Central’s Jack Dunn pulls in a pass against Richland’s Austin Yarnick for a touchdown on Friday night.

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

ROARING SPRING — The first Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game was played Friday night, and Central won it decisively.

In a matchup of two undefeated teams, Central broke out to a 36-0 halftime lead en route to routing Richland, 43-15 at the Roaring Spring Athletic Field.

Central (10-0) kicked the mercy-rule clock into effect at the beginning of the second half as junior quarterback Eli Muthler completed nine of 14 first-half passes for 146 yards, including a pair of 36-yard touchdown throws to 6-foot-4 wideout Jack Dunn.

Senior back Hunter Smith also scored on runs of 1, 23 and 7 yards in the first half for the Scarlet Dragons, and Central’s defense limited the depleted Richland offense to just 77 total first-half yards as Central earned a bye in the first round of the District 6 Class 3A playoffs next week and will play either Penn Cambria or Tyrone in the district title game in two weeks at Mansion Park.

For now, however, Central coach Dave Baker and his team savored Friday’s conference championship game win.

“I thought it was a good to have a championship game in the conference, and it feels good to win it,” Baker said. “I understand that Richland is banged up right now, but I thought we played a real strong game on both sides of the ball, and we took it over in the first half.”

Richland was without both of its freshmen starting quarterbacks and its all-state senior running back, Evan McCracken, due to injuries. The Rams needed senior Ethan Janidlo to move from his tackle position to start the game at quarterback, but Janidlo suffered a foot injury in the second quarter that sidelined him for the rest of the game.

Playing against a top-caliber opponent in Central, a team can ill afford to be so shorthanded. But Richland coach Brandon Bailey gave the Scarlet Dragons appropriate credit for dominating the game.

“It’s disappointing that we had a lot of kids hurt, but we have no excuse — Central won this game soundly tonight, and now we just have to focus on the upcoming playoffs,” Bailey said. “I’m real proud of how our kids responded in the second half.

“Nobody likes to lose, but it just wasn’t our night tonight,” Bailey added.

For Central, there was plenty of credit to go around. Muthler threw the ball well, Smith ran the ball well, Dunn proved to be an insurmountable matchup problem once again, and Central’s offensive line executed its blocks very well all night long.

“This was a fun one tonight for us,” Dunn said. “We have a very selfless team, we moved the ball around, and did our best. Everybody did their jobs for us tonight.”

Muthler cited the Scarlet Dragons’ team effort.

“Richland is a good team, and we know that they were without some guys this week, but we played our guts out, and it showed on the scoreboard,” Muthler said. “Our offensive line did an outstanding job of blocking, and our receivers got open, and made the plays.”

Two-way Central senior tackle Sawyer Howard said that the Scarlet Dragons possessed plenty of motivation for Friday’s game.

“We knew that we were playing a really big game against a very good team, and we knew that we had to come out here and play tough tonight,” Howard said. “And that’s what we did.”

Plays of the game: Muthler’s 36-yard scoring pass to Dunn set the tone for the game less than four minutes into the action, and the other 36-yard Muthler-to-Dunn scoring connection came with just 55 seconds left in the first half and set the mercy-rule clock into effect in the second half.

Player of the game: Along with his two first-half touchdown passes, Muthler also made two interceptions on defense.

Unsung hero: In his team’s losing effort, Richland freshman Jamere Christian stepped in at quarterback after Janidlo’s injury and completed seven of 11 passes for 49 yards and a third-quarter touchdown while also rushing 14 times for 54 yards. Christian drew praise from Bailey for responding so well under very adverse and impromptu circumstances.

Most vital statistic: In dominating the first half, Central carved out a 204-77 edge in total first-half offense.

Smith: “(Richland) is banged up a little, but they’re still a great team. Our offensive line played their best game of the year. It’s a great feeling to win this game.”

Baker on the significance of winning the conference championship: “This is a 20-team league, and you have a more difficult path to win this conference championship than you do to win a four-team district championship. That certainly doesn’t mean that I am saying that we are (guaranteed to) win the district championship this year, but you don’t have to go through as many good teams to win the district as you do to win this conference championship.”

Notable: Senior back Britton Marko scored on a 1-yard fourth-quarter run for Central, which celebrated its senior night Friday and also honored the 1993 Scarlet Dragons team coached by Jack Krider that won the Mountain Conference championship.

Records: Richland (9-1); Central (10-0).

Next week: Richland will play either Penns Valley or Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic in the first round of the District 6 Class 2A playoffs; Central gets a first-round bye in the District 6 Class 3A playoffs, and will meet either Penn Cambria or Tyrone in the championship game in two weeks at Mansion Park.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Richland 0 0 7 8–15

Central 22 14 0 7–43

First Quarter

C–Dunn 36 pass from Muthler (Smith kick), 7:46.

C–Smith 1 run (Detterline pass from Smith), 3:25.

C–Smith 23 run (Smith kick), 0:03.

Second Quarter

C–Smith 7 run (Smith kick), 7:04.

C–Dunn 36 pass from Muthler (Smith kick), 0:55.

Third Quarter

R–A. Mugewa 10 pass from Christian (Ritko kick), 2:23.

Fourth Quarter

C–Marko 1 run (Steele kick), 9:25.

R–Knepper 1 run (Roberts pass from Knepper), 0:40.

TEAM STATISTICS R C

First downs 14 12

Total yards 260 277

Rushes-yards 40-202 21-131

Yards passing 58 146

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-19-2 9-17-0

Punts/avg. 1-31 1-53

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-28 2-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Richland, Robertson 6-74, Christian 14-54, Knepper 7-46, Janidlo 4-21, Ragno 3-12, Davis 2-8, A. Mugewa 1-8, Yarnick 1-4, Hagen 1-0, TEAM 1-(-25). Central, Smith 11-79, Marko 3-28, Mickel 2-14, Beach 2-11, Muthler 3-6, Baker 2-0.

PASSING–Richland, Christian 7-11-1-49, Knepper 1-3-0-9, Janidlo 0-5-1-0. Central, Muthler 9-17-0-146.

RECEIVING–Richland, J. Mugewa 2-11, Ritko 2-11, Yeager 1-12, A. Mugewa 1-10, Hagen 1-9, Janidlo 1-5. Central, Dunn 5-122, Dionis 1-10, Hoenstine 1-9, Detterline 1-3, Benton 1-2.