Red Knights can’t hold early lead, lose to East

(This story will be updated shortly with additional details and postgame reaction.)

By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

HARRISBURG — Amier Burdine and Reading High came out firing before Central Dauphin East — and ultimately lightning — struck in the second half, the Panthers pulling away for a 31-12 non-league victory Friday at Landis Field in Harrisburg. 

The teams mutually agreed to end the game with 50.4 seconds left in the third quarter after lightning caused a 30-minute delay and would’ve eventually forced the game to be finished on Saturday.

The Red Knights scored first when Burdine threw out of a sure sack to Jahsir Drayton for a 34-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the game. Burdine’s two-point rush attempt failed and Reading had a 6-0 lead.

Nehemiah Ewell answered on a 7-yard touchdown dash with 8:39 left in the first to give the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Panthers a 7-6 advantage. Ewell rushed for a 24-yard gain on the play before the score.

Burdine then loaded up another longball for Ruben Rodriguez, who burned the defense for a 46-yard grab, and the Red Knights regained the lead at 12-7 with 6:10 left in the first quarter.

But Ewell kept churning, scoring on a run of 38 yards in the second quarter to make it 14-12. Nicolas Bloss drilled a 41-yard field goal for East.

Demaj Jalloh hit Izayah Hitchcock for a 14-yard TD with 2:05 left in the third and Ian Amegatcher recovered a blocked punt in the end zone with 50.4 seconds left in the quarter before the game was stopped due to lightning.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Reading High	12	0	0		12
C.D. East	7	10	14		31

Scoring summary

1	Reading	Drayton, 34 pass from Burdine (Burdine run failed)	10:02
1	East	Ewell, 7 run (Bloss kick)	8:39
1	Reading	Rodriguez, 46 pass from Burdine (Burdine pass failed)	6:10
2	East	Ewell, 38 run (Bloss kick)	6:55
2	East	Bloss, 41 FG	2:05
3	East	Hitchcock, 14 pass from Jalloh (Bloss kick)	2:05
3	East	Amegatcher, recovered blocked punt in end zone (Bloss kick)	:50.4

Team statistics

	Reading High	C.D. East
First downs	6	8
Rushes-yards	24-135	18-142
Passing yards	129	120
Total yards	264	262
Passes	8-17-1	13-25-1
Fumbles-lost	3-3	2-2
Punts-average	2-25.5	3-33.3
Penalties-yards	9-60	10-74

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Reading: Burdine 10-100, Small 6-27, Rodriguez 4-4, Alvarado 3-3, Drayton 1-1.

East: Ewell 11-120, Jalloh 3-13, Porter 2-11, Armstrong 1-3, Jackson-Copnay 1-(-5).

PASSING

Reading: Burdine 8-17-1–129.

East: Jalloh 13-25-1–120, team (-5).

RECEIVING

Reading: Drayton 3-72, Rodriguez 3-49, Small 1-8, Orbe 1-0.

East: Jackson-Copnay 4-25, Hitchcock 3-16, Brown 2-33, Porter 2-15, Foust 1-15, Neal 1-6.

INTERCEPTIONS

Reading: Rodriguez.