Central still winning around turkey time
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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG --- It's an excellent barometer of success for a Pennsylvania high school football team to be practicing and playing a game over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The Central High School Scarlet Dragons, who are currently riding a 10-game winning streak, will be doing just that for the second consecutive November.
Central (11-2) generally dominated from start to finish in its District 6-9 Class 3A subregional playoff game with Clearfield Friday night at Hollidaysburg's snow-flecked Tiger Stadium, riding a solid all-around team effort on both sides of the ball to a 35-6 victory.
Senior quarterback Jeff Hoenstine completed 16 of 23 passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns for Central, whose front-line defense shut out Clearfield for well over three quarters before exiting with the Dragons ahead, 35-0.
The win earns Central a berth in next weekend's PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal-round matchup against Grove City for the second consecutive season. Grove City advanced to next weekend's game, which will be played at a District 10 site and time to be determined, by defeating Slippery Rock, 42-23, Friday night in the District 10 championship game.
"(Clearfield) played hard and they played well, but I think you'd have to say we pretty much controlled this game,'' Central coach Dave Baker said of his team's performance Friday. "They had some guys hurt, but I thought we were the better team tonight.''
Senior wideout Eli Lingenfelter caught seven passes for 127 yards and a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes from Hoenstine of 7 and 5 yards as the Dragons built a 14-0 halftime lead.
"The Hoenstine to Lingenfelter passing connection is pretty solid, then we started to run the ball later in the game, and they couldn't stop it,'' Baker said.
Central's defense has been playing lights out at the right time. After limiting a powerful Penn Cambria offense to just six points in last week's District 6 Class 3A championship game victory, the Dragons also put the handcuffs on Clearfield Friday night.
"They were never able to threaten our goal line,'' Baker said.
The Scarlet Dragons came up with a big stop when Clearfield attempted to run for a first down on a fourth down and one yard situation at its own 10 late in the third quarter.
Central took over on downs, and junior running back Hunter Smith scored on a 10-yard run on the Dragons' first play from scrimmage to give Central a 21-0 spread with 3:11 left in the third period and for all intents and purposes, salt the game away.
"They went for it on fourth down there because they didn't want to give us the ball back,'' Baker said. "We've been playing better on defense, we've been tackling better, and we've been quicker to the ball. Those were all the things that we struggled with on defense early in the season, but now we're doing them a lot better.''
Central senior Jason Clark, a two-year starter at defensive end, thought that Friday's game was won in the trenches.
"I felt like we needed to control the line of scrimmage tonight, and we came out and did what we needed to do,'' Clark said.
Play(s) of the game: Central set the tone for the game in the first quarter with two scoring drives that were highlighted by long passes from Hoenstine to Lingenfelter. A 39-yard Hoenstine pass to Lingenfelter was the key play on the Dragons' first drive, in which Central marched 89 yards on nine plays. The next time Central got the ball, the Dragons moved 61 yards in just four plays, with Hoenstine's 33-yard pass to Lingenfelter the biggest play on that drive.
Player of the game: Hoenstine had another great night passing, throwing the two touchdown tosses to Lingenfelter in the first quarter and an 8-yard TD strike to senior wideout Dalton Metzger in the fourth quarter. Hoenstine also ran 1 yard for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Unsung hero(es): Central's first-team defensive unit kept Clearfield's offense at bay.
Most vital statistic(s): While Clearfield outrushed Central, 156 yards to 114, the Bisons were one-dimensional on offense, completing just one pass for eight yards. Hoenstine, meanwhile, completed at least one pass to six different Central receivers, and at least two passes to five of those receivers.
Clearfield coach Tim Janocko: "This game was actually closer than what the final score indicated. Our kids have come so far this season. They persevered through injuries and won both the Mountain League and District 9 championships, and they played hard against a good team tonight. I'm so proud of these kids.''
Hoenstine: "We didn't play our best game. We moved the ball, but we committed some penalties (six for 63 yards) and we left some points on the board. But we got the win, and that's all that matters.''
Baker on Grove City: "We played them last year (in the PIAA quarterfinals) and beat them up there (35-6 on Slippery Rock University's field) in a snowstorm. I haven't really looked at them much, because we've been preparing for (Clearfield). But they have some of their guys back from last year, including their quarterback. (Winning last year's game) gives us some confidence that we can at least play on the same level with them, but whether or not we can win next week's game remains to be seen.''
Notable: Clearfield, which finished its season with an 8-4 record, scored its only points of the game on a 2-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run by sophomore back Brady Collins against Central's reserve defensive unit. Collins had a game-high 80 rushing yards on 17 carries, while speedy senior scatback Kade Rhule led Central's rushing attack with 74 yards on 17 carries ... Clearfield turned the ball over three times, with Lingenfelter and Metzger intercepting passes for Central and senior Kaden Fisher recovering a fumble ... Freshman Colton Ryan intercepted a pass for Clearfield, which will join Central as a member of the expanded Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference next season.
Records: Clearfield (8-4); Central (11-2).
Next week: Central plays District 10 champion Grove City in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal-round game at a District 10 site and time to be determined.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Clearfield 0 0 0 6 -- 6
Central 14 0 7 14 -- 35
First Quarter
C--Lingenfelter 7 pass from Hoenstine (Smith kick), 3:33.
C--Lingenfelter 5 pass from Hoenstine (Smith kick), 0:29.
Third Quarter
C--Smith 10 run (Smith kick), 3:11.
Fourth Quarter
C--Hoenstine 1 run (Smith kick), 11:56.
C--Metzger 8 pass from Hoenstine (Smith kick), 10:36.
CLF--Collins 2 run (kick failed), 4:18.
TEAM STATISTICS CL C
First downs 7 16
Total yards 164 333
Rushes-yards 42-156 16-114
Yards passing 8 219
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 1-5-2
Punts-avg. 3-26.3 2-41.5
Fumbles-lost 5-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 6-73 6-63
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Clearfield: Collins 17-80, Freeland 9-55, Chamberlain 8-32, Curry 3-5, J. Sampsell 4-(-14), Graffius 1-(-2). Central: Rhule 7-74, Hoenstine 4-27, Smith 2-11, Baker 2-2, Beach 1-0.
PASSING: Clearfield: J. Sampsel 1-5-2-8. Central: Hoenstine 16-23-1-219, Muthler 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Clearfield: Knee 1-8. Central: Lingenfelter 7-127, Smith 2-28, Daugherty 2-15, Rhule 2-14, Metzger 2-13, Yingling 1-22.