Mifflinburg stuns Wildcats, 42-13

MIFFLINBURG, PA – The Mifflinburg football team picked its Homecoming game Friday night to play its best ball of the season. Unfortunately for Central Mountain, the visiting Wildcats were the opponent. The result was a 42-13 win for Mifflinburg, a victory that left both teams at 5-3 on the season.

Central Mountain Coach Shanon Manning pulled no punches afterwards, stating “We were outplayed tonight; they were the better team.” He liked that his Wildcats battled back, cutting a first half 21-0 deficit to 21-13 but that is as close as Central Mountain would get, shut out in the second half as Mifflinburg pulled away for the win.

To compound matters, Central Mountain sustained what the coach called “an extraordinary number” of injuries. These included two two-way starters in seniors Tyler Weaver and Ben Garlick. Additionally standout quarterback Brett Gerlach was slowed by nagging injuries.

In the meantime Mifflinburg took charge early, scoring on its first three possessions, featuring several offensive standouts in running backs Andrew Diehl and Carter Breed, both juniors, and sophomore quarterback Troy Dressler. Diehl and Breed both finished with over 100 yards rushing and Dressler engineered a balanced ground/passing attack. He finished with a 6-for-14 passing night good for 113 yards and one interception and also had one rushing touchdown. Breed pierced the Wildcat defense with TD dashes of 46, 57 and 64 yards. Diehl had Mifflinburg’s first two scores on runs of 29 and 5 yards.

The Mifflinburg defense was strong all night, other than two successful CM drives in period two. Ryan Pentz had both ‘Cat scores, a 6-yard run and a 44-yard catch and run from Gerlach. Pentz also picked up an interception. Micah Walizer topped the Wildcats in rushing with 45 yards, Pentz with 43.

Central Mountain will try to shake a 2-game losing streak at home next Friday night, Oct. 22, a Homecoming clash with Midd-West (0-8). The Mustangs fell to Montoursville (4-4) by a 42-6 score on Friday..

CM 0  13  0  0  = 13

M   14 14  7  7 = 42