By Andy Shay:
When opportunity knocked early for State College, the Little Lions, playing their first game of the season, were not quite ready to take advantage of the Central Dauphin mistakes Friday night.
And once the Rams started rolling downhill offensively in the second half with all their weapons firing in tandem, State College didn’t have an answer.
Central Dauphin’s Mr. Versatile, senior Timmy Smith, totaled 291 all-purpose yards to ignite Central Dauphin to a fairly comfortable 35-13 victory at Speed Ebersole Stadium.
Smith scored only one touchdown, but it came on the opening kickoff when he took it back 88 yards to the house to stake CD to an early 7-0 lead.
“As expected, first time out there in competition there were a lot of mistakes and penalties,” State College coach Matt Lintal said. “We continued to get better throughout the game. I’m proud of the kids.
“The hoops we had to jump through to get here, the ups and downs of emotion … they came out here and competed today.”
In addition to it being the Little Lions first game of the season in October because of COVID-19 issues for the school district, State College was without its most valuable returning asset.
Senior running back Dresyn Green, a three-year starter, did not play. He was in uniform and warmed up, but was in street clothes during the game. Lintel said his absence was not related to discipline, but he could not elaborate any further. He said the Little Lions hope to have their star back soon.
The absences of Green and the fact senior Conrad Moore was making his first start played a huge role early.
Central Dauphin turned the ball over three times, a muffed punt, a fumble and interception gave State College three golden opportunities to make some hay in a 7-0 game.
Now the Rams defense certainly had a say in what happened after those giveaways – slamming the door each and every time. State College had the ball at the CD 38, 33 and 44 following those giveaways and barely managed a first down, let alone threatening to score.
Central Dauphin took a 14-0 lead into halftime after junior QB Max Mosey connected with Tyrell English on a 60-yard rainbow bomb late in the second quarter.
A couple more Rams touchdowns on a 5-yard run by Shamarr Joppy and a 39-yard pass from Mosey to Malachi Bowman less than two minutes apart in the third quarter put CD in complete control.
“First half was a little slow, but the second half we picked it up a lot,” senior offensive lineman Blaise Heshler said. “We just knew we had to turn it up and hit another switch. We pretty much dominated the second half.”
Central Dauphin had 248 of its 358 yards on the ground in the second half, led by 157 yards from Smith. Mosey already has six touchdown passes on the season after tossing a pair against the Little Lions while completing 9 of 16 passes for 166 yards with one interception and two drops.
Central Dauphin had 23 first downs, compared to only eight for State High, punted only twice but also had 11 penalties for 93 yards.
MATT LINTAL
“As expected first time out there in competition there were a lot of mistakes and penalties. We continued to get better throughout the game. I’m proud of kids. The hoops we had to jump through just to get here, the ups and downs of emotion … they came out here and competed today.”
Green was not discipline at all. That’s what I can say. And we hope to see him soon.
BLAISE
“First half was a little slow, but the second half we picked it up a lot. We just knew we had to turn it up and hit another switch. We pretty much dominated the second half.”
RAMS 35, LITTLE LIONS 13
State College 0-0-7-6—13
Central Dauphin 7-7-14-7—35
Scoring summary
First quarter
CD-Timmy Smith 88 kickoff return (Ahren Stauffer kick), 11:46
Second quarter
CD-Tyrell English 60 pass from Max Mosey (Stauffer kick), 4:59
Third quarter
CD-Shamarr Joppy 5 run (Stauffer kick), 4:56
CD-Malachi Bowman 39 pass from Mosey (Stauffer kick), 3:22
SC-Conrad Moore 89 run (Aiden Spitler kick), 2:35
Fourth quarter
SC-TJ Yoder 13 pass from Moore (kick failed), 9:45
CD-Dan Ficca 1 run (Stauffer kick), 5:03
Team stats SC CD
First downs 8 23
Rush-yards 32-187 49-358
Passing 75 166
Comp-Att-Int 9-19-0 9-16-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Punts-Avg. 8-37.5 2-48.5
Penalties-Yards 11-85 11-93
Individual statistics
RUSHING: State College, Conrad Moore 13-125, Nehemiah Howell 13-39, Sammy Knipe 2-16, TJ Yoder 1-7, Trevon west 1-1, Team 1-0, Calvin Roan 1-(minus-1); Central Dauphin, Timmy Smith 20-157, Dan Ficca 9-68, Shamarr Joppy 9-50, Tyrell English 3-48, Max Mosey 6-26, Malachi Bowman 2-9.
PASSING: State College, Conrad Moore 8-18-0—75, Jack Morris 0-1-0—0; Central Dauphin, Max Mosey 9-16-1—166.
RECEIVING: State College, TJ Yoder 3-41, Sammy Knipe 2-22, Nehemiah Howell 2-17, Branden Price 1-(minus-5); Central Dauphin, Malachi Bowman 3-66, Tyrell English 1-60, Timmy Smith 2-25, Shamilyn Joppy 3-15.
