FOOTBALL: Cedar Crest hammers Warwick, 34-10, on Homecoming

It was too special of a night not for Justice Belleman and the rest of the Cedar Crest football team to bring their "A" game to Earl Boltz Stadium.

It was the 50th anniversary homecoming in Cedar Crest history, and homecoming queens from the past five decades were honored at halftime. It was also the annual Coach to Cure game, and donations were collected for the Muscular Dystrophy Assocation. Levi Hains, a third-grader in the Cornwall-Lebanon School District who suffers from Duchenne MD, led the Falcons onto the field.

And, Belleman and the Falcons put the icing on the cake, dominating Warwick 34-10 Friday night in the Lancaster-Lebanon Section One opener for both clubs.

Belleman, a punishing junior running back, had the game of his young career, rolling up 214 rushing yards on 32 carries and scoring four touchdowns. Belleman picked up 156 of those yards in the first half as the Falcons rolled to a 27-10 halftime lead.

No back puts up those kind of numbers without a great effort by the offensive line, and the Falcons' blockers dominated the line of scrimmage.

Cedar Crest coach Rob Wildasin was almost prophetic before the game.

"Good win for us," Wildasin said. "I told (Belleman) to run for 200 right before the game. I really did.

"Our O-line was punching holes for him. They were dominating."

The Falcons' ground game accounted for 228 yards on 46 tries. The Falcons were so successful on the ground in building a 17-point halftime lead that they really didn't need to throw the ball.

But Wildasin decided to open up the attack in the second half, and freshman quarterback Logan Horn — making his second varsity start — was up to the challenge.

On the Falcons' first possession of the second half, Horn completed four passes for 40 yards, leading the team on a 17-play, 70-yard drive that gobbled up most of the third-quarter clock. It culminated in Belleman's 5-yard TD run that put the game out of reach at 34-10.

During the drive, the Falcons tried to stop themselves with three major penalties -- two for holding, the other for an illegal block — but they righted the ship every time and kept going.

After each penalty pushed the Falcons back — momentarily — Wildasin and his coaches had a message for the team.

"We kept telling the guys, we're gonna score anyway," Wildasin said.

Horn finished 8-for-11 for 136 yards and no interceptions.

"He did a nice job," Wildasin said of his young signal-caller. "He manages the game for us."

Horn's big brother, senior receiver Evan, hauled in four catches for 79 yards. Evan Horn also had a big interception in the second quarter.

Warwick had scored on its first possession of the second quarter when Colin Gibble caught a 14-yard TD strike from junior QB Tyler Trimarchi (54 yards passing, 36 yards rushing). That cut the Falcons' lead to 14-10.

The Falcons came right back on a short, four-play, 65-yard drive to make it 21-10 on Belleman's 1-yard run.

On the second play of the subsequent series, Evan Horn picked off an underthrown Trimarchi pass and returned it 40 yards.

Warwick made a fatal decision in the closing seconds of the first half. Faced with a fourth down deep in its own end and only 19 seconds on the clock, the Warriors inexplicably didn't take a knee. Instead, they punted, and the Falcons' Dylan Shellenhamer got a hand on the ball. The partially deflected ball went to Iziah Trimble, who scampered about 35 yards to the end zone for a 27-10 lead.

Cedar Crest 34, Warwick 10

Warwick3700—10

Cedar Crest62170—34

CC — Belleman 1 run (kick failed)

W — Mobley 28 FG

CC — Belleman 16 run (Peffley kick)

W — Gibble 14 pass from Trimarchi (Mobley kick)

CC — Belleman 1 run (Peffley kick)

CC — Trimble 35 punt return (Rubinstein kick)

CC — Belleman 5 run (Peffley kick)

WCCFirst downs1121Rushes-yards33-15246-228Passing5-10-18-11-0Passing yards54136Total yards206364Punts3-242-30.5Fumbles-lost1-02-1Penalties-yards1-57-80

Individual statistics

Rushing: W — Rissinger 13-74, Deibler 12-42, Trimarchi 8-36. CC — Belleman 32-214, E. Horn 3-21.

Passing: W — Trimarchi 5-10-1, 54 yards. CC — L. Horn 8-11-0, 136 yards.

Receiving: W — Gibble 4-48. CC — E. Horn 4-79, Trimble 2-16, Brown 1-13, Williams 1-28.