Cohen Russell, Tristen Lyons lead State College football to blowout victory
Cohen Russell showed everyone what “4.38 speed” looked like on a momentum-turning sprint down the left sideline in the second half Friday night.
The State College wide receiver took a reverse toss 80 yards for a touchdown, pushing the Little Lions’ lead to 18 points and sparking his team in a 31-10 win over Central Dauphin in the regular season finale. As Russell burst through an opening created by his blockers, two Rams defensive players tried to get an angle to make a play, but the Little Lions playmaker ran right by them and coasted into the end zone.
“No one’s faster than him,” State College running back Tristen Lyons said. “No one’s ever going to catch him. As soon as he passes you, it’s goodbye.”
In its final game before opening postseason play, State College (8-2) rolled past the Rams (6-4) behind big plays on offense and a swarming defense. Russell led the way with 96 rushing yards on three carries to go with a team-high 10 catches for 92 yards, while Lyons continued his productive campaign with 106 rushing yards on 17 carries in addition to two catches for 62 yards. The duo accounted for State College’s first two touchdowns of the second half to turn a close game into a blowout.
Neither team managed to take control in the first half, as the Little Lions took a 7-3 halftime lead. But that changed at the start of the third quarter, when Lyons took a screen pass 57 yards for a touchdown to push State College ahead 14-3.
Lyons may not have “4.38 speed” like Russell, but he impressed his speedy teammate on that play.
“I’ve never seen that man run that fast before,” Russell said with a smile. “It was pretty amazing.”
The next time Lyons touched the ball, he was tossing it back to Russell on a reverse — the same play the Little Lions ran on the first offensive play of the night for a 12-yard gain. Though that run set the tone for State College’s first scoring drive, the Little Lions didn’t block well enough to give Russell a chance to break off a big play. State College made corrections for that play at halftime and used it again to start to pull away from Central Dauphin.
“Credit to CD. They do a great job. They fly to the football,” State College coach Matt Lintal said. “They commit to stopping the run and they really are very aggressive to the ball to the point of attack, so we saw that on film.”
The Little Lions capitalized with the reverse to Russell. He took the pitch from Lyons, found a seam and sped past Central Dauphin’s last line of defense on the way to the end zone.
“He can take a play 90 yards any day so as soon as I tossed him the ball, I saw everybody following me,” Lyons said. “As soon as he passed that first guy, I knew it was a touchdown.”
State College led 21-3 with 4:29 left in the third quarter after Russell’s 80-yard touchdown run. And Central Dauphin, a team lacking a big-play threat like Russell, never threatened to rally. State College defensive linemen Jackson Heasley and Cole Urbas provided constant pressure, getting into the backfield for sacks to spearhead the defensive effort. Little Lions linebacker Ian Barr forced a fumble on a sack on fourth down to set up the team’s final touchdown in the fourth quarter.
And offensively, when Russell wasn’t hauling in passes, Lyons was working his way toward his fourth straight 100-yard game.
“Tristen has had a tremendous season,” Lintal said. “He is running with passion and purpose and given the opportunity, he makes the most of it every single time he touches the football. He recognizes when it’s third-and-1 and he needs to get a tough yard.
“He recognizes when there’s a seam and a linebacker’s blitzing and he can get a quick cutback to another hole and adjust on the fly.”
The running back and his teammates now head into the playoffs with confidence after cruising past a Mid Penn rival for their eighth win of the regular season.
“If we believe in each other,” Lyons said, “we can get the job done.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2017 at 1:05 AM with the headline "Cohen Russell, Tristen Lyons lead State College football to blowout victory."