BELLEFONTE - It's come to be expected that something weird will happen when Central travels to Bellefonte.
The last game prior to Friday night's encounter was called at halftime because of lightning. The game before that was suspended in the first quarter because of a power outage.
"It's always crazy when we come up here," Central quarterback Austin Cunningham said.
The latest oddity in the series came Friday when a heavy fog enveloped Rogers Stadium at halftime. Neither team could see the other's sideline, and the Central fans couldn't be seen at all from the Bellefonte side. In fact, the Central coaches had to be asked who scored their last touchdown. For the record, it was backup fullback Zac Emerick on a 20-yard run.
"It was a pretty nice day, and then it's like this," Central coach Dave Baker said. "I couldn't even see what was happening in the second half. I was trying to get kids in the game, and I couldn't tell who was out there."
"I walked out at halftime and said 'Where'd that come from?''' Raiders coach Duffy Besch said. "It was a little bizarre."
Asked if he was conjuring up something every time the Dragons came to town, Besch laughed and said, "I wish it was that simple."
Of course, by the time the fog made the field look like a scene from a horror movie, the game was pretty much decided. The Scarlet Dragons rolled to a 42-8 halftime lead and finished with a 70-15 mercy-rule thumping of the Red Raiders on their homecoming. It was the second straight 70-point performance by the Dragons, who scored 74 against Philipsburg-Osceola last week.
"It's pretty fun, I'm not going to lie," Cunningham said. "We're working hard at practice, and it's showing up on Friday night."
"I'll tell you, I take no pleasure in scoring 70 points on anybody," Baker said, "but it happens. We don't plan to do that."
"They're a very dynamic football team," Besch said. "They're the football team that we thought that we'd be playing. Unfortunately, we weren't able to slow them down."
Too bad not everybody from the stands saw the night Cunningham and Bradi Moore had in helping the Dragons (6-2) amass 636 yards in offense. Consider these staggering statistics:
n Cunningham passed for three touchdowns and 231 yards on five completions and ran for two touchdowns and 136 yards on six carries.
"Our line blocks really well," Cunningham said. "They open up holes, and our fullbacks lead for us. I just tried to get the ball up to the receivers and let them make plays."
n Moore scored five touchdowns three different ways, rushing for three scores, catching a TD pass and returning a kickoff back 91 yards for a score. He ran for 122 yards on five carries and caught two passes for 105 yards. Oh, and he pinned Bellefonte at its own 1 with a 39-yard punt - the only punt of the night for the Dragons.
"He's a heck of a dynamic player," Besch said.
n Nine of Central's 10 touchdowns went for 20 yards or more.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central28 14 21 7 -70
Bellefonte0 8 7 0 -15
First quarter
C-Moore 57 pass from Cunningham (Helsel kick), 8:41
C-Conrath 86 pass from Cunningham (Helsel kick), 5:10
C-Moore 55 run (Helsel kick), 3:43
C-Cunningham 27 run (Helsel kick), :00
Second quarter
C-Moore 59 run (Helsel kick), 10:59
B-White 4 run (Green pass from Fye), 10:11
C-Moore 48 pass from Cunningham (Helsel kick), 5:01
Third quarter
C-Cunningham 72 run (Helsel kick), 11:34
C-Slick 10 run (Helsel kick), 8:20
B-Deitrich 14 run (Rhoades kick), 3:49
C-Moore 91 kickoff return (Helsel kick), 3:26
Fourth quarter
C-Emerick 20 run (Helsel kick), 10:17
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Central-Cunningham 6-136, Moore 5-122, Weyant 2-34, Helsel 1-30, Emerick 2-30, Conrath 5-27, Slick 5-18, Hoenstine 2-7, Mock 1-1, Weitzel 1-0. Bellefonte-Deitrich 8-52, Breon 6-34, White 6-16, Fye 5-(-32).
PASSING: Central-Cunningham 5-11-1-231. Bellefonte-Fye 10-19-2-140, Deitrich 1-4-0-13, Breon 1-4-0-9.
RECEIVING: Central-Moore 2-105, Conrath 1-86, Ponder 1-32, Croft 1-8. Bellefonte-Leiter 5-111, Green 3-34, Hill 1-9, Deitrich 2-8, White 1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS: Central-Kreider, Cunningham. Bellefonte-Shope.
TEAM STATISTICSCB
First downs1612
Yards rushing30-40525-70
Passing (comp.-att.-int)5-11-1 12-27-2
Passing yards231162
Total yards636232
Fumbles lost1-13-2
Penalties-yards10-974-25
Punts-avg.1-395-34.6
