Can I Use the Track on Saturday at Mauldin High School

HARRISBURG — Hempfield football coach George Eager led his post-game remarks to his team Friday night with a straightforward and intriguing thought.

"If you play defense like this,'' he said, "you can win a district championship.''

The Black Knights held CD East, a legit Mid-Penn Conference foe featuring Penn State recruit Mekhi Flowers, to 122 total yards and zero offensive points, and rolled to a 35-2 win over the Panthers in a District Three Class 6A quarterfinal at Central Dauphin's Landis Field.

"I don't think we could have even scripted it like this,'' Eager said after his club (7-4) advanced to the district semifinals, where it will face the winner of Saturday's Harrisburg vs. Carlisle quarterfinal. That game will be played next Saturday if Harrisburg wins or Friday if Carlisle does.

The Knights put on a complimentary football clinic, a point emphasized best by their response to the one serious mistake they made, a bad punt-snap that sailed through the end zone for a safety early in the second quarter, when Hempfield led just 7-0.

The ensuing free kick to the Panthers was a short one, part of a plan to keep the ball away from Flowers, a 4-star wide receiver, defensive back and return specialist recruit.

CD East thus had a short field, and chugged smartly to a second-and-goal at Hempfield's 1.

There the Knights slammed the door closed, stuffing a fine CD East RB, Marcell McDaniels, on three straight tries. Then came an illegal formation penalty against the Panthers on fourth down, and the Knights smothered a short pass try to end the threat.

Eager called his base defense a 3-4, but it morphed into a lot of things on this night, things the Panthers evidently had not seen before.

"We walked people up, changed up a lot of things,'' Eager said.

Hempfield took over after the goal-line stand and six plays later, junior RB Grant Hoover was sprinting 55 yards, on a simple inside run, for a game-changing TD.

All the quick-change moments went Hempfield's way.

Flowers mostly stayed out of it, because the Knights wouldn't let him in. They compromised field position to kick the ball away from him, and he didn't catch a pass until the 8:55 mark of the fourth quarter.

CD East resorted to direct-snapping Flowers the ball here and there, and he managed 1 net rushing yard.

"We tried to use the same plan we used against Anthony Ivey,'' Eager said, referring to Manheim Township's blue-chip wideout and return specialist, also headed to Penn State.

"We always had somebody over top of him. We planned for screens all week.''

A point worth making here: No one in District Three 6A has played a better schedule, and thus seen more, than Hempfield; the Knights have played Central York, Wilson, Manheim Township, Exeter and Manheim Central. It feels like a pretty live four-loss team.

Hempfield QB Cam Harbaugh had a very solid, clean night (12-for-18 passing for 141 yards) plus one explosion, a perfect strike over the middle to Andy Garcia for a 60-yard TD.

Soon after that, Aidan Shorter, chasing CD East QB Terrence Jackson-Copnay in the backfield, blocked a pass and held on for a 14-yard pick-six TD, and the rout was on.

"Our offense,'' Eager said, "fed off our defense.''

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Can I Use the Track on Saturday at Mauldin High School

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