GREENCASTLE — Milton Hershey produced a punishing running game and a strong defense against the run on Friday night at Kaley Field.

That combination proved to be too much for Greencastle-Antrim, and the Spartans took home a 27-19 victory in a Mid Penn Colonial matchup.

Gavin Logsdon

Milton Hershey (3-4, 3-1 MPC) scored a rushing touchdown in each quarter, including two by Shane Aycox in the first half.

The Spartans also held the Blue Devils (4-3, 2-2 MPC) to just 91 yards on the ground.

G-A coach Jason Thurston said, “They ran hard. Their backs kept their feet churning and we did not tackle well. We got into their backfield pretty frequently, but we couldn’t seem to get them down. Give kudos to their kids — they were tough.

“On offense, our game plan was to run right at them, but we couldn’t get it going. So we tried going outside, but we couldn’t get our blocks set, and they had a lot of speed to stop us.”

To counter Aycox’s two scores in the first half, the Blue Devils’ Spencer Long also ran for a pair of touchdowns, 1 yard on the first one and a 44-yard chase for his second. However, he was held to just 62 yards running the ball.

The Spartans held a 14-13 lead at halftime, then got the next two touchdowns, capped by a 5-yard run by Kamari Cooper with 3:36 left in the game, making it 27-13.

Greencastle got that score back quickly when quarterback Gavin Logsdon found Iverson Stoner for a 21-yard scoring pass. But it came with just 1:37 remaining.

Logsdon had one of his best passing games, completing 16 of 24 attempts for 158 yards, one score and one pick. Luke Hull led the receivers with 52 yards.

Thurston said, “Our quarterback had a good game when he had time, but he was rushed pretty often by their defense.

“I thought we should have won this game. Now we’ve a tough one at Trinity next week, and it would have been nice to have won this one before that. The kids fought hard. We’ll just have to watch the film and learn from our mistakes.”

Milton Hershey 27, Greencastle-Antrim 19
Milton Hershey        6     8     6     7     —     27
Greencastle               0    13    0     6     —     19
First Quarter
MH — Shane Aycox 14 run (kick failed), 4:13
Second Quarter
GA — Spencer Long 1 run (Blake Witmer kick), 9:39
MH — Aycox 16 run (Jayden Pinkney pass from Kamari Cooper), 4:30
GA — Long 44 run (kick blocked), 3:44
Third Quarter
MH — No. 4 10 run (pass failed), 7:52
Fourth Quarter
MH — Cooper 5 run (No. 45 kick), 3:36
GA — Iverson Stoner 21 pass from Gavin Logsdon (kick blocked), 1:37
Greencastle Individual Statistics
Rushing — Long 62, Landon Kagarise 30, Dominic Angelini 6, Logsdon -7.
Passing — Logsdon 16-24-1-158.
Receiving — Luke Hull 52, Stoner 31, Wyatt Hull 17, Dane Medina 15, Kagarise 11, Angelini 10, Long 9, Samuel Petruska 7, Ryan Schick 2, Zachary Russell 1.