Central Dauphin football defeats State College in front of an energized homecoming crowd
While Central Dauphin spoiled State College’s homecoming game on Friday at Memorial Field, handing the Little Lions a 42-21 loss, it did nothing to deplete the energy of the crowd.
There was hardly an open seat at Memorial Field, as fans and alumni — some who were taking in the $14,322,485 renovations for the first time — all showed up to cheer on the Little Lions against one of their toughest Commonwealth Division opponents. “We want Kyle [Kurzinger]” chants reverberated through the crowd when the senior caught the team’s first touchdown of the game to close the gap to 28-7.
The Little Lions battled throughout the game against Central Dauphin, but the mounting injuries continued to beat them down. They lost their second consecutive game, falling to 3-3 on the season.
It wasn’t just State College’s fans, however, who were impressed by the revamped Memorial Field.
“It’s always been an exciting venue, but now it’s a special, special place,” Central Dauphin head coach Glenn McNamee said. “The student section is really into it, a nice crowd, a beautiful night. For high school football, it doesn’t get much better than this.”
State College head coach Matt Lintal needed his team to make some adjustments with starting quarterback Finn Furmanek (leg) and wide receiver Jashaun Green (concussion) out. Despite being down 28-7 at the half, the team was able to swing momentum in its favor several times and cut the lead to 28-14 before the floodgates opened.
Younger players were able to get some valuable repetitions in the game, which could give Lintal flexibility going forward.
“First of all, I couldn’t be more proud of our kids,” Lintal said. “We lost our starting quarterback last week, we’re down our top wideout, we’ve got two seniors that were returning starters and all-conference kids that are out for the year, and our kids don’t quit. They don’t stop and they play this game the way it’s supposed to be played, with a ton of passion and love for one another. They play it with sportsmanship, which not every team out here does. I’m proud of our kids and who they are as people and I’ll take that locker room any day of the week.”
John Scott Jr. had a big night for the Little Lions. He made a pivotal sack with State College down 28-7 in the third quarter to give the Little Lions the ball back. The junior linebacker is among two captains of his year, along with tight end Stephen Scourtis, who normally lines up at tight end. Scourtis played out of position on Friday night, lining up at right tackle and clearing the way for the running backs to gain yardage.
“I just wanted to get things done tonight,” Scott said.
That he did, with a total of 12 tackles on the night to go with his sack and forced fumble.
Central Dauphin quarterback Max Mosey spoiled homecoming for State College with five touchdowns. He had three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns on the night, soaking in the excitement around him.
“State College has a very great environment,” Mosey said. “Penn State is playing here on Saturday and there are people stopping by at a high school game. It was a very electric atmosphere and our team did a great job of settling the home fans down.”
Mosey tossed the first of his four first half touchdowns with a 12-yard pass to Randy Rudy with 8:24 left in the opening quarter. Following the touchdown and a false start penalty on the Rams, Central Dauphin running back Tyrell English punched the ball in on a 6-yard rush for the 2-point conversion to lead 8-0.
His second touchdown was on a 31-yard fly route to Zion Allen and the extra point was nailed for 15-0 lead with 3:22 left in the first quarter. Mosey then hit wide receiver David Chase on a 32-yard pass (0:49) for his third touchdown pass of the night to give Central Dauphin a 22-0 lead at the end of the first. He had to work a little harder for his final touchdown of the first half, being stuffed on a third down run for no gain at the goal line and following up with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone for a 28-0 lead with 10:15 remaining in the second quarter.
Later on in the second quarter, State College got on the board for the first time when quarterback Jack Morris hit Kurzinger on a 38-yard seam route for a touchdown with 5:51 left in the first half. Trailing 28-7 at the half, State College found the end zone again later in the third quarter with an Ian Brandt swing pass to running back Owen Yerka for a 15-yard touchdown (3:31) to trail 28-14.
The Little Lions didn’t keep the momentum for long, however, as the Rams struck right back.
Mosey rushed for 19 yards, finding the end zone to boost Central Dauphin’s lead to 35-14. After trading a few blows and punting, Central Dauphin regained possession and scored on a Tyrell English 9-yard rush for a touchdown at the 3:11 mark to give the Rams a 42-14 lead. State College scored one more time with an 11-yard touchdown pass by Morris to Ty Salazer to the Little Lions to trail 42-21 with 11 seconds remaining in the game.
