A feisty cat fight will be fought when Cougars dukes it out withthe Central Dauphin East Panthers at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Harrisburg is looking to tack on another W to their nine-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Harrisburg will head into Saturday's match on the come-up: they were handed a three-point defeat in their last contest, but they sure didn't let that happen against Central Dauphin on Saturday. Harrisburg was the clear victor by a 27-7 margin over Central Dauphin. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football rankings (they are ranked 22nd, while the Rams are ranked 137th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Harrisburg's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Messiah Mickens, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. Mickens was even better on defense, picking up three sacks and making three total tackles. Backing up that air attack was Nehemiah Ewell, who rushed for 100 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Harrisburg's defense stepped up as well, laying out Gavin Kirkpatrick. five times. Mickens was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up three sackshimself. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 102 rushing yards dating back to last season. Another thorn in Central Dauphin's side was Rick Brown, who picked up a sack and made 14 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Harrisburg was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 216 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 208 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
Despite a strong season so far, Central Dauphin East has seen their luck take a bit of a downturn recently. They lost 41-21 to Bishop McDevitt on Friday. The Panthers were down 34-14 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Harrisburg's win bumped their record up to 7-2. As for Central Dauphin East, their loss ended a five-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 7-2.
Harrisburg was able to grind out a solid victory over Central Dauphin East when the teams last played back in October of 2023, winning 34-27. Does Harrisburg have another victory up their sleeve, or will Central Dauphin East turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
