Johnson, Mustangs, send clear message in runaway win over state-ranked Cougars
Eden Johnson has a message for the rest of the teams on Gov. Mifflin’s schedule, and those the Mustangs will meet in the postseason:
“We can throw the ball, too,” said the senior quarterback. “You’ve gotta respect our whole game.”
The Harrisburg Cougars were hellbent on not letting Mifflin’s Nick Singleton take charge but they couldn’t cover the whole field. Johnson and quarterback Delsin McNeil made them pay, combining to throw three touchdowns in the second half as the Mustangs ran away with a 49-13 non-league victory at Mifflin Stadium.
The Cougars (3-1), ranked No. 9 in the state in Class 6A, loaded the box in an attempt to take away the run and made life relatively tough for Singleton, Berks’ all-time rushing lead.
In doing that they left Mifflin receivers uncovered and Johnson took advantage, finding Ayden Martin for scoring passes of 52 and 18 yards; McNeil found Adrian Young with a 21-yarder to break open what had been a tight game for a half.
“They were putting so many in the box, we felt we had to throw,” said Johnson, “that was our only option.”
Johnson attempted just two passes; each went for a TD.
McNeil, a junior, hit on each of his three passes.
The only misfire, ironically, came from Singleton, on a halfback option. He had Adrian McNeil wide open for what would’ve been a 55-yard TD just before the half, but overthrew him.
That allowed the Cougars to stay in the game; they trailed just 14-7 at intermission despite being thoroughly out-played.
The Cougars, playing without starting quarterback Shawn Lee, who was injured last week and did not dress, were limited 69 total yards and one first down in the first half.
They benefited from a Singleton fumble to set up their only score in the final minute of the half.
“I was disappointed,” Mifflin coach Jeff Lang said of the first half. “I thought we missed some opportunities that we should have had a couple scores on, we just didn’t connect.”
The Mustangs (4-0), ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 5A. scored on their first two possessions to go up 14-0 and had a chance to put the game away early. Instead, they were stopped on downs at the Harrisburg 10 and 26 and let the Cougars back in the game.
“We made a few mistakes, we made a fumble at the end, but we were determined,” Johnson said. “We didn’t give up nothing on ‘D.’ We had a few drives where we got stopped on fourth down. We knew what was gonna happen (in the second half). We felt good.”
The second half was a different story. The Mustangs scored TDs on their first five possessions to turn it into a rout and Singleton broke loose, scoring a pair of touchdowns.
He finished with 153 yards on 19 carries and three TDs, closing in on the 5,000-yard career mark. And he did it all in front of his next coach, Penn State’s James Franklin, who flew in for the game to see his prize recruit in person for the first time.
“It felt good to have my future coach watching me,” said Singleton, who committed to Penn State in July. “We’re gonna talk about it tomorrow, what I did good and stuff I need to work on.”
Singleton will be attending Penn State’s “White Out” game against Auburn.
He found the going tough against the Cougars, who contained him for the most part, except for a pair of breakaway runs, of 53 and 46 yards. (He also had a 61-yard TD run nullified by penalty).
“They’re a good team,” he said of Harrisburg. “They’re 6A. We expected that (from them), that it would be a dog fight.”
“They’re a physical team,” Lang said. “They did a great job (on Nick). They’ve got speed in the secondary and they’re athletic kids, and up front they’re big and strong. First half, they did a heckuva job, but I think we wore them down in the second half and were able to capitalize on some things.”
Martin’s fingertip grab on a 52-yard scoring pass put Mifflin up 21-7 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter.
Harrisburg answered when speedy wide receiver Kyle Williams slipped a tackle on a short pass and turned it into a 62-yard TD that cut Mifflin’s lead to 21-13.
That was the only breakdown on what was an outstanding night for the Mustangs defense. They picked off three passes, collected four turnovers and limited the Cougars to just 70 rushing yards and four first downs.
Two big passing plays accounted for 103 of their 183 total yards.
“Not having Shawnie, it limited us in some things we would have liked to have done,” said Harrisburg coach Calvin Everett. “That definitely was a monkey wrench thrown at us; it hurt us a lot. We had a young man in there (junior Zakii Lewis)who did a good job for the most part trying to manage the offense; a few costly turnovers hurt us.”
The big takeaway for the Mustangs — and the teams that need to stop them — is that they’re not a one-dimensional team. You’ll have to play them straight up, to a certain extent.
“We can do everything,” said Johnson. “We’re a run-heavy team, but we definitely can pass. We showed it tonight.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Harrisburg | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 13 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 14 | 0 | 14 | 21 | 49 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Gov. Mifflin | Gallen | 8 run | Schools | kick | |
| Gov. Mifflin | Singleton | 53 run | Schools | kick | |
| Harrisburg | Hopkins | 8 run | Hopkins | kick | |
| Gov. Mifflin | Martin | 52 pass | Johnson | Schools | kick |
| Harrisburg | Williams | 62 pass | Lewis | Kick failed | |
| Gov. Mifflin | Young | 21 pass | D. McNeil | Schools | kick |
| Gov. Mifflin | Singleton | 7 run | Schools | kick | |
| Gov. Mifflin | Martin | 18 pass | Johnson | Schools | kick |
| Gov. Mifflin | Singleton | 46 run | Schools | kick | |
Team statistics
| HARRISBURG | GOV. MIFFLIN | |
| First downs | 4 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 24-70 | 50-302 |
| Passing yards | 113 | 136 |
| Total yards | 183 | 438 |
| Passes | 5-12-3 | 5-7-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 5.36.6 | 1-48.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-40 | 5-70 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Harrisurg: Hopkins 13-46, Prather 2-20, Williams 6-17, Lewis 3-(-13).
Gov. Mifflin: Singleton 19-153, Rock 12-66, Gallen 7-50, Johnson 7-21, D.McNeil 2-7, Martin 3-5.
PASSING
Harrisurg: Lewis 5-12-3–113.
Gov. Mifflin: Johnson 2-2-0–69, D.McNeil 3-3-0–67, Singleton 0-1-0–0, Team 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Harrisurg: Williams 2-71, Cook 2-47, Granberry 1-(-5).
Gov. Mifflin: Martin 2-70, A. McNeil 1-33, Young -121, Singleton 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS
Gov. Mifflin: Johnson, Stewart, Kershner.