State College Spoils Central Dauphin East’s Undefeated Season

Tagged under: District 3, District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Noah Radio | October 12, 2024

On Friday, Oct. 11, the 6-1 State College Little Lions traveled to Landis Field to take on the 7-0 Central Dauphin East Panthers in a high-stakes Mid-Penn Commonwealth matchup. State College jumped on the Panthers early and never looked back en route to a 55-17 victory.

After forcing a three and out to begin the game, the Little Lion offense struck gold on its first possession. Senior quarterback Eddie Corkery hit fellow senior Ty Salazer over the middle on the second play of the drive and Salazer took it all the way for a 49-yard touchdown.

State College was unfazed by the Panthers’ undefeated record entering the night. Senior running back Lamar Wilson said, “That 7-0 didn’t mean anything to us, we said we gon’ come out, we gon’ show out and we gon’ play as hard as we can. We take pride in giving them their first loss.”

The CD East offense again couldn’t get anything going and turned it over on downs on its second drive. Corkery then methodically marched the State College offense down to the 10-yard line, where Wilson scored his first touchdown of the game to put the Little Lions up 14-0 with 5:56 remaining in the first quarter.

After Wilson’s touchdown, the Panthers finally began to move the ball on offense. Largely relying on senior quarterback Demaj Jalloh, CD East reached the State College 15-yard line. The drive stalled out there, but senior kicker Kyle Bloss put the Panthers on the board with a 32-yard field goal with 3:02 to play in the first quarter.

The State College offense picked up right where it left off, driving down to the CD East six-yard line where the first quarter expired. Then, on the first play of the second quarter, senior Michael Gaul cashed in with a shuffle pass from Corkery to take a 21-3 lead.

After the play was over, Gaul was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for an excessive celebration. It was his second of the game, resulting in an ejection and a suspension that will have him out for at least two games..

This marks State College’s fifth ejection of the season. After the game, Head Coach Matt Lintal loudly told his team, “You’re too good for this! We don’t have to tell anybody anything, they can look at the scoreboard.”

While the ejection and the penalty-filled night that followed soured the post-game mood, it did not keep the Little Lions from annihilating the Panthers the rest of the way. Wilson added two more touchdown runs all by himself in the second quarter, a 20-yarder and a 28-yarder.

“Those felt great,” Wilson said, “Throughout the whole season I felt like I didn’t have a touchdown with, like, a long run, and I got all the long runs I wanted tonight thanks to my o-line.”

CD East tried to keep pace with a passing touchdown from Jallah to Santana Young and a four-yard rushing touchdown by Avery Romain, but couldn’t keep up with the high-flying Little Lions.

Corkery tacked on three more passing touchdowns, one to Salazer and two to senior Cooper Brushwood, giving him five on the night. The most impressive was an 88-yard knockout punch in the fourth quarter. Brushwood beat his man on a streak up the sideline and took Corkery’s perfectly placed pass all the way to seal the game with 8:19 to play.

Lintal was proud of how his team fought through injuries and adversity. “We talked about it in the locker room, we said we’re gonna kick off, they’re gonna go three and out, then we’re gonna get the ball and score and that’s exactly what happened and our kids didn’t look back from there.”

After this huge win, State College has a slight reprieve next Friday, Oct. 18, with Carlisle coming to town for homecoming.

Central Dauphin East will look to bounce back in another tough matchup next Friday on the road against Bishop McDevitt.

State College senior WR/DB Cooper Brushwood trots back to the huddle after an offensive play. (Noah Radio)

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