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PATTON -- You know how a football coach sometimes can tell if his team has had a good night?
He could probably look at how many times his team punted at the end of the game. When he did, Cambria Heights' Jarrod Lewis saw nothing but zeros when the dust had cleared, but what he did see was a ton of offense.
The Highlanders broke open a 21-21 game in the final 8:23 of the first half Friday night, going on a 37-0 run that carried well into the second half that led to a 65-35 mercy rule victory over Johnstown.
"I keep saying it every week, but honestly, I think, we are a good football team. But unfortunately, we have played some very difficult opponents. I think our best football is still ahead of us" Lewis said.
Heights (2-5), which had only scored 40 points in its previous six games, led 21-14 at the end of a back-and-forth first quarter in which Zach Farabaugh scored on TD runs of 49 and 15 yards while Cody Stockley added a 20-yard touchdown run. Farabaugh rushed for 123 yards on just nine carries.
"I watched them on tape against (Bishop) McCort … they run the ball well, and we've struggled to stop the run all year. Did I think it would that well for them? Absolutely not, but we struggle. That double dive they run, where the quarterback keeps it sometimes … their tough," Johnstown coach Tony Penna Jr. said.
Johnstown (0-7) stayed in the game early on the arm of junior quarterback Sammy Barber, who threw two first-half touchdown passes of 29 yards (Tyjon Jones) and 50 yards (Anthony Reed). A 1-yard touchdown run by Brock Moore was in there as well.
At the 11:17 mark of the second quarter, it was 21-21 when the Highlanders simply turned it up another notch. Running back Tyler Trybus scored three touchdowns on runs of 4, 3 and 10 in the final 8:23 of the half, sandwiched around a safety where Johnstown snapped the ball out of its end zone on a punt.
When the scoreboard operator finally got a break, the Highlanders found themselves up 44-21 at halftime.
"We needed a day like this. I have been saying our offense was close, it was close, it was close, and tonight, the scoreboard showed it,"Lewis said.
Trybus, who finished with 141 yards rushing on 20 carries, scored two more touchdowns (4, 3 yards) in the third quarter to make it 58-21. The mercy rule kicked in during the third quarter.
"We knew it was coming. We practiced for it.That was what we worked on. We tried everything but their offensive line took over," said Penna, whose team gave up 396 yards on the ground.
"We have a good stable of running backs, and when you get all of them going, you kind of get sick of them just coming at you the whole game," Lewis added.
Barber, who threw two more touchdown strikes in the second half, finished 21-of-38 for 331 yards, four touchdown passes and one pick. However, he was hit all night by the Highlanders'defense and his success was limited in the third quarter.
"They were getting the ball out quick to their receivers so we made some adjustments," said Lewis, who said his defense wasn't afraid of Johnstown's offense, but did admit they had "scary speed." "We had a gameplan of trying to limit their big plays. When we started to figure some things out, our defense played better."
Game notes: Nick Fisanick scored Cambria Heights' final touchdown. … Heights had the ball six times in the first half and scored six times. They had it four times in the second half, scoring three times and taking a knee twice on the last two plays of the game. … Jones finished with 10 catches for 149 yards for the Trojans, who also watched Roderick Rosiek catch seven passes for 136 yards and two second-half scores. … Cambria Heights is at Central Cambria next week.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Johnstown 14 7 7 7 -- 35
Cambria Heights 21 23 14 7 -- 65
First Quarter
CH--Farabaugh 15 run (Nelen kick),5:42
J--Reed 50 pass from Barber (Thomaskick),5:02
CH--Farabaugh 49 run (Nelen kick), 3:05
J--Moore 1 run (Thomas kick),1:02
CH--Stockley20 run (Nelen kick), :32
Second Quarter
J--Jones 29 pass from Barber (Thomas kick), 11:17
CH--Trybus 4 run (Nelen kick), 8:23
CH--Trybus 3 run (Nelen kick), 6:38
CH--Safety, Johnstown ball snapped out of end zone, 4:08
CH--Trybus 10 run (Nelen kick), 1:26
Third Quarter
CH--Trybus 1 run (Nelen kick), 8:02
CH--Trybus 2 run (Nelen kick), 3:27
J--Rosiek 55 pass from Barber (Thomas kick), 1:05
Fourth Quarter
CH--Fisanick 7 run (Harrison kick), 9:03
J--Rosiek 24 pass from Barber (Thomas kick), 5:25
TEAM STATISTICS J CH
First downs 14 22
Total yards 331 444
Rushes-yards 8-(-30) 54-396
Yards passing 361 48
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 22-39-1 1-2-0
Punts-avg. 3-28.5 0-0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-6 3-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Johnstown, Rosiek 1-(-6), Barber 5-(-26), Moore 2-2. Cambria Heights, Farabaugh 9-123, Trybus 20-141, Link 7-22, Stockley 8-68, Gahagan 1-1, Haluska 1-7, Fisanick 2-16, Yeckley 3-21, TEAM 3-(-3).
PASSING--Johnstown, Barber21-38-1-381, Moore 1-1-0-30. Cambria Heights, Bearer 1-2-0-48.
RECEIVING--Johnstown, Jones 10-149, Rosiek 7-136, Reed 1-50, Malcolm 1-5, Yocum-Harris 1-14, Moore 1-(-1), Wills 1-8. Cambria Heights, Maul 1-48.