CHAMBERSBURG — Chambersburg did plenty of things right in its Mid Penn Commonwealth tussle against Central Dauphin on Friday night.

But it was the things they didn’t do well — CD had three touchdown passes of at least 31 yards, and the Trojans were called for 15 penalties for 157 yards — that cost them the game.

Ceagan Truett

The Rams (3-7, 3-6 MPC) came from behind twice to take a 28-21 victory over Chambersburg at Trojan Stadium, thus knocking Chambersburg out of a District 3 Class 6A playoff berth. The Trojans finished 4-6 (3-6 MPC) and were nosed out in ratings points by another 4-6 team, Hempfield, for the No. 10 spot in the playoffs.

Chambersburg coach Mark Luther said, “I told them afterward that there are so many life lessons in this game. The reality is, we had quite a few opportunities presented to us to win, and you have to take advantage of them. We did on some tonight, but not enough.”

The loss unfortunately took away from a brilliant performance by Trojan quarterback Ceagan Truett and his receivers and line. Truett completed an astonishing 29 of 32 passes for 290 yards and a touchdown. Alas, his second incompletion, when he was hit as he threw by a CD defender, came on 4th-and-10 at the Rams’ 14 with 0:19 left.

“Truett had a good week of practice and he was really sharp tonight,” Luther said. “He threw a great game, except for that one interception, and I don’t know if that ball was tipped or not. Unfortunately, we are just getting into rhythm on offense and everybody’s on the same page… and the season is over.”

Truett completed passes six different receivers. His only two incompletions came when he was hit, and when the ball was jostled loose when a receiver was hit.

Trever Luther

Trever Luther latched onto 12 passes for 98 yards, Evan Brown caught 8 for 78 and a touchdown and Jason Chambers had 5 for 47.

The Trojans rolled to a 14-0 lead in the second period on short runs by Stanley Lozius and Imani Watson. But the Rams struck for a 57-yard score on a pass from Gavin Kirkpatrick to Jahmari Robinson-Bell and trailed 14-7 at halftime.

Chambersburg had a chance to do some real damage early in the third quarter, but Watson was stopped on third and fourth down from the Rams’ 1.

Then came a huge situation that changed the game. CD faced a third-and 5 from its own 38 and Kirkpatrick was stopped 3 yards short, going out of bounds in front of the Chambersburg bench. A punt was likely. But a Trojan player was penalized for a late hit, and then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called.

That pushed the Rams to Chambersburg’s 31 and on the very next play, Bell hauled in another TD catch from Kirkpatrick to tie the game, 14-14.

Truett once again got his team a lead, going 4-for-4 for 58 yards on a drive that ended with Brown getting his feet in bounds near the pylon for a 5-yard touchdown and a 21-14 lead.

Which disappeared in the 13 seconds it took Jadyn Johnson to run the kickoff back 90 yards and tie the game up once more.

Chambersburg reached the CD 29, but on fourth-and-4, Bell hit a Trojan receiver just as the ball got there and created Truett’s first incomplete pass.

Kirkpatrick, who was not too shabby either (13-for-15, 0 int., 3 TDs and 184 yards), got his team into the end zone on a 31-yard pass to tight end Brandon Cooper. CD had barely gained a first down on fourth down on the play before the score.

With 1:27 on the clock and two timeouts, Truett got his team to the Central Dauphin 14 with 46 seconds left. But an intentional grounding penalty — when the receiver went one way and the ball went the other — backed them up and led to the final incompletion.

“I really thought when we went up 14-0, we were in good shape,” coach Luther said, “because we were moving the ball and the defense had stopped them.

“We made some good plays at times — we converted on a lot of third-down plays — but we got beat deep twice. It you want to be a team that makes the playoffs, you have to be the one making the plays. At times we did, but at times we didn’t make the plays we needed to. It was kind of the story of our season.”

Central Dauphin now has 11 consecutive wins over Chambersburg, and is 28-1 in the last 29 years.

Central Dauphin 28, Chambersburg 21
Central Dauphin              0     7     0     21     —     28
Chambersburg                 7     7     0       7     —     21
First Quarter
Ch — Stanley Lozius 1 run (Trever Luther kick), 2:34
Second Quarter
Ch — Imani Watson 2 run (Luther Kick), 8:42
CD — Jahmari Robinson-Bell 57 pass from Gavin Kirkpatrick (Robby Jimenez kick), 6:38
Fourth Quarter
CD — Robinson=Bell 31 pass from Kirkpatrick (Jimenez kick), 11:12
Ch — Evan Brown 5 pass from Ceagan Truett (Luther kick), 8:46
CD — Jadyn Johnson 90 kickoff return (Jimenez kick), 8:33
CD — Brandon Cooper 31 pass from Kirkpatrick (Jimenez kick), 1:35
Team Statistics
                                                      CD                      Chbg
First downs                                 13                         17
Rushes-yards                           20-71                     28-50
Passing                                     13-15-0                 29-32-1
Passing yards                             184                       290
Total offense                               255                       340
Fumbles-lost                                1-1                        1-0
Punts-average                            2-31-5                   1-51.0
Penalties-yards                           7-61                    15-157
Individual Statistics
Rushing — CD, Mark Lebo 2-24, Kirkpatrick 4-18, John Harris III 10-14, Anthony Neuhard 3-12, Xaivion Allen 1-3. Chbg, Watson 19-33, Truett 8-16, Lozius 1-1.
Passing — CD, Kirkpatrick 13-15-0-184. Chbg, Truett 29-32-1-290.
Receiving — CD, Bell 6-121, Cooper 1-31, Andrew Kurtz 2-26, Harris 1-6, Peyton Wylie 2-0. Chbg, Luther 12-98, Brown 8-78, Jason Chambers 5-47, Lozius 2-44, Harrison Benedict 1-20, Caleb Varner 1-3.
Interceptions — CD, Johnson.