CHAMBERSBURG — Chambersburg may have won in the statistical category, but the Trojans did not in the big-play category.
That designation goes to Manheim Central, and those clutch plays were enough to hold off Chambersburg 24-19 on Friday night at Trojan Stadium in a non-league clash to open the football season.
The Barons had a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Xavier Oxceva, a 78-yard interception return for a score by Logan Miller, an interception by Austin Wenger in his own end zone and a game-clinching interception by Wenger inside his own 20 with 0:56 left.
Jashaun Palmer
“I feel like the better football team did not win tonight,” Chambersburg coach Gary Carter said. “But that’s not to take anything away from Manheim Central. Their kids made the plays and we didn’t. We just made too many mistakes.”
The Trojan offense racked up 427 yards to 203 by the Barons. But they did not cash in several times after moving the ball in range and that eventually cost them.
You can take your pick of several plays that ended up costing Chambersburg dearly.
After taking the lead on a 12-play, 89-yard drive on a 9-yard pass from Cam Green to Seth Gilliam, the Trojans allowed Oxceva to burst through a huge hole in the kickoff coverage and run 91 yards untouched.
The Trojans put together another scoring drive, capped by Malachi Tasker’s 4-yard run, to lead 13-6. But the Barons started clicking on offense. QB Logan Kappel was able to locate open receivers in space on third-down plays and they had two straight scoring drives to take an 18-13 lead with 1:06 left in the half.
“Our defense had a lot of missed coverages in the first half,” Carter said.
Thanks to Green’s 33-yard throw to Jashaun Palmer — get used to that name — to the Baron 17 with 10 seconds left, Chambersburg had a chance to steal a score just before the half. And when Gilliam snared a pass from Green in the end zone, it appeared that it had.
But the Trojans were penalized for having too many in the backfield, and the play was called back. Wenger then came up with his first interception to enable his team to keep the lead.
Midway through the third period, Green underthrew his receiver and Miller picked it off with a full head of steam and nobody could catch him on his 78-yard jaunt that gove Manheim Central a 24-13 advantage.
Of bigger concern is that during the play, Green was injured. His status for next week is not known.
The Trojan defense held the Barons to just four first downs in the second half and that gave the Trojans a chance to come back.
But it would have to be with Palmer at the quarterback spot. To that point, the junior, who had played QB for the JV team last year, had opened some eyes by making 6 catches for 173 yards. His first two possessions at QB did not produce much that was positive. But with 9:06 left, he hit Lucas Ocker on the left sideline and Ocker made one nifty move on a defender before steaming 56 yards for a touchdown, making is 24-19.
Chambersburg got two more possessions. The first ended when Palmer hit Nathan Chambers on a fourth-down play and a Baron defender ripped the ball free.
The last started with 2:43 left on the Trojans’ 32. Palmer came up with a pair of throws for first downs and he ran for another. But at the Manheim Central 24, Palmer’s pass was picked off by Wenger to end the threat.
“Palmer did some great things when he came in,” Carter said, “and he was lights out at receiver.”
All told, Palmer accounted for 173 yards receiving, 25 rushing and 102 passing for a total of 300 yards in his varsity debut.
Carter said, “The kids didn’t give up when Cam went out. But we missed some chances in the red zone, we took some plays off and we made too many mistakes. We’re gonna have to coach them up better.”
NOTES: There were 7 touchdowns in the game, but only one extra point was made … Chambersburg travels to State College next Friday.
Manheim Central 24, Chambersburg 19
Manheim Central 6 12 6 0 — 24
Chambersburg 7 6 0 6 — 19
First Quarter
Ch — Seth Gilliam 9 pass from Cam Green (Matias Meneses kick), 2:04
MC — Xavier Oxceva 91 kickoff return (kick failed), 1:50
Second Quarter
Ch — Malachi Tasker 4 run (kick blocked), 10:53
MC — Logan Kappel 8 run (kick blocked), 5:36
MC — Isaiah Oxceva 1 run (kick blocked), 1:06
Third Quarter
MC — Logan Miller 78 interception return (kick failed), 7:55
Fourth Quarter
Ch — Logan Ocker 56 pass from Jashaun Palmer (pass failed), 9:06
Team Statistics
MC Chbg
First downs 12 18
Rushes-yards 30-51 24-96
Passing 13-19-0 20-41-3
Passing yards 152 331
Total offense 203 427
Fumbles-lost 3-0 0-0
Punts-average 5-33.1 3-41.0
Penalties-yards 7-61 9-59
Individual Statistics
Rushing — MC, I.Oxceva 15-56, Dylan Henninger 2-2, Kappel 13-(-7). Chbg, Green 7-43, Tasker 11-31, Jashaun Palmer 3-25, Colton Horst 1-0, Jyshawn Dixon 2-(-3).
Passing — MC, Kappel 13-19-0-152. Chbg, Green 12-25-2-229, Palmer 8-16-1-102.
Receiving — MC, Henninger 5-97, Nahshon Chioke 2-24, Jahziel Morales 2-13, I.Oxceva 1-13, Austin Wenger 2-12, Miller 1-3.. Chbg, Palmer 6-173, Ocker 3-69, Tasker 2-27, Gilliam 3-22, B.Deneen 3-21, Sebastian Laughlin 1-18, Dixon 1-7, Brock Chlebowski 1-(-6).
Interceptions — MC, Wenger 2, Miller.