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Carlisle's offense crushes Chambersburg, 67-28


Chambersburg's rough football season did not end on a high note Friday night.

The Trojans, who finished 1-10 (1-6 MPC), were dominated by the Carlisle Thundering Herd in a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division season finale.

"It was the last chance for the players to be able to play here at home," Carlisle coach Pat Conrad said. "I wanted them to go out there and play hard."

The Thundering Herd (4-6, 1-6 MPC) got the message. They rolled up 570 yards of offense, going up and down the field all night as Chambersburg's defense had no answer.

"We didn't come out aggressive enough early," Chambersburg coach Mark Luther said. "They got to us pretty good, but we were able to pick it up a little in the second half."

Carlisle came out throwing early and often. Quarterback Eric Harris was 21-for-27 with 352 yards passing and two touchdowns on the night, and 288 of those yards came in the first half.

"We wanted to attack them outside and take advantage of some of our athletes," Conrad said. "Guys like Nate Barnes and Gavyn Barnes."

The strategy worked to perfection. Nate Barnes finished with 12 catches for 184 yards while Gavyn Barnes scored a touchdown in just about every way possible.

First he ran one in from 3 yards out, the most ordinary one of the night. Next, he intercepted a pass and took it 31 yards to the house. And that was all just in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, on the Trojan 1-yard-line, he took a handoff from Harris, then turned and threw to Harris, who was all alone in the end zone for yet another score. To end the first half he finished with touchdown catches of 39 and 5 yards respectively, to finish with four scores.

"He was great tonight," Conrad said.

Those big plays set the tone early that it was going to be another in a series of long nights for the Trojans.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Luther said. "It's about learning to play at a fast pace and learning from each and every game."

While the Trojans learned a lot, they still would have liked to finish on a stronger note. For a little while it looked like they might.

After halftime the Trojans scored two quick touchdowns and got the deficit down to 19. Tyler Collier hit Griffin Leedy for a 65-yard TD catch, and Collier ran one in for 25 yards.

However, they could not contain Prince Gaye in the third quarter - he ran for three long touchdowns and put to rest any hopes of a valiant Trojan comeback to end a dismal season. Gaye had eight carries for 173 yards.

Instead, it's wait till next year.

"A lot of these kids are coming back and they now have more playing experience and a picture of what they need to do," Luther said. "So I'm optimistic about the next season."

NOTES: Clay Myers rushed 11 times for 134 yards, many of them coming on a 92-yard TD scamper for Chambersburg ... The Trojans' other score came on a 22-yard run by Kammeron Green ... Collier finished 4-for-10 for 130 yards.

Chambersburg 28, Carlisle 67
Chambersburg _ 7 _ 0 _ 14 _ 7 _ — _ 28  
Carlisle _ 13 _ 20 _ 20 _ 14 _ — _ 67  
First Quarter
Car — G.Barnes 3 run (Richwine kick), 9:00
Car — G.Barnes 31 interception return (kick failed), 8:08
Chbg — Clay Myers 92 run (Nazeer Taylor kick) 6:27  
Second Quarter
Car — Harris 1 pass from G.Barnes (Richwine kick), 9:25
Car — G.Barnes 39 pass from Harris (kick failed), 5:04
Car — G.Barnes 5 pass from Harris (Richwine kick), 0:17
Third Quarter
Car — Gaye 38 run (Richwine kick), 9:50
Chbg — Griffin Leedy 65 pass from Tyler Collier (Taylor kick), 9:38
Chbg — Collier 25 run (Taylor kick), 4:43
Car — Gaye 51 run (kick failed), 2:59
Car — Gaye 68 run (Richwine kick), 0:00
Fourth Quarter
Chbg — Greene 22 run (Taylor kick), 8:28
Car — Barnes 52 return (Richwine kick), 8:08
Car — Gaye 8 run (Richwine kick), 5:50
Team Statistics 
_ Chbg _ Car

First downs _ 5 _ 15
Rushes-yards _ 30-225 _ 19-217
Passing _ 5-11-2 _ 22-28-0
Passing yards _ 154 _ 353
Total yards _ 379 _ 570
Punts _ 6-34 _ 2-40
Fumbles-lost _ 1-1 _ 0
Penalties-yards _ 1-5 _ 9-65
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Chbg, Myers 11-134, Collier 12-42, Green 7-49, Tucker Heckman 1-0. Car, Gaye 8-173, G.Barnes 2-(-3), Harris 2-(-7), Trinidad 4-31, Brown 1-2, Greene 3-21.
Passing — Chbg, Collier 4-10-130, Nailey Leedy 1-1-24. Car, 21-27-0-352, G.Barnes 1-1-0.
Receiving — Chbg, Devin Carbaugh 1-13, G.Leedy 1-82, Seth Brouse 2-29, Andrew Shetter 1-24. Car, Nate Barnes 12-184, Mastrangelo 3-72, Trinidad 1-2, G.Barnes 5-81, Harris 1-1.
Interceptions — Car, G.Barnes, Anderson.