Harrisburg rolls over Chambersburg, 61-10

The Harrisburg Cougars showed off their big-play ability in many ways Saturday afternoon, and the result wasn't a good one for Chambersburg.

The Trojans were dominated 61-10 in a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division football game at a damp Severance Field.

Harrisburg (5-1, 2-0 MPC) rolled up 469 yards of offense - 235 on the ground and 234 through the air - and even tossed in a long kickoff return for a touchdown. The Cougars held Chambersburg (1-5, 0-3 MPC) to just 180 yards.

"They have a lot of really good athletes, plus they really got after it up front," Trojan coach Mark Luther said.

In a microcosm of the season, the Trojans took the second half kickoff and fashioned a nice 16-play drive that ate up over six minutes and capped it off with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Collier to Sean Vessah on fourth down.

But on the kickoff, Harrisburg's Shaquon Anderson-Butts took the kick at his 11 and motored 89 yards for a touchdown, thus crushing any possible momentum Chambersburg had gained.

Luther said, "We can't seem to build off the times when we do something good. We put together a nice, long drive and scored, and we needed a stop. Instead, they scored on the kickoff."

Vessah's TD catch came on a fourth-and-goal play from the Cougar 8. Collier's pass looked for sure like it would be picked off, but Harrisburg's Donnell Henriquez had the ball glance off his hands and it went right to Vessah. It was the first of two tipped passes Vessah caught.

"I was expecting the pass to be deeper in the end zone, then it looked like the guy was going to catch it," Vessah said. "But it popped up in the air right to me. I was lucky on the second one - it was just floating there and I just reacted to it."

The other score for the Trojans came after Tyron Williams grabbed a fumbled punt out of the air at the Cougar 16. But three incompletions later, Nazeer Taylor kicked a 28-yard field goal.

That was about it for the positives for Chambersburg.

In two years, Harrisburg quarterback Yahmir Wilkerson has thrown for 524 yards and nine touchdowns against the Trojans. And he's a junior.

Chambersburg's running game was stuffed early by Harrisburg, the passing game was inconsistent and the Cougars burned the defense for six touchdowns of over 30 yards.

Luther said, "Their defense, especially that No. 73 (Raymond Allen, 6-foot-1, 360 pounds), really plugged the middle and we struggled. We have to continue to work on our passing game, because if we don't get more completions, then teams are going to make it difficult for us to run the ball."

Harrisburg 61, Chambersburg 10 

Chambersburg _ 3 _ 0 _ 7 _ 0 _ — _ 10

Harrisburg _ 14 _ 21 _ 12 _ 14 _ — _ 61

First Quarter

H — Zeke Sawyers 52 pass from Yahmir Wilkerson (Joel Davis kick), 8:50

C — Nazeer Taylor 28 field goal, 5:20

H — Sawyers 34 pass from Wilkerson (Davis kick), 3:21

Second Quarter

H — Shaquon Anderson-Butts 56 pass from Wilkerson (Davis kick), 11:50

H — Wilkerson 1 run (Davis kick), 10:59

H — Davis 40 pass from Wilkerson (Davis kick), 8:34

Third Quarter

C — Sean Vessah 8 pass from Tyler Collier (Taylor kick), 5:55

H — Anderson-Butts 89 kickoff return (kick failed), 5:12

H — Dupri Andrews 42 run (kick blocked), 2:23

Fourth Quarter

H — Jah'mir Plant 1 run (Davis kick), 11:11

H — Sawyers 34 run (Davis kick), 4:37

Team Statistics

_ Chbg _ Harr

First downs _ 12 _ 20

Rushes-yards _ 33-102 _ 21-235

Passing _ 12-29-1 _ 14-20-0

Passing yards _ 78 _ 234

Total yards _ 180 _ 469

Punts _ 7-35.4 _ 0-0

Fumbles-lost _ 1-1 _ 1-1

Penalties-yards _ 2-25 _ 10-80

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Chbg: Kammeron Green 16-56, Clay Myers 8-28, Tucker Heckman 4-25, Collier 4-(-7). Harr: Andrews 6-77, Plant 4-37, Davis 3-36, Sawyers 1-34, Wilkerson 4-24, Jakari Lomax 2-19, Anderson-Butts 2-8.

Passing — Chbg: Collier 12-27-1-78, Bailey Leedy 0-2-0-0. Harr: Wilkerson 12-18-0-214, Sawyers 2-2-0-20.

Receiving — Chbg: Vessah 4-34, Andrew Shetter 3-13, Seth Brouse 2-12, Justin Reichenbach 1-11, Jack Kunkleman 1-4, Trayton Barnette 1-(-1). Harr: Sawyers 2-86, Davis 6-77, Anderson-Butts 3-74, Justin Carter 1-11, Tykeer Burchell 1-9, Donnell Henrique 1-7.

Interceptions — Harr: Rynell Gantt.