Five turnovers doom Mustangs in one-sided loss to Carlisle
By Dustin Haluska — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
CARLISLE – Gov. Mifflin head coach Jeff Lang summed up his team’s worst loss in three years with very few words.
“We have a lot to figure out,” Lang said.
Five turnovers, 47 yards of first-half penalties and Carlisle speedster Jeremiah Hargrove were too much for the Mustangs to overcome in a 48-14 non-league loss at Ken Millen Stadium Friday night.
“It was a total debacle and we’ve got to get back to some basics,” said Lang after witnessing his program’s worst loss since a 61-14 defeat to Wilson in 2019.
Mifflin’s Ayden Martin, who led the team with 42 yards on nine carries, ripped off an 11-yard carry two plays into the game.
Unfortunately, the Mustangs didn’t have a carry of more than 11 yards the rest of the night and things quickly went into reverse thanks to a false start and chop block penalty on the next two plays.
Four plays later a short punt was fielded by Hargrove who raced 61 yards to paydirt for the game’s first score.
The junior running back had 75 of his 117 receiving yards in the first half and also fueled a 13-play, 62-yard drive with some key carries, capped off by a 3-yard TD run from quarterback Louis Shank to extend Carlisle’s lead to 13-0 with 9:03 left in the second quarter.
“Hargrove is a heck of a football player,” said Lang. “He has a low center of gravity and he’s very strong.”
Mifflin responded with its best scoring drive of the night, marching 54 yards on 15 plays. The Mustangs pounded the football on the ground and only passed twice on a drive that was capped off by quarterback Delsin McNeil’s 1-yard run that cut the deficit to 13-7.
“We executed and we were confident on that drive,” Lang said.
Carlisle scored 22 unanswered points after that, keyed by two turnover scores in a span of a minute to seal Mifflin’s fate before the midway mark of the third quarter.
First, Louis Shank returned an interception 8 yards for a score. A few plays later Kareem Lawson scooped up a fumble and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown. Lawson also had an interception for the Thundering Herd (2-0), who led 35-7 after the third-quarter turnover barrage.
Gov. Mifflin managed to get on the board one more time in the third quarter when McNeil found Chase Huber for a 29-yard touchdown strike.
“Offensively, I take 100 percent of the blame and we have a lot of things to work out,” said Lang, whose ground game was held to less than 100 yards.
The Mustangs defense surrendered 298 yards of total offense, much in part to Shank’s 10-for-14 night for 202 yards.
Lang said he was “really proud” of how his defense played despite some of the positions they were put in.
“I thought they played really tough,” Lang said.
The Mustangs, 10-1 a season ago, will try to snap their three-game losing streak Friday when they travel to Boyertown.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Gov. Mifflin | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Carlisle | 7 | 14 | 21 | 6 | 48 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Carlisle | Hargrove 61 punt return (Mazias kick) | 9:34 |
| 2 | Carlisle | Shank 3 run (kick failed) | 9:03 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | D. McNeil 1 run (Schools kick) | 1:15 |
| 2 | Carlisle | Barclay 19 pass from Shank (Hargrove pass from Shank) | :28 |
| 3 | Carlisle | Shank 8 interception return (Mazias kick) | 7:10 |
| 3 | Carlisle | Lawson 19 fumble return (Mazias kick) | 6:09 |
| 3 | Gov. Mifflin | Huber 29 pass from D. McNeil (Schools kick) | 2:50 |
| 3 | Carlisle | Barclay 9 pass from Shank (Mazias kick) | 2:08 |
| 4 | Carlisle | Mazias 26 FG | 9:40 |
| 4 | Carlisle | Mazias 26 FG | 6:35 |
Team statistics
| Gov. Mifflin | Carlisle | |
| First downs | 12 | 14 |
| Rushes-yards | 40-97 | 29-82 |
| Passing yards | 9-103 | 216 |
| Total yards | 200 | 298 |
| Passes | 9-14-2 | 12-16 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-3 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 3-22 | 1-13 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-47 | 7-60 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Gov. Mifflin: Martin 9-42, Garner 4-21, Reis 5-13, Harter 3-10, Jones 4-7, Hohl 2-6, D. McNeil 13-(-2).
Carlisle: Hargrove 6-30, Thomas 4-23, Shank 5-14, Smith 2-6, Hyvesson 1-6, Miller 5-5, Bonner 2-0, Fraker 2-0, Fischer 1-(-1), Mosley 1-(-1),
PASSING
Gov. Mifflin: D. McNeil 9-14-2, 103.
Carlisle: Shank 10-14-0, 202; Smith 2-2-0, 14.
RECEIVING
Gov. Mifflin:A. McNeil 4-58, Huber 4-47, Rapp 1-(-2).
Carlisle: Hargrove 5-117, Swartz 4-57, Barclay 2-28, Brink 1-14.
INTERCEPTIONS
Carlisle: Shank, Lawson.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Carlisle: Mazias 26, 26
