Late Pick-Six foils Hempfield bid

(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)

By John Walk — LNP/Lancasteronline

A week earlier, Hempfield had scored a last-minute, go-ahead touchdown to beat York High in a high-scoring thriller to win.

Trailing in the closing moments again Friday in Landisville, Hempfield drove to the Central York 18-yard line and appeared on the verge of making it a one-score game. Panthers defender Saxton Suchanic had another idea.

Suchanic intercepted a Black Knights pass at the 10-yard line and returned it 90 yards. It was Suchanic’s first pick-six score, and the dagger in Central York’s eventual 30-20 non-league football win.

“That’s just us gameplanning during the week,” Suchanic said. “I trusted in the system. I read my keys. Made the play.”

Up until the Suchanic interception with 4 minutes, 32 seconds left, the Hempfield offense hadn’t done much since its opening drive, which went 80 yards on 13 plays, capped by a 1-yard TD plunge from Grant Hoover (18 carries, 64 yards) to tie the score at 7-7.

“The first drive we were able to get some push,” Hempfield coach George Eager said. ”After that we went cold. We struggled to create space for our guys to get through. And Central York made tackles in space. We would kick out but they made the tackles.”

Meanwhile, the Hempfield defense, after giving up a 80-yard scoring run to Central York’s Juelz Goff (13 carries, 178 rushing yards, three TDs) on the first play from scrimmage, pretty much kept a lid on the Panthers (2-1) the rest of the way.

“But scoring seven points most of the game isn’t going to win you a lot,” Eager said. “We knew we had to score and we didn’t do that. Our defense gave up one big play. After that, the defense was solid. …But this was a team loss. At no point in the game did we take control. …We were hoping something would happen but it didn’t.”

Tied 7-7, Central York went 71 yards on eight plays on its third possession, capped by a Goff 1-yard TD run to put the Panthers back on top 13-7.

Central York moved the ball efficiently to open the second half, getting to the Hempfield 11-yard line, before a Panthers’ personal foul penalty stalled their momentum, leading to a turnover on downs.

The penalty was one of a combined 14 flags for 180 penalty yards from both teams.

A Central York 35-yard field goal from Matthew Parker pushed the lead to 16-7 with 8:09 left, which preceded the Suchanic interception for a score. Both teams traded touchdowns in the final minutes.

Hempfield QB Jackson Landis finished 18-for-32 for 183 passing yards with one rushing TD. The Hempfield run game garnered 91 yards on 32 carries.

Up next: Hempfield hosts McCaskey next week.

“The guys understand everything is still in front of us,” Eager said. “We’ve played three games. We’re 2-1. Sometimes this can be a good thing. …we got brought down back to earth. We’re still a good football team that needs to get better.”