JOHNSTOWN — Penn Cambria coach Nick Felus said for as much adversity that his team has faced during his five-year tenure, the start of Friday night’s game did not even make the Panthers flinch.

The Panthers turned the ball over twice in their first four offensive plays, helping lead to Penn Cambria trailing McCort-Carroll Catholic after the first quarter.

Despite the hiccups, Penn Cambria was able to find its offensive rhythm, using a big performance by Gavin Harrold and forcing five turnovers en route to defeating the Crushers, 41-14, at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.

“We never panicked, and that was key,” Felus said. “We know what talent we have and the guys we have in the locker room. We are a very resilient group. Credit to McCort-Carroll, they came out ready to play, but we just reset and went to our bread and butter. We had a lot of success on the ground, which is what we always aim to establish.”

Penn Cambria upped its winning streak to eight games and claimed its fourth consecutive victory over McCort-Carroll.

The Panthers’ current run is the longest for the team since winning nine in a row from Weeks 2 through 10 in 2006.

After locking down the No. 2 seed in the LHAC West standings, Penn Cambria (8-1) is expected to travel to East runner-up Bald Eagle Area next week.

“We came to play,” said Harrold, who accounted for four touchdowns and recorded an interception on defense. “We knew what we had to do to get this win. We didn’t have the greatest start, but we were able to come back. It always feels good to get in that kind of flow on offense.”

Player of the game: Harrold made the most of his offensive opportunities after only touching the ball seven times in the game.

The junior recorded five carries for 140 yards and three touchdowns, scoring on rushes of 33, 33 and 60 yards coming off of a jet sweep. He had registered just 92 total rushing yards in eight games coming into Friday.

Harrold then took a pitch in the backfield and fired a 25-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Carter McDermott in the third quarter to round out Penn Cambria’s scoring.

“I definitely love the ball in my hands,” Harrold said. “The blockers definitely did a great job opening holes and creating opportunities for our offense to score. They make the biggest impact every week, definitely.”

Most vital statistic: Penn Cambria tallied 34 points off of McCort-Carroll Catholic’s five turnovers — three interceptions and two fumble recoveries — scoring on all drives stemming from Crushers giveaways.

The Panthers scored four times in a 2-minute, 52-second stretch in the second quarter, headlined by a McDermott 48-yard pick-6, as all three offensive drives started on the McCort-Carroll side of the field.

“We had a game plan to play defense first, and we got the two big turnovers, but then we unfortunately had those giveaways of our own,” McCort-Carroll coach Tom Smith said. “I don’t care who you’re playing, you’re not going to win with five turnovers. The guys played hard despite the turnovers, but going behind that big that fast is hard to come back from.”

The Crushers held the lead in the first after Garrett Farabaugh hit Shakile Ferguson on a 40-yard touchdown pass but did not again find the end zone until Angelo Gallucci’s 2-yard score with 3:31 to go.

Notable: McCort-Carroll remains in the District 6 Class 1A playoff hunt despite the loss. With Portage and Claysburg-Kimmel suffering defeats on Friday, along with the Crushers having more ranking points than the aforementioned teams, next week’s game puts McCort-Carroll in a win-and-in position to earn a postseason berth after starting the year 0-5. “That’s the reward of playing this schedule,” Smith said. “Penn Cambria is the No. 10 team in 3A. We’re a single-A football team. That’s what you get playing week in and week out in this league. We’re looking for our first playoff berth as McCort-Carroll, and to get that for this group of young men would be amazing.”

Records: Penn Cambria (8-1), McCort-Carroll (3-6).

Next week: Both teams will face a fellow LHAC opponent when the East and West divisions are paired by seeding via record.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penn Cambria 0 27 14 0 — 41

McCort-Carroll 7 0 0 7 — 14

First Quarter

MC–Ferguson 40 pass from Farabaugh (Conner kick), 6:06.

Second Quarter

PC–Harrold 33 run (Dillon kick), 9:44.

PC–Harrold 33 run (Dillon kick), 9:06.

PC–McDermott 48 interception return (kick failed), 8:43.

PC–Mento 20 run (Dillon kick), 6:52.

Third Quarter

PC–Harrold 60 run (Dillon kick), 6:13.

PC–McDermott 25 pass from Harrold (Dillon kick), 4:12.

Fourth Quarter

MC–Gallucci 2 run (Conner kick), 3:31.

TEAM STATISTICS PC MC

First downs 12 12

Total yards 408 239

Rushes-yards 37-327 32-106

Yards passing 81 133

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-11-2 9-18-3

Points-Avg. 3-35.3 4-37.3

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 10-65 5-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Penn Cambria, Plunkett 18-84, McDermott 1-(-9), Jones 9-32, Harrold 5-140, Mento 2-19, Latterner 2-61, Coudriet 2-0. McCort-Carroll, Ferguson 4-18, Beppler 5-10, Delia 3-(-4), Farabaugh 13-64, Gallucci 6-16, Spontak 1-2.

PASSING–Penn Cambria, Jones 4-9-2-51, Harrold 1-1-0-25, Latterner 1-1-0-5. McCort-Carroll, Farabaugh 4-10-3-86, Gallucci 5-8-0-47.

RECEIVING–Penn Cambria, McDermott 4-63, Harrold 1-13, Strittmatter 1-5. McCort-Carroll, Ferguson 3-58, Delia 1-26, Farabaugh 2-12, Bainey 3-37.