Wildcats take first Heritage Homecoming game over Milton, 29-20
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – The Central Mountain Wildcats made sure the first-ever Heritage Homecoming football crowd went home happy Friday night. The Wildcats scored early and often, then held off previously undefeated Milton for a 29-20 win.
The victory moved Central Mountain to 4-1 on the season, the best start in program history while Milton fell to 4-1 with its first loss. First-year Wildcat coach Shanon Manning acknowledged the win “was not pretty” but his ‘Cats “found a way to get through another game” with a win.
This time senior running back Ryan Pentz came up huge, rushing for a season-high 161 yards on 16 carries, scoring three of the Wildcats’ four touchdowns. Coach Manning said it was part of the game plan to get Pentz the ball more often this week, a player he called a very capable running back. By giving Pentz the ball more, Manning indicated, it would take some of the pressure off senior quarterback Brett Gerlach who had logged the most carries in the previous four CM games.
Gerlach again provided his share of the offense, completing 10 of 20 passes for 94 yards, including seven for 41 yards to Tyler Weaver, the senior split end who saw more duty coming off a shoulder injury earlier in the season. Several of those completions came on third-down second half passes to sustain Wildcat drives. Gerlach also rushed nine times for 58 yards and Weaver contributed a 22-yard field goal.
Central Mountain dominated early offensively, scoring on its first four possessions to open a 22-6 lead midway through the second period. But Milton did not back down, using a 13-yard run from talented freshman Chris Doyle to make the score 22-12 at the half.
The Wildcats would score their only second half points on a Pentz 53-yard run midway through period three, only to see Milton score and add a 2-point conversion to make it 29-20 late in period three. As it turned out, that would be it for the scoring, although Milton did mount a five and a half minute final period drive before turning the ball over on downs at the Wildcat 21 with less than two minutes remaining. Milton’s Doyle finished with 73 yards on 13 carries.
Micah Walizer had Central Mountain’s other touchdown on 3-yard run in the second period. He finished with 27 yards on four carries.
Coach Manning lauded the previously undefeated Black Panthers, stating “They’ve got athletes, a great football team.”
Next up for Central Mountain is a rare Saturday game, scheduled against Warrior Run on Saturday, Oct. 7, the game to be played at Danville at 7 p.m. as the Defenders’ new field is not ready for play. Warrior Run was 0-3 heading into its game with Hughesville on Friday night.
The Heritage Homecoming Game, staged by the Keystone Central Foundation, was well received. Football players from the old Lock Haven and Bald Eagle-Nittany High Schools served as honorary captains for the game and former majorettes from the schools performed at halftime.
CM 9 13 7 0 = 29
M 6 6 8 0 = 20
Heritage Homecoming
