Harrisburg eliminates Manheim Township, set to face Wilson
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(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Joel Schreiner — LNP/Lancasteronline
LANDISVILLE –It’s become an all-too-familiar ending to the season for Manheim Township.
For the third straight year the Harrisburg Cougars turned the lights out on the Blue Streaks, leaving players and coaches to console each other knowing their season — along with the careers of 21 seniors — is over.
A bruising running attack by Harrisburg took its toll on the top-seeded Streaks, ending in a 35-14 win for the visiting Cougars Friday in a District 3 Class 6A semifinal.
“Size and strength are keys to success,” Manheim Township coach Mark Evans said. “If you want to have a long playoff life, you have to be able to run the ball.”
Harrisburg did just that.
Cougars junior Messiah Mickens, a Penn State commit, scored three touchdowns and led all rushers with 163 yards on 19 carries. Fourth-seeded Harrisburg rushed for a total of 318 yards on 44 carries.
Mickens opened the scoring with a 21-yard TD run on the game’s first possession but the Streaks (10-2) answered right back. Following a long kickoff return by Daryus Dixon, quarterback Carson Weisser hooked up with Dixon on a 20-yard TD pass.
The Cougars (10-2) responded with a 42-yard scoring pass from Jaiyon Lewis to Elias Coke on the next drive and took a 14-7 lead before the Streaks tied it early in the second quarter on their second possession when Weisser hit Lex Haberbosch for a 10-yard TD.
The Township defense halted the Cougars at their own 34, forcing the game’s first punt. Coke’s 45-yard boot, however, was muffed by the Streaks and recovered by the Cougars at Township’s 14. One play later Mickens went in for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown, the one that sparked a string of 21 unanswered Cougars points.
“That was a back-breaker, no doubt about it,” Evans said of the special teams miscue. “One play doesn’t make or break you; we just didn’t make plays when we had the chance.”
Township missed a 35-yard field goal try on its opening drive of the second half, and neither team added points in the third quarter. Midway through the final quarter, trailing 28-14, Weisser was intercepted in the end zone by Quincy Brannon. It was Brannon’s fifth pick of the season — and the Cougars’ 18th.
“It comes down to execution, performance and production,” Evans said. “The things we’ve been talking about all year. You have to keep momentum on your side and you have to get a flow going. We just struggled to get the flow going.”
With the win the three-time defending district champion Cougars will take on Wilson, a 28-20 winner over Central York. They’ll play Saturday, Nov. 13 at 1 at Exeter’s Don Thomas Stadium.
The Blue Streaks, meanwhile, face another offseason on the heels of not being able to solve the Harrisburg jinx.
“I’m proud of these guys, they really battled,” Evans said. “I love them unconditionally, regardless of whether we win or lose. They’re my guys.”