Football Preview: Harrisburg Cougars vs. Carlisle Thundering Herd
Harrisburg is 8-2 against Carlisle since October of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Harrisburg Cougars will welcome the Carlisle Thundering Herd at 1:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Harrisburg has four straight wins, Carlisle has 14 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
If Carlisle heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Harrisburg took over last week. Harrisburg walked away with a 28-20 victory over Cedar Cliff on Friday. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football rankings (they are ranked tenth, while the Colts are ranked 89th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jaiyon Lewis was his usual excellent self, throwing for 231 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.6 yards per attempt, and also rushing for 69 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries. Elias Coke was Lewis' top target, picking up 104 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Harrisburg's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. Coke picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown. Isaac John Lewis was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making 12 total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Carlisle took a blow against Bishop McDevitt on Friday, falling 56-7.
Harrisburg's win was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-1. As for Carlisle, their loss dropped their record down to 0-5.
Everything came up roses for Harrisburg against Carlisle in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 60-7 victory. In that matchup, Harrisburg amassed a halftime lead of 47-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
