Central Dauphin East football rolls past a State College team depleted by injuries
Central Dauphin East is nothing to sneeze at.
That much was clear Friday night as the Panthers rode a 21-point halftime lead to a 34-13 victory over State College in a Mid Penn Commonwealth matchup at Landis Field.
While Penn State commit Mehki Flowers gets a lot of the attention, the four-star athlete, per 247 Sports, is only one part of Central Dauphin East’s firepower. The Panthers had a well-rounded attack with a mix of quarterback Terrence Jackson-Copney, Flowers, backup quarterback Tony Powell and running backs Marcel McDaniels and Jared Porter.
McDaniels shined the brightest — rushing for 220 yards on 24 carries for two touchdowns. It was just a day’s work for the senior running, who Flowers called “the most under-recruited player in Pennsylvania.”
“[This is] the best game of my career,” McDaniels said. “I feel like I could’ve done better, though. Outside runs are where it’s at. The line was blocking well and that’s all I need. I think I’m underrated, but I’m going to keep going game-by-game, getting better every single week and practicing hard in practice — that’s all. Our line was incredible — I think they’re the best line in Mid Penn. I thank my line. They’re just the best, honestly.”
Flowers had a touchdown of his own, finding the end zone on a fly route in the first quarter. While he is ranked a 4-star recruit, per 247Sports, he gave a majority of the credit to his team and their ability to break open the game.
“Marcel McDaniels — 220 yards on 24 carries — that boy is a dog,” Flowers said. “I just want to take the time to shout out him. He’s a dog. He does everything. He plays linebacker, running back, punt team and we couldn’t do it without Marcel Daniels. If y’all are not recruiting him — recruit him now. I mean, now.”
The Panthers scored early in the game with Jackson-Copney scoring on a 7-yard rush to give them a 7-0 lead with nine minutes to go in the first quarter. His second touchdown came with 55.7 seconds left in the first quarter, finding Flowers on a 30-yard touchdown pass to give Central Dauphin East a 14-0 lead.
Their final score of the half was set up by a 62-yard catch-and-run on a screen from Powell to McDaniels. With Central Dauphin East on the State College 24-yard line, Porter ran it in from the same distance to give the Panthers a 21-0 lead with 1:30 left in the half. State College quarterback Finn Furmanek attempted to march the ball down field with a number of first down rushes, but the Little Lions couldn’t score to end the half.
State College got on the board with a fumble recovery before the end of the third quarter. Driving down the field, the Little Lions punched it into the end zone with a 4-yard rush by Furmanek with 12.8 seconds left in the third quarter to trail 21-6 after the missed point after attempt. However, the Little Lions didn’t have the momentum for long as McDaniels struck for a 47-yard rush to give Central Dauphin East a 28-6 lead with 10:46 left in the game. But Furmanek wouldn’t quit, following up with a 12-yard rushing touchdown with 9:54 remaining in the game to trail 28-13.
The final nail in the coffin was McDaniels’ 47-yard rushing touchdown — a play where he followed his blocks to the outside and waltzed into the end zone to give Central Dauphin East a 34-13 lead, which would be the final score.
As Central Dauphin East improved to 4-1 on the season, head coach Lance Deane praised his team’s performance, while acknowledging there is still work to do in order to reach their goals.
“This was just a fact of us getting together, playing together and to play with some sense of confidence,” Deane said. “We’re progressing, but we have a far way to go. That’s all. That’s where we took all of it. We came out struggling in the second half. That alone tells us how much work we have to do.”
State College head coach Matt Lintal’s team took a beating on the injury front prior to the game. Another physical matchup against a tough Central Dauphin East team gave them more of an uphill climb in the health department as more players went down.
This upcoming week of practice will have an added emphasis of rest in order to get prepared for Central Dauphin at home on Friday.
“They [Central Dauphin East] have speed,” Lintal said. “They have great speed and they do a tremendous job and we had a couple of young kids out there with some starters out — three on defense and two on offense. That really impacts the speed that we can play at, but our kids fought. They played hard and they never quit. So, I’m proud of their effort. We’ve got to get better and we will. We’ll practice to get better.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2021 at 12:03 AM.
