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ROARING SPRING -- Central fans may have been feeling a little uncomfortable Friday night after winless Huntingdon jumped out to a two-touchdown lead a little over three minutes into the game.
But the Scarlet Dragons staged a strong comeback.
They overcame a fumble on the opening play of the game that led to a touchdown, as well as three blocked kicks, to rally for a 30-20 victory over the Bearcats at soggy Roaring Spring Athletic Field.
"When do you ever get three kicks blocked? Never that I know of," Central coach Jerry Albright said. "Despite that, I'm proud of our team. We hung tough. That's been the trademark of our team the whole year.
"No matter what comes up in front of us we still fight our way through and we've been lucky enough to come up with victories four times."
The Dragons (4-2) scored 30 of the final 37 points in the comeback win in a Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference game, and 24 of those came in the second half.
Albright refused to blame the weather for his team's lackluster effort early on against a Huntingdon team that had been outscored 201-65 in its previous five losses.
"For us, it was just a lack of effort," he said.
Senior quarterback Eli Muthler engineered the rally, rushing for three touchdowns, gaining 63 yards on the ground and passing for another 114 yards through the air. He also intercepted a pass.
"He's the leader of this team," Albright said. "He does all the right things on defense and is always in the right spots. On offense, he can pass the ball, he can run it. He does everything we need him to do."
Play of the game: Central took the lead for good early in the third quarter at 14-13 when Colten Harbaugh took a direct snap from center and sprinted into the end zone for the two-point conversion.
Player of the game: Muthler. He scored on a 7-yard run in the second quarter and touchdown runs of 5 and 7 yards in the third.
He said he couldn't remember ever rushing for three touchdowns in a game before.
"But it feels nice," he said. "When you get a couple early setbacks like we had, it's hard to bounce back. But I'm proud of our team tonight for doing that.
"From week one to now, I think we've grown in many ways."
Unsung hero: Clinging to a 22-20 lead midway through the fourth quarter, senior running back Braydon Beach sealed the win with a 32-yard touchdown run. He also caught the two-point conversion pass from senior Lukas Black.
Most vital statistic: Central's defense held Huntingdon to just 142 total yards offense and also forced a bad snap from center on a punt in the third quarter that resulted in a safety after the ball rolled out of the end zone.
More Albright: "Huntingdon is better than their (0-6) record. I think five of their losses coming in were to opponents who had four losses combined.
It's amazing the schedule they've played. They've just had some bad luck at the wrong time. I'm just happy we were able to capitalize on their mistakes."
Notable: Bronson Myers recovered a fumble for Central, which bounced back from last week's loss to Bishop Guilfoyle that snapped a three-game winning streak. ... The Bearcats forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and three plays later, freshman Cole Lane scored on a 1-yard run. ... On the next series, Lane scored again, this time recovering a blocked punt in the end zone. ... Landon Erdman accounted for Huntindgon's other touchdown on a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter. ... Erdman also blocked two punts which were recovered by Gavin Norris and Chris Gibson. ... In addition, the Bearcats also blocked a PAT attempt.
Records: Huntingdon (0-6); Central (4-2).
Next week: Huntingdon hosts Tyrone; Central hosts Penns Valley.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntingdon 13 0 0 7 - 20
Central 0 6 16 8 - 30
First Quarter
H--Lane 1 run (Snare kick), 10:39.
H--Lane recovered blocked punt in end zone (Kick failed), 9:34.
Second Quarter
C--Muthler 7 run (Kick failed), 2:32.
Third Quarter
C--Muthler 5 run (Harbaugh run), 9:07.
C--Safety, ball snapped out of end zone, 3:48.
C--Muthler 7 run (Kick blocked), 1:33.
Fourth Quarter
H--Erdman 6 run (Snare kick), 11:31.
C--Beach 32 run(Black pass to Beach), 6:26.
TEAM STATISTICS H C
First downs 7 17
Total yards 142 208
Rushes-yards 23-87 39-94
Yards passing 55 114
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-12-1 13-32-0
Punts/avg. 4-40.6 3-38.0
Fumbles-lost 3-3 4-1
Penalties-yards 4-44 6-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Huntingdon, Erdman 13-66, Lane 5-26, Mykut 4-13, Team 1-(-18). Central, Beach 17-71, Muthler 18-63, Musei 1-1, Mickel 1-(-1). Team 2-(-40).
PASSING--Huntingdon, Mykut 6-12-1-55, Central, E. Muthler 13-32-0-114.
RECEIVING--Huntingdon, Rutter 2-15, Guisler 2-11, Moore 1-28, Gibson 1-11. Central, Klotz 4-33, Hoenstine 4-28, Baird 2-23, Beach 2-17, Mickel 1-13.