Central Valley defeats Central to head to Hershey for third straight season @warriors_cv @cvqbclub @sykotyk

Tagged under: District 6, District 7, Gameday Hub, News

Andrew Schaffer | December 4, 2021

For the third straight season the Central Valley Warriors are headed to Hershey. This time around they beat District 6 champion Central 35-21. “I’m so proud of these guys” said Coach Lyons.

Central Valley got the ball to start the game. On the second play of the drive the ball was fumbled and Central recovered. They started the drive at the Central Valley 32 yard line. Despite the great field position the drive lasted a good amount of plays. After a first down to the Central Valley 8, the Dragons got on the board when Jeffrey Hoenstine connected with Hunter Smith for a 6 yard touchdown. That made the score 7-0 Central with 8:48 in the first quarter. Hoenstine had a big game passing for the Central Dragons, throwing for 243 yards.

Central Valley started their second drive of the game at their own 28 yard line. The drive got close to midfield but the Warriors ended up punting it away. The second drive for Central didn’t go that far either.

Central Valley got the ball for the third time in the game and that drive started at their own 23 yard line. It only took a couple of plays to get out past midfield and after several big runs by Landon Alexander he finished off the drive on a 3 yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7 with 11:09 in the second quarter.

It was in the second quarter where Central Valley started to gain some control in the game. The Dragons went three and out on the following drive and punted it back to the Warriors.

The next drive Central Valley started with great field position thanks to Landon Alexander. Later on in the drive Central Valley went for it on fourth down and got the first down at the 1 yard line. The play after Central Valley took the lead on a 1 yard run by Antwon Johnson. That made the score 14-7 Central Valley with 6:47 left in the second quarter.

Central got the ball yet again but went three and out yet again. The Warriors started the next drive at their own 27 yard line. On the very first play of the drive Antwon Johnson connected with Jayvin Thompson for a 73 yard touchdown pass. “We needed a spark” said Coach Lyons. That made the score 21-7 Central Valley with 5:58 in the second quarter.

Toward the end of half, the Dragons had something going on the following drive it appeared. They got as far as the Warriors 30 yard line but a couple of plays after that they turned the ball over on downs. Central Valley started the next drive at their own 28. After a big run by Landon Alexander they were in Dragons territory it was looking like they were going to extend their lead but the drive and the half ended with an interception.

Central got the ball to start the second half but went three and out and punted the ball away to the Warriors. It was on that Central Valley drive where the game took an interesting turn. On third down the ball was intercepted by Hunter Smith and he returned it for a 35 yard touchdown which made it 21-13 Central Valley with 8:22 in the third quarter.

On the following kick the game got even more interesting when Central recovered a surprise onside kick and they had the ball on the Warriors 42 yard line. They were quickly inside the 30 yard line and on third down another big play happened when a shovel pass was fumbled and scooped up by Matt Merritt for a 75 yard touchdown. “They had us reeling a bit, but we got seniors that have been here before, a lot of guys on this field have played a lot of football, played in 2 state championships, we had no panic on the sideline” said Coach Lyons. That made the score 28-13 Warriors. “It was a huge momentum changer” said Coach Lyons.

Despite going down 2 scores, the Dragons weren’t done yet. On the next drive they marched right down the field it was a drive that took up the remaining 5 plus minutes of the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter Parker Gregg scored on a 1 yard run. The 2 point conversion was good making it 28-21 Central Valley.

Central Valley started their next drive at their own 45 yard line, After getting past midfield the drive stalled and they punted it away. Central got the ball at their own 13 yard line. It was a drive that took up a lot of time and a lot of plays. After a big run they were at the Warriors 5 yard line. On fourth down a pass fell incomplete and Central turned the ball over on downs. The drive was 19 plays long and ended with that goal line stand. “What a great goal line stand” said Coach Lyons.

On the very first play of the next drive, Landon Alexander put the game out of reach on a 98 yard touchdown run. That made the score 35-21 with 2:10 left. “That’s just Landon, we called a timeout to collect ourselves, and he said I got you” said Coach Lyons. Landon had yet another big game for Central Valley having rushed for 213 yards.

Next week Central Valley will play Wyomissing for the second straight year for the PIAA 3A State Championship. The game will be played at Hershey Park next Saturday at Noon.

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