COLONIAL PARK — Chambersburg saved its lengthiest play of the game for the perfect time.

The Trojans’ Isaiah Ferguson turned a short pass from Justin Deneen into a 58-yard scoring scamper with 1:55 remaining in the game for the go-ahead touchdown. Chambersburg’s defense did the rest in a 19-14 Mid Penn Commonwealth victory over Central Dauphin at Landis Field on Friday night.

Isaiah Ferguson

Ferguson said, “This is like no other feeling — 100% we had to get a win tonight. I caught the ball and I was shocked there was no (defender) in front of me. I must have gotten some good blocks.”

The Trojans are now 1-4 (1-3 MPC); the Rams fall to 0-5 (0-4 MPC). It was Chambersbug’s first win over CD since a 23-20 verdict in 2013.

“The kids made the plays when we needed them,” Trojan coach Gary Carter said. “I honestly saw this coming this week — we had a great practice yesterday. We played with effort and a ton of heart and I’m very proud of them.”

Backup quarterback Justin Deneen had a second strong game filling in for the injured Cam Green. Deneen targeted 23 of 36 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Last week he threw to nine different receivers; it was eight this week.

After a 7-7 tie at halftime, Chambersburg took a 13-7 advantage with an 80-yard drive that ate up nearly half of the third quarter. Deneen converted a third-and-15, a third-and-11 and a third-and-goal from 12 yards out on a pinpoint throw to sticky-handed Lucas Ocker for the touchdown.

Ocker said, “I thought that touchdown might be enough. They did come back to get the lead, but everybody on our side had a lot of energy. Everyone played together and it’s so nice to get that burden off our shoulders.”

Central Dauphin put together an 11-play, 67-yard drive spanning the third and fourth quarters, with Xaivion Allen getting much of the yardage on the ground. He ended up carrying 28 times for 104 yards in the game, including a 3-yard burst for a TD. Diego Randazzo’s extra-point give the Rams a 14-13 lead with 9:45 remaining.

The Trojans’ next drive stalled, but a holding penalty against the Rams helped force a punt and Chambersburg took over on its own 41 with 2:42 left.

On the third play, Deneen found Ferguson about 10 yards downfield. He took one little move toward the right sideline, realized he had clear sailing, turned on the jets and ran into the end zone. The Trojans connected on a two-point conversion, Deneem to Seth Gilliam, but were called for an ineligible man downfield, and failed on the second try.

Then came a bizarre sequence on the kickoff that ended up going decidedly in the Trojans’ favor. The first kick went out of bounds (for the third time in the game) and Chambersburg was called for being offsides on the second kick (for the second time).

Both times, CD opted to take the 5 yards and rekick. The Rams would have started at their own 40 had they accepted the second penalty. So on the third kickoff, a squib kick bounced off a returner’s hands and he was tackled at the 23. And a block in the back penalty pushed CD back to its own 13 with 1:43 left.

Sebastian Laughlin broke up one Rams pass, but they did get two first downs to reach their own 40 with 19 seconds left. Then Colton Horst sacked QB Tristan Hodgson for a 10-yard loss. On the next play, Gilliam sacked Hodgson for a 20-yard loss, although it ended up being a 5-yard facemask penalty against the Trojans.

One last Hodgson pass flew out of bounds and the team could finally celebrate a victory.

Horst, who scored the first points of the game on a 6-yard pass from Deneen, said, “When they went ahead, nobody’s head went down. We all came together, we played hard and we got the win we needed.”

Carter said, “I wasn’t too concerned when they got the lead. Our coaches had a good game plan and the kids made it work. The coaches worked in some good rotations to keep everybody fresh, especially on the D-line. We changed the defense up some at the end, something they hadn’t seen, and we were able to get those sacks.”

NOTES: It could have been 14-0 late in the first, but Deneen overthrew a wide-open Jashaun Palmer in the end zone, and three plays later, Palmer couldn’t latch on to another pass in the end zone … RB Malachi Tasker had his best game to date, notching 65 yards on 20 carries … Twice, a high snap lost big yardage, including one at the CD 6 … Chambersburg converted 8 of 14 third downs and 2 of 3 fourth downs … The Trojans travel to Altoona next Friday, 7 p.m.

Chambersburg 19, Central Dauphin 14
Chambersburg                7     0     6     6     —     19
Central Dauphin             0     7     0     7     —     14
First Quarter
Ch — Colton Horst 6 pass from Justin Deneen (Aaron Carillo kick), 6:06
Second Quarter
CD — Derrick Price 4 pass from Tristan Hodgson (Diego Randazzo kick), 3:42
Third Quarter
Ch — Lucas Ocker 12 pass from J.Deneen (kick failed), 6:59
Fourth Quarter
CD — Xaivion Allen 3 run (Randazzo kick), 9:45
Ch — Isaiah Ferguson 58 pass from Deneen (pass failed), 1:55
Team Statistics
                                               Chbg                CD
First downs                            20                   13
Rushes-yards                        30-47            33-119
Passing                                23-36-0            9-19-0
Passing yards                       295                   81
Total offense                         342                 200
Fumbles-lost                         0-0                  2-0
Punts-average                     3-27.3            4-30.0
Penalties-yards                    8-60                4-40
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Chbg, Malachi Tasker 20-65, J.Deneen 8-20, Team 2-(-38). CD, Allen 28-104, Hodgson 4-10, Loudgy Saintil 1-5.
Passing — Chbg, J.Deneen 23-36-0-295. CD, Hodgson 9-19-0-81.
Receiving — Chbg, Ferguson 5-88, Ocker 5-61, Tasker 4-52, Seth Gilliam 3-34, Jashaun Palmer 3-23, Nathan Chambers 1-22, Brock Chlebowski 1-9, Horst 1-6. CD, Price 6-60, Jordan Hill 3-21.