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H.S. FOOTBALL: After good start, Chambersburg is dropped by CD East, 42-3


CHAMBERSBURG >> The high from Chambersburg's first win of the season last week carried into the opening kickoff of Friday's game against Central Dauphin East, where the team hoped to challenge the Panthers for chance to mark another "W" in the win column.

But it didn't last long.

The Trojans dropped their sixth game of the season and third in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division with a 42-3 decision to CD East.

"We definitely could have beat them," Chambersburg quarterback Kaden Hoover said. "I think some of the confidence from last week carried over, but it kind of wore off."

After a Trojan three-and-out to start the game, the Chambersburg defense went to work and forced CD East to punt after earning just four positive yards in its first drive. In the first two defensive series of the game, the Trojans' D blocked a punt, and had three tackles for a loss to force a change of possession, but the offense wasn't able to get on the board, despite good field position.

"We did a lot of good things, they're a good football team," Chambersburg interim head coach Scott Mitchell said. "We competed with a very good football team and we did a lot of good things that we can build on, but we also made some mistakes that we can adjust."

The Panthers (5-2, 3-1 MPC) scored on their third drive, thanks to a 23-yard pass from quarterback Jahad Neibauer to Aaron Arp, taking a 7-0 lead six minutes into the game.

A few minutes later Chambersburg forced a fumble and recovered on the CDE 25-yard line. The Trojans (1-6, 1-3 MPC) reached a first-and goal at the 9, and handed it off to one of their leading rushers, Darius Johnson.

The senior running back earned a four-yard gain before being tackled hard at the 5, and both the defender and Johnson had to be attended to by medical staff. Johnson didn't play another down.

And Chambersburg was forced to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Nazeer Taylor to make it 7-3.

But after the Trojans got on the board, CD East's offense went to work, scoring on every drive except for one in the final half of the game.

Despite a good performance from the Trojans' defensive line to produce 10 total tackles for a loss, Chambersburg couldn't cover the Panther receivers, resulting in an outstanding performance from Neibauer, who connected on 12 of 16 attempts for 206 passing yards.

Neibauer was also East's leading rusher with 58 yards in 10 carries, but was sacked four times for more than 20 yards lost.

At the end of the third quarter, Chambersburg's D-line made two consecutive tackles for a loss and forced a CDE false start. That gave the Panthers a third-down-and-30 situation on the 50, but with confidence in the pocket, Neibauer launched a touchdown pass to 6-foot-5 Terrence Danner, who already had an 11-yard TD reception.

"It helps having a 6-5 guy out there," CD East coach Aaron Blanding said. "We have some playmakers and when things break down we depend on them to make some things happen."

"We made a lot of plays, but then sometimes we would get them at third-and-long and the quarterback would get loose or somebody else would make a big play," Mitchell said. "We just need to be a little bit more consistent on first, second and third downs. Getting them off the field on third down was a little bit of an issue for us at times."

The Panthers converted on five of eight third downs.

Chambersburg had 173 total yards of offense, with Warren Lee leading the Trojans with 42 yards rushing on nine carries. Hoover had 84 passing yards.

NOTES >> Johnson's left knee injury is not considered serious. He said after the game that he can barely walk on it but will "make it OK" for practice next week. Johnson said he was recovering from a right-knee injury last week before Mifflin County.

CD East 42, Chambersburg 3

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First Quarter

CDE — Aaron Arp 23 pass from Jahad Neibauer (Sean Orlando kick), 9:26

Chbg — Nazeer Taylor 20 field goal, 2:05

Second Quarter

CDE — Terrence Danner 11 pass from Neibauer (Orlando kick), 14:04

Third Quarter

CDE — Shyheim Brown 23 pass from Neibauer (Orlando kick), 7:15

CDE — Danner 50 pass from Neibauer (Orlando kick), 1:12

Fourth Quarter

CDE — Darrion Livingston 35 run (Orlando kick), 7:38

CDE — Neibauer 7 run (Orlando kick), 0:33.

CDEChbgFirst downs1510Rushes-yards34-20632-89Passing12-16-09-16-0Passing yards20684Total yards412173Punts3-316-27Fumbles-lost1-11-1Penalties-yards6-356-35
Individual statistics

Rushing — CDE, Neibauer 10-58, Darrion Livingston 4-41, Tyshaun Pollard 5-31, Brown 9-27, Kimare'a Patterson 2-23, Kane Everson 2-19, Contrell Armor 2-7. Chbg, Warren Lee 9-42, Barrington Slavery 2-18, Carter Edmondson 4-14, Darius Johnson 7-14, Kayden Hoover 9-1, Kammeron Green 1- (-5).

Passing — CDE, Neibauer 12-16-206-0. Chbg, Hoover 8-16-84-0, Hunter Leedy 0-1-0-0.

Receiving — CDE, Danner 3-73, Pollard 4-52, Brown 2-41, Arp 3-40. Chbg, Sam Blevins 3-29, Sean Vessah 2-22, Austin Kopp 1-14, Edmondson 1-11, Lee 2-8.