NEW CUMBERLAND — A game that was considered a tossup by many turned out not to be the case.

Cedar Cliff had a great start Friday night in a Mid Penn Commonwealth football game, turned back Chambersburg’s chance to pull even, then slowly ran away for a 35-7 victory at West Shore Stadium.

Davonte Scott

The Trojans fall to 2-4 (1-4 MPC), while the Colts are now 3-3 (3-2 MPC).

The game’s key sequence came early in the second quarter. Cedar Cliff had jumped to a quick 14-0 lead, but Chambersburg had gotten one touchdown back, the defense had forced two 3-and-outs in a row and the offense was moving.

Trojan quarterback Cam Green had just scrambled 14 yards for a first-and-goal at the Colts’ 3 and it appeared that the game would soon be tied up.

Not so fast.

Chambersburg was called for a false start — one of 7 first-half penalties for 50 yards. Green hit Isaiah Tasker for a gain of just 1 yard. The Trojans were then nailed for a holding penalty, taking them back to the 17. A pass from Green to Cooper Stockslager for 9 yards and an incomplete pass made it fourth down.

An attempted 25-yard field goal by Ayden Sylvestre was missed and the golden opportunity was wasted.

Adding insult to injury, Cedar Cliff scored on a 26-yard pass from Jalen Hinton to Tywuan Byrd with just 9 seconds left in the half for a 21-7 lead.

Chambersburg coach Gary Carter said, “When you have first down at the 3 and don’t score, you just don’t recover from that. It should have been 14-14 and that’s frustrating.”

The start of the game was frustrating, too. The Trojans got the ball first, but on the third play from scrimmage, Green did not see Colts’ LB Will Kocher, who picked off his pass and carried to the Chambersburg 27.

Three plays later, Landon Howell reached the end zone from 13 yards out to open the scoring. On the Colts’ next possession, Hinton threw a perfect long pass to Owen Anastasi for 34 yards and a 14-0 advantage.

“They came out really ready to play and we weren’t,” Carter said. “You can’t start the game with a turnover and have all of those penalties and expect to win a game. We have to be more disciplined.”

In the second half, with the lead, Cedar Cliff was content to run the ball. They ran the ball 15 times in the third quarter and added touchdowns on a 4-yard run by Blake Secrest and on a 2-yard run by Howell to put the game out of reach.

Howell ended up with 120 yards on 15 carries and Cedar Cliff produced 224 yards on the ground. The Trojans mustered only 42 yards rushing.

Carter said, “We did not finish on offense. Every time we had a good play, it seemed like a penalty would follow. You can’t overcome that. And we missed way too many tackles on defense. We got in good position, but we kept hitting them high and they just broke free.”

Green ended up hitting 17 of 27 passes for 210 yards, and the one costly pick. Davonte Scott was the leading receiver with 6 catches for 90 yards. That included a 39-yard touchdown reception from Green in the first period when Scott found himself unmarked in the middle of the field.

Carter said, “It’s discouraging that we weren’t able to play with more discipline, and that’s on us (coaches). The kids are giving the effort.”

NOTES: The officials threw a flag down 14 times in the first half, and just twice in the second half … Brycen Murray had 3 catches for 58 yards and Malachi Tasker led the rushers with 23 yards … Cedar Cliff ended up punting 7 times … Chambersburg hosts winless Carlisle for Homecoming on Friday.

Cedar Cliff 35, Chambersburg 7
Chambersburg              7     0     0     0     —       7
Cedar Cliff                    14    7    14     0     —     35
First Quarter
CC — Landon Howell 13 run (Wyatt Easton kick), 9:50
CC — Owen Anastasi 34 pass from Jalen Hinton (Easton kick), 6:03
Ch — Davonte Scott 39 pass from Cam Green (Ayden Sylvestre kick), 3:58
Second Quarter
CC — Tywuan Byrd 26 pass from Hinton (Easton kick), 0:09
Third Quarter
CC — Blake Secrest 4 run (Easton kick), 9:38
CC — Howell 2 run (Easton kick), 4:42
Team Statistics
                                          Chbg            CC
First downs                        11              17
Rushes-yards                   23-42         41-224
Passing                            19-31-1        7-13-0
Passing yards                   233               128
Total offense                     275               352
Fumbles-lost                      0-0                0-0
Punts-average                  5-35.0          7-28.4
Penalties-yards                  8-55              6-50
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Chbg, Malachi Tasker 9-23, Green 11-10, Jashawn Palmer 3-9. CC, Howell 15-120, Alex Otero 12-56, Will White 3-24, Khy’meir Ricardson 5-14, Hinton 3-12, Secrest 1-4, Byrd 1-(-2).
Passing — Chbg, Green 17-27-1-210, Palmer 2-4-0-23. CC, HInton 7-12-0-128, Cameron Regis 0-1-0-0.
Receiving — Chbg, Scott 6-90, Bryson Murray 3-58, Cobe Penick 3-27, Cooper Stockslager 2-18, Isaiah Tasker 2-17, Camden McNew 1-15, Isaiah Ferguson 1-8. CC, Anastasi 2-62, Byrd 1-26, Isiah Jones 2-19, Jaden Heckard 1-12, Amarion Autry 1-9.
Interception — CC, Will Kocher.
Missed field goal — Chbg, Ayden Sykvestre, 25, low.

‘