Spartans Pull Away from Wildcats for 35-21 Win

AdminSeptember 2, 2016

2 minutes read

HUGHESVILLE — While the Central Mountain football team showed improvement in some areas, the collective effort was not enough for the Wildcats to pick up their initial win of the 2016 season.

The Hughesville Spartans put up 21 unanswered points, coming from behind to take a 35-21 triumph in the first-ever meeting of the two schools.

Central Mountain rode the legs of senior quarterback Justin Neff to a 21-14 lead midway through the second quarter. But Hughesville found a way to stop the Wildcat standout and no one else could pick up the offensive slack.

Neff had an incredible first half, at one point showing 143 yards rushing on four carries for three touchdowns. Neff finished the game with 159 yards on 14 carries as an aggressive Hughesville defense keyed on him for the remainder of the night. Combined with his 11 yards passing Neff accounted for 170 of CM’s 229 yards of total offense.

But that output was not enough as Hughesville used the arm of senior quarterback Landon Henry and the performance of several alternating running backs to pile 343 yards of offense and five touchdowns. The 5-10 Henry was a superb ball-handler and an accurate passer, completing 12 of 13 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns.

Neff singlehandedly tried to keep Central Mountain in the game. In the first half he had touchdown runs of 67, 8 and 63 yards. But Hughesville adjusted in the second half and the Wildcats were unable to generate any positive yardage until they trailed 35-21 with less than five minutes remaining. Junior Austyn Carson took over at quarterback at that point and moved the Wildcats to the Hughesville 16 but the drive stalled and the Spartans ran out the clock for their second win in two games.

For Central Mountain it is a 0-and-2 start to the new season. The Wildcats will carry a nine game losing streak into their home opener against Shikellamy next Friday night. The Braves evened their record at 1-1 with tonight’s 35-0 thrashing of Mt. Carmel. Shik had dropped its opener to Montoursville by a 25-20 score last week.