Ball bounces the right way for Dragons

Pat Rothdeutsch

SPRING MILLS — The Central Dragons had an answer for everything the Penns Valley Rams threw at them on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

After forging a 10-point lead at the end of a very close first half, the Dragons and the upstart Rams traded big plays in a wild third quarter that included a 57-yard run by Penns Valley quarterback Tibben Zerby, a 70-yard touchdown sprint by Central running back Lucas Runk and a 93-yard kickoff return by Penns Valley’s Drew Zettle.

The game turned, however, on a critical third-quarter special-teams play — a punt that bounced off the foot of a Penns Valley return man and was recovered by the Dragons — that allowed Central to score the decisive touchdown and subsequently pull away for a 31-9 win over the Rams.

Behind by only eight points midway through the third quarter, Penns Valley forced Central to punt from deep in its own territory. The punt by Runk was a boomer, and as the Penns Valley returnmen chased it down, the ball bounced sideways, hit the foot of one of the Ram players and was recovered by Central at the Penns Valley 17-yard line. Three plays later, Runk threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jordon Saylor that gave Central a 24-9 lead and control of the game.

“Like we always say to the kids,” Rams coach Martin Tobias said, “a game can hinge on any of the three major aspects of the game, and tonight special team play was a big part of it.

“We knew coming into this game what a monumental task we were facing. They are a good football team and they have a lot of confidence, especially after the way they played last year and then having a full stable of players returning this year. We knew we were going to have to withstand the onslaught, and we thought we did going into the half. It didn’t end up that way.”

The first half was dominated by the defenses. After Central took the opening possession and drove 52 yards on 12 plays to the Ram 10, the Penns Valley defense held and forced Central to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Central also mounted a drive early in the second quarter, this time starting on its own 45-yard line. After a 20-yard pass from Central quarterback Derek Nothstein to tight-end Shane Cafferty, Runk ran three consecutive times for a total of 34 yards that put the ball on the Ram 2-yard line. On the next play, fullback Lucas Blattenberger took it in for a score and a 10-0 lead for the Dragons.

Meanwhile, the Ram offense struggled in the first half, getting only two first downs and rushing for only 25 yards.

“We were very inconsistent,” Tobias said. “They came out early in the first half, and they have a lot of good skill people, and they snuck a couple crossing routes and some things underneath on us that rattled the kids a little bit. But we were able to regroup and we thought we finished the first half pretty strong and solid.

“The second half we were able to come out and it looked like we had things much better in our favor because the kids were starting to turn things a little bit. And then, unfortunately, the punt, and things snowballed from there.”

Looking for a spark that would get it back into the game, Penns Valley went to an option series to open the second half and on the second play from scrimmage Zerbe broke through the right side and scampered up the sideline for a 57-yard gain that put the Rams on the Central 17. The Central defense held Penns Valley out of the end zone, but Greg Witherite nailed a 30-yard field goal that pulled the Rams to within 10-7.

Central answered immediately when Runk, who finished the game with 123 rushing yards on 16 attempts, took a handoff on the first play of the next series and ran 70 yards for a touchdown and a 17-3 Dragon lead.

Not to be outdone, the Rams also responded immediately, this time on the ensuing kickoff. The ball bounced short and bounded toward the left sideline where Zettle picked it up, started down the side, cut back toward the middle, and outran all of the Central players to the end zone. The extra point was not good, but the touchdown again brought the game into a one-score situation.

“Penns Valley plays hard,” Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said, “and I like to think that our kids play hard, too. We gave up a couple big plays on their veer, but they have good players. They are going to win some games this year. But we have to shore some things up and keep getting better.”

Penns Valley, with a chance to possibly tie, got exactly what it needed — a stop of Central without a first down, forcing a punt from the 15. The punt, however, was muffed, Central recovered, and Penns Valley could not overcome Saylor’s touchdown and the 24-9 Central lead.

Central finished the scoring in the game with a touchdown on a reverse-pass from Saylor to Cafferty with 4:25 to play that made the final score 31-9.

“Our kids are going in the right direction,” Tobias added. “The scoreboard doesn’t indicate that, but we are making strides. To take a team like Central and play them like that for three quarters is a good indication.”