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Greyhounds stymie MC

SHIPPENSBURG — Mifflin County hasn’t been able to stop the run all season and it was more of the same against Shippensburg in a Mid-Penn Colonial football contest on Friday evening.

The three-headed monster of a backfield for the Greyhounds rumbled for 269 yards and four touchdowns in a 45 -14 victory over the Huskies.

“Knocking them out last year for the conference title like we did we knew they wanted revenge. We knew they had a lot of kids back. That’s a very good team,” Mifflin County coach Scot Sechler said. “I honestly think that’s the best team we faced this year. They executed well and we didn’t. We have to be better in all facets of the game. We have to be better as a team and I have to be better as a coach.”

The Husky coaching staff changed up the defense to a 5-3 in hopes of containing the power rushing attack of Shippensburg with a five-man front.

Instead, the interior line of the Greyhounds blew open holes big enough for a truck to go through, gashing Mifflin County for six yards a carry and 292 yards rushing. Shippensburg finished with 422 yards of total offense.

Jacob Loy ran for 156 yards and two scores, Alex Sharrow contributed 98 yards and a TD and quarterback Zack Manning added a rushing and passing touchdown for unbeaten Shippensburg (5-0, 2-0).

Mifflin County falls to 0-5 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. The Huskies must regroup the rest of the way against a weaker second half schedule if they hope to return to the District 6 Class 6A playoffs.

“I’m all in. I’m not giving up. All my cards are on the table. I told them to come ready to work on Monday,” Sechler said. “We can’t be happy mediocre and that’s kind of where we’re at right now. We get in position, but we don’t keep our feet moving and we try and arm tackle a ball carrier. It’s a matter of finishing things. We’re going to get at it Monday. There’s five games left and we still have a chance to make the playoffs.”

The Greyhounds brought out the big play with some trickeration on the first snap of the game. Loy took the pitch from Manning, stopped, and tossed a perfect pass to the waiting hands of receiver Isaiah Houser for the 61-yard touchdown on the halfback option.

It was all downhill from there for the Huskies.

Shippensburg took advantage of a Mifflin County interception by Zach Beam giving them the ball at midfield. Sharrow took it in three plays later on a 25-yard run off-tackle to make it 14-0 with 8:49 left in the first.

Another Mifflin County turnover, this time a fumble, once again gave the Greyhounds the ball at midfield. It took the home team eight plays to get in the end zone with Manning connecting with Nick Gustafson for a 24-yard score and a 21-0 lead after one.

Shippensburg made it 28-0 when Loy scored from four yards out ending a 14-play, 57-yard drive with 8:02 left in the first half.

The Huskies took the momentum back when Zach Bickhart took the ensuing kick 93 yards for the touchdown. Bickhart got the ball at the seven, found a seam in the middle of the field and broke three tackles down the left sideline to paydirt, making it 21-7.

“Zach Bickhart played lights out tonight. He did a tremendous job on that kick return, that was 90 percent his effort,” Sechler said.

Two scores late in the second half — a 53-yard run by Loy and a two-yard TD by Manning — put the game out of reach at 42-7 and set the mercy rule in effect for the second half.

Shippensburg dominated the first half to the tune of 342 yards of total offense to Mifflin County’s 18 yards. The Huskies didn’t get a first down until 5:22 of the second quarter and completed only one pass in the game, late in the fourth quarter.

Mifflin County put together its only scoring drive of the game when Brycen Hassinger, seeing action for the first time at quarterback in the game, led the Huskies on a 7-play, 48-yard drive capped by his 15-yard score off left tackle.

“Brycen is knocking heads like he usually does. He is a leader. He did a good job,” Sechler said.

Mifflin County hosts Big Spring on Sept. 27.

“We have to increase our energy level and strive for perfection and as coaches we have to hold them to that,” Sechler said.

Shippensburg 45, Mifflin County 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mifflin County 0 7 0 7–14

Shippensburg 21 21 3 0–45

First Quarter

S–Houser 61 pass from Loy (West kick), 11:39

S–Sharrow 25 run (West kick), 8:49

S — Gustafson 24 pass from Manning (West kick), 4:23

Second Quarter

S– Loy 4 run (West kick), 8:02

MC– Bickhart 93 kickoff return (Carter kick), 7:43

S — Loy 53 run (kick failed), 6:34

S — Manning 1 run (Loy pass from Manning), :07

Third Quarter

S– West 25 FG, 0:19

Fourth Quarter

MC– Hassinger 15 run (Carter kick) 7:52

TEAM STATISTICS

MC S

First downs 5 19

Total yards 102 422

Rushes-yards 23-68 49-292

Yards passing 34 130

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 1-7-1 4-10-0

Punts-avg. 3-33.7 1-29

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-20 3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: MC– G. Schaeffer 10-14, Hassinger 8-58 TD, R.Henry 1-3, D.Schaeffer 1-1, Burdick 2-2, Sheetz 1-(-10); S– Loy 18-156 2 TD, Sharrow 13-98 TD, Manning 4-15 TD, Wilson 3-10, Melendez 3-8, Beam 3-5 Kissinger 2-5, Hlbalo 2-4, Jones 1-(-9).

PASSING: MC– D.Schaeffer 1-2-34-0, Hassinger 0-1-0-0, Sheetz 0-7-0-0; S– Manning -8-52-0, Loy 1-1-61-0, Jones 1-1-17.

RECEIVING: MC– Jasper 1-34; S– Houoser 1-61 TD, Gustafson 1-24 TD, Smith 1-28, Funk 1-17.

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