CHAMBERSBURG — Central Dauphin East's defense held Chambersburg to a measly 13 yards of offense and the Panthers scored two defensive touchdowns and one special teams touchdown — all three by Darrian Cofield — on Friday night at Trojan Stadium.
The result was a 50-2 whipping by CD East in a Mid Penn Commonwealth mismatch.
The Panthers (2-0, 1-0 MPC) did not let the Trojan offense breathe. Chambersburg (1-1, 0-1 MPC) ran only 35 plays, with eight going for zero or negative yardage.
Running backs were smothered at the line of scrimmage. Quarterbacks hardly had time to set their feet, let alone look for a second receiver, and were constantly throwing with a body right on them. Receivers could not get open.
"They put a lot of pressure on us and they got off the ball really well," Chambersburg coach Mark Luther said. "They got after it and we didn't respond. And we had way too many missed assignments.
"It's not what I expected of our kids. And once we started spiraling down that hole, we couldn't get out of it."
The Trojans totaled three first downs, and two of them came by way of a Panther penalty.
Cofield was a one man wrecking crew in the second. He did have an interception in the first half that led to a field goal. But in the second half, he picked off a pass and ran it back 43 yards for a touchdown. Later, he picked up a fumble on a kickoff and took it home from 25 yards out for a TD, and topped that with a 75-yard interception return for a score.
Luther said, "Last week we had no turnovers. Tonight we were handing them out like Halloween candy."
With all the problems the offense was having, the Chambersburg defense couldn't stem the rising tide.
CD East held a 15-2 lead at halftime, with the Trojans' points coming when a snap went over punter Kyle Bloss's head and he kicked it out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
The Panthers' offense took advantage of a tired defense to roll up several touchdowns in the second half. East ended up running 64 plays.
"The offense couldn't move the ball, so the defense was on the field for way too many plays," Luther said. "And when you're tired, you're going to make some mistakes."
NOTES: Jackson Dawe and Imari Watson had fumble recoveries for Chambersburg, and Jason Chambers picked off a pass in the end zone to thwart East's first drive … Leon Parsons ran 16 times for 124 yards and 2 TDs for East, and Santana Young caught 9 balls for 150 yards and a score … The teams combined for 20 penalties for 189 yards, and there were 8 turnovers … The Trojans host Bishop McDevitt next Friday.
Central Dauphin East 50, Chambersburg 2
CD East 6 9 14 21 — 50
Chambersburg 0 2 0 0 — 2
First Quarter
E — Leon Parsons 7 run (kick blocked), 0:41
Second Quarter
E — Kyle Bloss 29 field goal, 8:29
E — Parsons 54 run (kick blocked), 5:12
C — Safety, punt snapped out of end zone, 2:14
Third Quarter
E — Avery Romain 23 run (Bloss kick), 9:07
E — Darrian Cofield 43 interception return (Bloss kick), 7:31
Fourth Quarter
E — Santana Young 30 pass from Demaj Jalloh (Bloss kick), 11:50
E — Cofield 25 fumble return (Bloss kick), 11:40
E — Cofield 75 interception return (Bloss kick), 7:39
Team Statistics
CDE Chbg
First downs 21 3
Rushes-yards 39-238 13-(-14)
Passing 13-27-1 5-22-4
Passing yards 236 27
Total offense 474 13
Punts-average 0-0 6-40.1
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1
Penalties-yards 12-135 8-54
Individual Statistics
Rushing — CDE, Parsons 16-124, Jalloh 9-49, Romain 5-42, Brian Mosley 3-17, Kayden Cole-Stephens 1-7, Cofield 1-2, Alante Caceres 1-(-1), Makai George 1-(-2). Chbg, Antonio Harrison 6-6, Christopher White 1-4, Imari Watson 1-1, Jackson Dawe 1-(-1), Justin Deneen 1-(-3), Ceagan Truett 3-(-21).
Passing — CDE, Jalloh 12-25-1-200, George 1-1-36-0, Cole-Stephens 0-1-0-0. Chbg, Truett 2-14-2-15, Deneen 3-8 2-12.
Receiving — CDE, Young 9-150, Damere Maxwell 1-36, Parsons 2-26, Amir Lemelle 1-24. Chbg, Trever Luther 4-18, Harrison Benedict 1-9.
Interceptions — CDE, Cofield 2, Sincere Jackson. CHbg, Jason Chambers.
