Unbeaten Manheim Central brushes aside early deficit, crushes Mifflin
By Hunter Phillips — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Manheim Central has been waiting nearly a full year to get another crack at Exeter after taking a one-sided loss against the Eagles in the District 3 Class 5A Tournament last season.
First, though, the Barons had to defeat this week’s opponent, Gov. Mifflin.
Brycen Armold made sure the Barons took care of the Mustangs. He rushed for 382 yards and five touchdowns Friday night, leading Manheim to its ninth straight win, a 69-21 victory at Shillington.
Arnold was quick to give his offensive line their share of the spotlight, saying the key to his success was “the offensive line 100 percent.”
Manheim Central coach Dave Hahn made sure his players didn’t look too far ahead.
“We try to get them to not look ahead to next week, we’re a team that focuses on one team at a time,” he said.
His players agreed.
“We can’t look too far ahead, we need to win this game to get to the next one,” Armold said.
It didn’t look that way in the early going; it seemed as though Mifflin had a chance to shock the crowd and steal a win.
After the Barons stopped the Mustangs on third-and-goal, an encroachment penalty called against the Barons put the ball at the 1-yard line, giving Mifflin four downs to get the score.
It only took Delsin McNeil one play, punching it in and putting Mifflin up 7-0.
Armold responded in just two plays with a 52-yard touchdown run up the middle.
On the next drive Mifflin coach Jeff Lang was faced with a tough decision, go for fourth-and-2 at his own 48, or punt it away to the seemingly unstoppable Manheim Central offense.
He elected to go for it, a decision that would pay off as Ayden Martin got the first down and more, taking it 50 more yards for a 52-yard touchdown to put Mifflin up by 8 with 11:18 left in the second quarter.
Yet again Manheim Central was able to respond with a seven-play drive resulting in another Armold touchdown. A successful two-point conversion tied the game at 14-14.
It looked like neither team’s defense could get a stop until Martin was stripped of the ball, recovered by Manheim Central.
After that, Mifflin completely lost its momentum as Manheim Central took over the game. As the Mustangs offense ground to a halt, Manheim Central scored 29 unanswered points.
While Armold’s rushing performance drew the most attention, Barons quarterback Zac Hahn had a nice game, throwing some beautiful balls down the field, amassing 214 passing yards and three touchdowns.
“He (Armold) makes my job so much easier when we go play-action,” Zac Hahn said.
“One thing I’ve noticed about us traveling, it takes us a little time to get focused and play our game,” Dave Hahn said.
Luckily for the Barons, they host Exeter on their Senior Night in their big title bout next week.
“Our seniors want redemption after the loss last season,” said Zac Hahn.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Manheim Central | 6 | 22 | 27 | 14 | 69 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | McNeil, 8 run (Schools kick) | 1:39 |
| 1 | Manheim Central | Armold, 51 run (kick failed) | 0:43 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Martin, 52 run ( Schools kick) | 11:18 |
| 2 | Manheim Central | Armold, 7 run (Neff kick) | 8:43 |
| 2 | Manheim Central | Daugherty pass from Hahn, 6 (Neff kick) | 3:45 |
| 2 | Manheim Central | Armold, 5 run (Neff kick) | 1:02 |
| 3 | Manheim Central | Armold, 19 run (Neff kick) | 9:40 |
| 3 | Manheim Central | Enterline, 44 pass from Hahn (kick failed) | 7:03 |
| 3 | Gov. Mifflin | Parker, 83 pass from McNeil (Schools kick) | |
| 3 | Manheim Central | Enterline, 18 pass from Hahn (Neff kick) | 3:35 |
| 3 | Manheim Central | Sipel, 64 pass from Hahn (Reed Kick) | 0:20 |
| 4 | Manheim Central | Armold, 49 run (Neff kick) | |
| 4 | Manheim Central | Weit, 10 run (Reed kick) |
Team statistics
| Governor Mifflin | Manheim Central | |
| First downs | 16 | 23 |
| Rushes-yards | 40-209 | 32-460 |
| Passing yards | 100 | 214 |
| Total yards | 309 | 674 |
| Passes | 2-7-0 | 8-11-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 4-28 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 10-70 | 3-30 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Manheim Central: Armold 24-382, Weit 6-49, Daughtrey 2-29.
Gov. Mifflin: Martin 6-73, McNeil 11-55, Jones 10-35 Garner 5-32, Harter 2-10, Jenkins 5-3, Wunderlich 1-1.
PASSING
Manheim Central: Hahn 8-11-0-214.
Gov. Mifflin: McNeil 2-7-0-100.
RECEIVING
Manheim Central: Sipel 4-95, Enterline 3-81, Daugherty 2-25, Armold 1-13.
Gov. Mifflin: Parker 1-83, Morris 1-17.
