Brycen Armold carries Manheim Central to 4A title game
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
MANHEIM — For the 23rd time in the history of its storied football program, Manheim Central will play for a District 3 championship.
The Barons get to go after their 19th title next week after knocking out a familiar face Friday night.
Brycen Armold rushed for 239 yards with three touchdown runs — becoming the eighth player in Lancaster-Lebanon League history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season in the process — and Jaden Weit tacked on a pair of game-icing TD runs in Central’s 42-6 romp over Lampeter-Strasburg in a Class 4A semifinal at Elden Rettew Field.
It was the 61st district victory for the second-seeded Barons, who will play at top-seeded Bishop McDevitt next Friday for the gold trophy. The Crusaders, who have 15 district titles, second-most behind Central, picked up their 61st district victory, a 47-3 triumph over Twin Valley.
Which means the two winningest programs in district history will square off for the crown.
“McDevitt is a great team, but we’re ready. Let’s go,” Central coach Dave Hahn said. “I have all the respect in the world for them, and they have a lot of talent. But we have a lot of tough kids, too.”
Lampeter-Strasburg was denied its fourth straight trip to the 4A championship game. The Pioneers won titles in 2019 and 2020 before falling to Bishop McDevitt last fall. The Crusaders will go for back-to-back crowns against the Barons.
Central (11-1) grabbed a quick 7-0 lead when Zac Hahn fired a 43-yard TD dart to Aaron Enterline on the Barons’ opening drive of the game. Midway through the second quarter Armold eclipsed the 2,000-yard plateau for the season, and he capped the drive with a 12-yard TD scamper and Central, in the District 3 playoffs for the 33rd time, was up 14-0 at the break.
“I can’t do anything without them,” Armold said, thanking Central’s O-line for paving the way. “This whole season they’ve been awesome. They’ve given me opportunities to run through holes and make cuts.
“It’s all about those guys. I wanted to get it over with and just focus on the game, because it’s all about the team. If I would have had 2 yards and we won the game, that’s all that matters.”
Armold’s 3-yard TD run made it 21-0 late in the third quarter before third-seeded Lampeter-Strasburg (9-3) finally got on the board when Trent Wagner lofted a 26-yard TD strike to Dean Herr and it was 21-6. But the Pioneers would get no closer as Central put up three fourth-quarter scores: Armold had a 19-yard dash and Weit slammed the door with two short runs in the waning minutes to ice it.
“They did some things defensively that we thought we could execute against,” Dave Hahn said, “and we were able to.”
Central had 285 rushing yards, 417 total yards and 21 first downs, as Zac Hahn passed for 132 yards, including six completions to Enterline. The Barons held Lampeter-Strasburg to 40 rushing yards with four sacks and a takeaway. The Pioneers gobbled up a fumble and forced Central to punt it away twice in the first half. But Lampeter-Strasburg turned the ball over on downs three times.
Wagner passed for 192 yards for the Pioneers, but they couldn’t establish a consistent rushing attack against the Barons’ swarming rush-D.
“Tip your cap to them,” Lampeter-Strasburg coach Victor Ridenour said. “That’s a great football team over there. We thought that if we could score on the first drive of the second half that we could give ourselves a chance. It didn’t happen. But it was a great season, and I’m really happy for our seniors.”