Road warriors: Central upsets Dallastown
Central York upended two-time defending YAIAA Division I champion Dallastown on Friday evening and with it, clouded the District 3 playoff picture a little more.
The Panthers used a 21-point second quarter to erase a 17-point deficit and earn a 31-27 win at Dallastown High School.
"Dallastown is a great football team," said Central York coach Josh Oswalt, whose team won every regular-season road game this season. "We are playing in their home, where they had not lost all year and had a great defensive scheme to open against us with. Once we were able to figure that out, we settled down."
The win helped clinch this year's Division I title for unbeaten Red Lion, which with one divisional game against Dallastown remaining.
"Next week is a big game," said Dallastown coach Kevin Myers. "There will be a lot riding on it."
The win by Central York (6-3, 3-2 Division I) also helped the Panthers' District 3 playoff chances slightly while knocking Dallastown (7-2, 4-2 Division I) down a bit.
Central York presently sits at No. 7 in Class 6A with a home game against William Penn left on the schedule. Dallastown is at No. 5 in Class 6A.
Junior wide receiver Tim Sturgis caught the game-winning touchdown for the Panthers on the opening play of the final quarter. The 6-foot-1 Sturgis outran the Dallastown secondary as sophomore quarterback Cade Pribula found him with a bomb for an 83-yard score.
"We played pretty well fundamentally for 36 minutes," Myers said. "But it is a 48-minute game. You can't do that against good teams."
Sturgis, who also caught a 28-yard pass from Pribula during the second quarter, finished with three receptions for a game-high 119 yards.
"We need playmakers to step up when their number is called," Oswalt said. "Tim Sturgis is not a guy we target all the time, but he works so hard and does everything correctly, just like all these guys. These kids are a breath of fresh air and make it fun to come to work every day. They are hungry to win and hungry to get better."
Central York was limited to just 33 yards rushing by Dallastown in the game, but compensated for that by hitting five different receivers for 214 yards in the air from Pribula.
"(Dallastown) did a damn good job of shutting down the run," Oswalt said.
Dallastown looked strong early, scoring points on its first three drives of the game. Central York began its comeback in the second quarter on a fumble recovery in the end zone on a Dallastown punt attempt.
"The second quarter, we beat ourselves," Myers said. "It's a four quarter game and we stress playing all 48 minutes. (Central York) scored 21 points in those 12 minutes. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes."
The Wildcats did briefly regain the lead when quarterback Mike Sparks ran in for a 4-yard touchdown in the last minute of the third quarter, but two plays later Sturgis scored on the bomb for Central York.
Full-game video:
CENTRAL YORK 31, DALLASTOWN 27
Central York_0_21_3_7_—_31
Dallastown_17_0_10_0_—_27
First Quarter
DT -- Max Teyral 10 run (Drake Pew kick), 10:09
DT -- Pew 47 FG, 5:54
DT -- Rodney Scott 49 run (Pew kick), 2:38
Second Quarter
CY -- Deontay English fumble recovery in end zone (Carter Luckenbaugh kick), 10:59
CY -- Tim Sturgis 28 pass Cade Pribula (Luckenbaugh kick), 6:50
CY -- Ben Ward 10 pass from Pribula (Luckenbaugh kick), :13
Third Quarter
CY -- Luckenbaugh 39 FG, 8:02
DT -- Pew 40 FG, 4:01
DT -- Mike Sparks 4 run (Pew kick), :34
Fourth Quarter
CY -- Sturgis 83 pass Pribula (Luckenbaugh kick), 11:51
Team statistics
_CY_ DT
First downs_10_12
Rushes-Yards_35-33_36-133
Passing_12-17-1_7-16-0
Passing Yards_214_102
Total Yards_247_235
Punts_6-34.7_4-36.5
Fumbles-Lost_1-1_3-2
Penalties-Yards_5-49_8-98
Individual statistics
Rushing — Central York, Noreaga Goff 16-36, Hunter Werner 2-5, Cade Pribula 17-(-8). Dallastown, Rodney Scott 8-71, Zion DeVance 10-37, Max Teyral 3-22, Mike Sparks 15-3.
Passing — Central York, Pribula 12-17, 214 yds., 3 TD, 1 Int. Dallastown, Sparks 7-16, 102 yds., 0 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving — Central York, Tim Sturgis 3-119, Eddie Santiago 4-47, Drew Anderson 1-30, Ben Ward 2-27, Sakai Barton 2-(-9). Dallastown, Teyral 3-80, Donavan Catchings 2-13, Nathan Downey 1-5, Ben Ward 1-4.