Chambersburg hopes for more 'little victories' vs. CD
In a 34-7 loss to Cedar Cliff last week, Chambersburg football coach Mark Luther saw plenty of what he called "little victories" that should help the team's confidence.
They didn't show up the scoreboard, but they showed the Trojans are making progress.
Chambersburg will need to find as many "little victories" as they can Friday night when they head up I-81 to face the Central Dauphin Rams at Speed Ebersole Stadium. The Rams check in at 6-1; the Trojans are 1-6.
"I thought last week was a much better effort, and we played more physical," Luther said. "That's what we stressed in practice. For us to compete with CD, CV (Cumberland Valley) and State College, we will have to step up our physical play. CD is solid and they are physical."
The Rams will be without star player Micah Parsons (6-4, 235), a junior defensive end and Penn State commit. He was suspended from school for three days last week - it was in connection with a racist social media post put up by some female CD students, although he wasn't involved in the actual incident - and missed last Friday's game.
Since then, Parsons left Central Dauphin and enrolled at Harrisburg (his mother lives in the Harrisburg school district) and expects to play for the Cougars this week if the paperwork is finished.
Even without Parsons, Central Dauphin is a formidable team.
Luther said, "They will try to run the football, and then take shots downfield. On defense, they play the same type of formation as we've seen recently - four down linemen and four linebackers, and they'll play zone in the secondary.
"They're the next really good team on our schedule. Reflecting back, it's been a good experience playing all these good teams, because it gives you a standard for where we want to be as a program. You see different things each week, but they're all good teams."
Luther said the coaches were pleased by the play of safety Spencer Seaman last week, coming back from a knock he took the week before.
"He was aggressive when he had to be, but he got back into coverage, too," Luther said. "All the coaches felt he stepped up his game. We thought Andrew Shetter played well, too. He was playing linebacker and on offense (at fullback) he did a nice job blocking for Clay (Myers)."
As for the "little victories" Luther referred to, Chambersburg's touchdown came after the Trojans had first-and-goal at the four, were penalized, and scored anyway, and that's the first time they're recovered from a penalty to score this season.
The Colts (6-1) scored only one time in the second half, and the Chambersburg defense forced a number of three-and-outs. But it did allowed a touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 20-some yards to go.
Trojans-Rams at a glance
Game data: Chambersburg Trojans at Central Dauphin Rams ... Friday, 7 p.m. at Speed Ebersole Stadium (Landis Field) ... Mid Penn Commonwealth Division game.
Media: Follow @MattBerdardini7 for live updates ... Live stream available on GameTimePA.com and MidPennBroadcasting.com.
Teams: Chambersburg is 1-6 (0-3 MPC) after a 34-7 loss to Cedar Cliff ... CD (6-1, 3-1 MPC) edged Harrisburg 13-11.
Series: Central Dauphin leads 27-14 after last year's 42-7 win.
P.O. pick: Rams by 22. CD is still in the hunt for the Commonwealth title, so don't expect a letdown.