek (Murphy kick), 2:02
Fourth Quarter
Ch — Scott 80 pass from Jones (James Lilley pass from Bryce Folmar), 11:49
TEAM STATISTICS
Chbg SC
First downs 4 19
Rushes-yards 20-66 38-157
Passing 8-21-1 11-22-0
Passing yards 193 249
Total offense 259 406
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Punts-average 5-27.9 3-37.6
Penalties-yards 6-47 4-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Chbg Rashawn Williams 6-26, Jones 9-26, Parker 1-9, Bryce Flenory 4-5. SC, Furmanek 8-64, Brady Bendik 17-44, Yerke 8-38, T.J. Yoder 3-13, Jashaun Green 1-0, Jack Morris 1-(-2).
Passing — Chbg, Jones 6-15-1-171, Folmar 2-6-0-22. SC, Furmanek 11-22-0-249.
Receiving — Chbg, Scott 3-157, Parker 2-13, Grant Hopple 1-9, Lilley 1-8, Flenory 1-6. SC , Yoder 3-118, Price 3-75, Green 2-37, Nastasi 3-19.