CHAMBERSBURG — On Cumberland Valley's first offensive play, Bryce Staretz ran for 17 yards. On their next possession, he ran for 41 yards on the first play.

It didn't take the CV staff long to realize that they had the difference maker on their side.

For the majority of the rest of the game, the Eagles handed the ball off to Staretz and he ran hard behind a dominating offensive line — 32 times for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns. And that was a dagger to Chambersburg, which absorbed a 35-20 Mid Penn Commonwealth defeat to CV on Thursday night at Trojan Stadium.

Jason Chambers

Once again, a Trojan loss was centered around the fact that the other team beat them on the line, on both sides of the ball.

Defensively, Chambersburg (3-3, 1-2 MPC) got worn down as Cumberland Valley ran the ball time after time. They held it together until the second half, but eventually, Staretz and the line put up enough points.

On offense, the Eagles opted to blitz at least one player almost every down, disrupting the Trojan offense, which also had to deal with poor field position for most of the game.

Chambersburg coach Mark Luther said, "We're undersized and we don't have much depth on the lines, and we kept losing people to injuries. It's hard. They won the line of scrimmage. They out-manned us on the line and then we were down on personnel. What can you do?"

The Trojans did score first, when Imani Watson took an option pitch from Riley Harmon around the left side of the defense and used his speed for a 50-yard touchdown.

Cumberland Valley (2-4, 2-1 MPC) began to assert itself in the second quarter, outscoring Chambersburg 13-0. Staretz scored on a 29-yard jaunt and Andrew Wright kicked a pair of field goals for a 13-7 halftime lead.

The Trojans' offense managed just 100 yards in the first half, half of that on Watson's run.

Luther said, "We lost the battle of field position this week. And they were sending one or two linebackers on every play and we're struggling with that. We were not getting any running seams so we were forced to throw, and then they were just teeing off."

Harmon was sacked six times for minus-25 yards and was constantly harassed.

He did find Rhaigeon Parker on a bubble screen with 5:52 left in the third quarter and Parker zipped past the defenders for a 75-yard touchdown. That put the Trojans up 14-13 after Trever Luther's kick.

But then the Eagles ran Staretz six straight plays for 58 yards and an 11-yard TD to go up 21-14. After a short punt, Staretz ran for 18 yards and Caden Lloyd scored from the 1 and it was 28-14.

Then a 12-play drive — 11 of them runs — was finished with Lloyd going 13 yards and the win was sealed.

Chambersburg did put together a late drive to score again. Caeden Truett hit 4 of 6 passes, three of them to Trever Luther for 62 yards, including a 9-yard scoring pass.

Coach Luther said, "This was a game we thought we could compete in, and win, but it didn't work out that way. We just have to stay positive."

NOTES: Jason Chambers and Stanley Lozius each had an interception for Chambersburg … CV QB Kaden Schoenly completed only 3 of 15 passes for 16 yards … The Trojans play next Friday at Altoona.

Cumberland Valley 35, Chambersburg 20
Cumb. Valley                       0     13     15     7     —     35
Chambersburg                    7      0       7      6     —     20
First Quarter
Ch — Imani Watson 50 run (Trever Luther kick), 7:54
Second Quarter
CV — Andrew Wright 34 field goal, 11:09
CV — Bryce Staretz 29 run (Wright kick), 8:20
CV — Wright 25 field goal, 0:17
Third Quarter
Ch — Rhaigeon Parker 75 pass from Riley Harmon (Luther kick), 5:52
CV — Staretz 11 run (Staretz run), 3:44
CV — Caden Lloyd 1 run (Wright kick), 1:17
Fourth Quarter
CV — Lloyd 13 run (Wright kick), 5:43
Ch — Luther 9 pass from Caeden Truett (kick failed), 1:57
Team Statistics
                                                   CV          Chbg
First downs                              19             12
Rushes-yards                        44-309       24-69
Passing                                   3-15-2       13-24-1
Passing yards                           16              218
Total offense                           325              283
Fumbles-lost                           0-0                0-0
Punts-average                      2-34.5           6-24.3
Penalties-yards                      6-50             9-77
Individual Statistics
Rushing — CV, Staretz 33-256, Lloyd 5-33, Elijah Sherman 2-17, Ke'aune Green 1-7, Caiden Pines 1-5, Nolan Buzalka 1-4. Chbg, Watson 7-78, Dayre Senft 8-10, Truett 2-2, Harmon 7-(-25).
Passing — Kaden Schoenly 3-15-2-16. Chbg, Harmon 9-18-1-149, Truett 4-6-0-69.
Receiving — CV, Adam Somerville 1-12, Brody Pines 1-3, C.Pines 1-1. Chbg, Parker 2-93, Luther 4-62, Andy Jean 4-30, Jermere Jones 1-13, Jake Folmar 1-8, Matt Sylvestre 1-7.
Interceptions — CV, Alex Sauve. Chbg, Jason Chambers, Stanley Lozius.