Cedar Crest gets five rushing TDs from Isaiah Zimmerman; advances to face Wilson
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Cedar Crest 49, Hempfield 29
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Joel Schreiner — LNP/Lancasteronline
SOUTH LEBANON — It was a history-making night at Cedar Crest High School.
Earl Boltz Stadium hosted its first playoff game and it turned out to be the Falcons’ first postseason win since 1997 when current head coach Nick Lambros was playing for Crest in a win at South Western.
Isaiah Zimmerman ran for five touchdowns as the Falcons erased a halftime deficit and soared past Hempfield, 49-29, in the first round of the District 3 Class 6A playoffs.
“I think it’s huge for the kids,” Lambros said. “The kids have worked so hard for this. My guys have stepped up tremendously.”
In a rematch of Crest’s 31-27 win over the Knights two weeks ago, both teams took advantage of turnovers in the opening quarter.
Hempfield fumbled on its third play of the game and the Falcons (8-3) answered with a seven-play drive that ended with Zimmerman’s first TD of the night, a one-yard plunge. Later in the quarter, Zimmerman fumbled at the Hempfield 42.
On the first play after the fumble, Hempfield quarterback Derek Katch hooked up with Brayden Charles for a 58-yard score to tie the game. Katch and Cedar Crest QB Jackson Custer exchanged touchdown throws in the second quarter before Hempfield kicker Brady Biscoe booted a 38-yard field goal in the closing seconds to give the Knights a 17-14 lead at the break.
“We really had a good first half,” Hempfield coach George Eager said. “We were really confident coming out in the second half. Them going down and scoring to start the half is not how you draw it up.”
That score was a 21-yard Zimmerman touchdown run, which gave the Falcons a 21-17 lead and started a string of scoring for Cedar Crest that eventually produced 35 points in the second half.
A hook-and-lateral play went 66 yards for a score, and after the Knights coughed up the kickoff return, Zimmerman added an 8-yard scoring run to push the Crest lead to 35-17 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.
Zimmerman, who scored three touchdowns in the first meeting with Hempfield, finished this night with 182 yards on 25 carries.
“He’s a really special football player,” Lambros said of Zimmerman. “We hang our hat on running the football, and that’s really easy when you have a running back like him.”
The Knights (4-7) got as close as 35-23 midway through the fourth quarter on Katch’s 3-yard TD run, but a two-point conversion try failed. The teams then exchanged touchdowns on three successive plays, including a 62-yard TD pass from Katch to Charles for the Knights and Zimmerman’s final two TD runs, including a 45-yarder.
“All we did was we really just played our game,” Lambros said of the second-half offensive output. “But, we just played it better.”
With the win, the Falcons get another rematch in the second round when they travel to West Lawn next Friday to face Wilson. The Section 1 champion Bulldogs beat Crest 14-7 back in September.
“We’re going to play our game,” Lambros said. “We’re going to do what we do.”
