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Manheim Central rolls L-S, 69-14


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LAMPETER TWP. — Scoring three touchdowns in four minutes is a great feat for any offense, let alone when it’s done by a single player. When two different players do it in a span of two halves for one offense, however, that offense is simply rolling.

After Manheim Central’s Jake Novak rattled off three straight touchdown grabs within the final 4:18 of the second quarter, running back Jay Barreto matched that total in a three-minute span of the third, as the Barons ultimately throttled the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers, 69-14, in the first week of L-L League play.

Both teams came in undefeated through their respective nonleague schedules, but Central (4-0, 1-0) gets the early edge in the Section Two standings over L-S (3-1, 0-1), et al., with six grueling weeks still ahead.

“It’s going to push us even harder,” Barreto said of the big win in which he piled up 231 yards on the ground on just 15 totes. “We’re going to practice harder, get our minds set straight, then hopefully it’ll drive us to beat our next opponent.”

After some early mistakes, the Barons’ offense struck first when quarterback Kody Kegarise scrambled for a 25-yard touchdown with two minutes to spare in the first quarter.

The Pioneers answered on Cam Niemeyer’s 53-yard catch and score early in the second quarter before Novak and Barreto began feeding off each other and the offensive line.

“I’d been working one-on-one most of the game and then once Jay started getting going they moved their safety down,” Novak explained of the tandem’s success, “and it just went on from there.”

Barreto’s 69-yard scamper set up a 1-yard score from Tyler Flick (20 carries, 111 yards, three TDs). Then Kegarise found Novak on a 37-yard post in which the corner defender fell down.

Novak (six catches, 114 yards) then intercepted L-S quarterback Todd Shelley (6-for-15, 95 yards) on the Pioneers’ next series, setting-up the second of three Kegarise-to-Novak touchdowns, a 29-yarder on a deep drag route.

Then, with 54 seconds left in the half, Kegarise (10-for-12, 257 yards) found Austin Geib for a big gain before two strikes to Novak gave the Barons a commanding 34-7 lead at halftime.

“Once, when I was looking at the scoreboard it was 7-0, 7-7, and we had played probably the worst football we could possibly play,” said Pioneers’ coach John Manion. “I felt like if we could get to the half, correct some things in a tight ballgame we had a chance. They turned it up, we didn’t match it.”

Shane Lawler did provide some excitement for Pioneers’ fans with a 95-yard kickoff return to open the second half, but L-S had no answer for that Baron O-Line.

“(L-S) went from stack-backers to split-backers and our linemen took a couple minutes to adjust to that,” said Barons’ coach Dave Hahn, referring to the Pioneers’ defensive front and linebackers. “Once (the line) got adjusted to that they had trouble stopping us. Then they went back to their stack-backer look, then our linemen were able to pick it up and it just kept rolling.”

Barreto scored on runs of 4-, 39-, and 7-yards in a span of 2:46 in the third, aided by a well-placed pooch kick recovered by the Barons.

“After three touchdowns (in the second quarter), and then another three touchdowns in three minutes...” Barreto began, “it got our offense pumping. I couldn’t do it without my line, they really did a great job of hustling out there.”

Flick added a pair of one-yard touchdown dives in the fourth quarter — giving him three for the game to become the third Baron with a touchdown trifecta — to set the final tally.

“I think there was so much excitement from our kids and our coaches, their kids and their coaches,” Hahn said of the pregame atmosphere. “I was talking to Coach Manion about it beforehand, they were excited to play. Heck the officials were excited to play. Everybody was ready to go in this game.”

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Jake Novak tallies three TDs and an INT in final four minutes of half
In the final 4:18 of the first half vs Lampeter-Strasburg, Manheim Central’s Jake Novak caught three touchdowns passes from Kody Kegarise and also intercepted a pass on defense on September 23.
Video by John Buffone

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MC         __ 07 __ 27 __ 21 __ 14 __ 69

LS          __ 00 __ 07 __ 07 __ 00 __ 14

FIRST QUARTER

MC, K. Kegarise 25-yd run (B. Kready kick), 2:04 (7-0)

SECOND QUARTER

LS, C. Niemeyer 53-yd pass from T. Shelley (P. Denlinger kick), 10:30 (7-7)

MC, T. Flick 1-yd run (B. Kready kick), 7:00 (14-7)

MC, J. Novak 37-yd pass from K. Kegarise (kick failed), 4:18 (20-7)

MC, J. Novak 29-yd pass from K. Kegarise (B. Kready kick), 2:42 (27-7)

MC, J. Novak 14-yd pass from K. Kegarise (B. Kready kick), 0:21 (34-7)

THIRD QUARTER

LS, S. Lawler 95-yd return (P. Denlinger kick), 11:47 (34-14)

MC, J. Barreto 4-yd run (B. Kready kick), 9:02 (41-14)

MC, J. Barreto 39-yd run (B. Kready kick), 8:20 (48-14)

MC, J. Barreto 7-yd run (B. Kready kick), 6:16 (55-14)

FOURTH QUARTER

MC, T. Flick 1-yd run (B. Kready kick), 11:11 (62-14)

MC, T. Flick 1-yd run (B. Kready kick), 3:51 (69-14)

FIRST DOWNS                  24           7

RUSHES / YARDS            48-427  22-60

COMP / ATT / INT            10-12-0 6-17-2

PASSING YARDS             257        95

TOTAL YARDS                 684        141

SACKED / YDS LOST      0-0         3-21

PUNTS / AVG                    0-0         7-37.5

FUMBLES / LOST             2-2         1-1

PENALTIES / YARDS      4-45       3-20

RUSHING — MC, J. Barreto 15-231, K. Kegarise 8-40, T. Flick 20-111, J. Novak 2-8, E. Simon 1-6, R. Carter 2-31. LS, S. Lawler 7-22, C. Niemeyer 3-(-6), T. Shelley 2-4, C. Lopez 1-0, C. Gaudino 1-(-4), J. Hake 3-18, D. Smith 2-14, J. Manion 1-3, J. Underwood 1-3, A. Stoeffler 1-6.

PASSING — MC, K. Kegarise 10-12-0-257, E. Simon 0-0-0-0. LS, T. Shelley 6-15-2-95.

RECEIVING — MC, J. Novak 6-114, G. Royer 2-69, A. Geib 2-74. LS, C. Lopez 3-26, C. Niemeyer 1-53, C. Gaudino 1-5, S. Lawler 1-11.