Photos by Luke Bender

By Dom Reed

LEWISTOWN – Friday night, the Mifflin County Huskies football team  (2-1) squared off against Hershey (2-1)  in a conference showdown in hopes for Mifflin County to get back into the win column.  For the Trojans it was to run their win streak up to two games.

In the end, the Huskies would fall 27-7 in front of the home crowd.

Hershey was led by four star quarterback Cameron Sweeney who was explosive all night against the Huskies defense. In the first half Sweeney executed three explosive plays to a tune of 114 yards through the air. He would also hurt the defense with his talented running ability in the teams 27-7 blowout win over Mifflin County.

The Trojans would have likely scored more against a struggling Mifflin County team if it weren’t for the costly pre snap penalties in the game and the holding calls that put them behind the sticks.  Butterworth the Trojans wouldn’t lose focus of the task at hand in route to a dominant win over Purple and White. Sweeney didn’t put together a good completion rate in the teams win but he took what Mifflin County offered him and it was a lot as he converted on big time plays and big time completions to senior receiver Grant Later and junior receiver Devin Lutz.
Sweeney completed two of his passes connecting with Later for 76 total yards in the first half. With Sweeney’s legs he put together a successful drive where he rushed for 73 yards. Sweeney would help his own cause capping it off with a score in that same drive.

Mifflin County could get very little going in the first half as the Huskies were shut out 21-0 at halftime. The only thing that was working for Mifflin County would be the return game. Brandon Kauffman would total 47 yards in his two kick off returns.

“Yeah we have another big game next week. You know they are physical but tonight we didn’t finish on offense. We have to do that as a team,” said Mifflin County coach Shane Breon. “When asked about how will you clean things up and be ready for a really good Shippensburg team next week. “We can’t run the football effectively.And if you can’t do that in this league,you’re in trouble,because they can just leave it up against the pass and bring pressure and that’s what they did tonight.We’re going to find out who wants to play football next week and we’re going to move on and be ready for Ship next week and go down there and give everything we got and try to come out of there with a win.”

Mifflin County put together their only scoring drive in the game right out of the gates coming out of the half it would all start with the ground game. Landon Bowen would get the Huskies going with some strong carries and positive yardage. The Huskies would cap it off with a 38-yard passing touchdown from Chase Hartung to his younger brother Lucas Hartung.  The 38-yard score cut into the deficit to trim the lead down to 14. Hershey would then put their own scoring drive together the Trojans would lead the extra point would be unsuccessful after the snap was muffed. The Trojans would lead the Huskies 27-7 with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter.

Mifflin County would drive the ball down the field. Hartung would find Joel Beamer twice in the drive for 33 yards. The Huskies would suffer a negative play on a botch snap and a five yard loss. Hartung would find his brother for a 38-yard reception with 15 yards tacked onto the play that would put the ball down inside the Trojans seven Hartung would overthrow his intended receiver Dominique Sinnick and Kyson Russler. Things would get worse for the home squad asTrojans Reggie Onwe would apply the pressure and throw Hartung down for a seven-yard loss to set them back at the Hershey 14. Hartung would find his target Easton Zook in the back of the endzone but he wouldn’t be able to maintain full possession resulting in a turnover on downs.

Mifflin County would come up on the wrong end of a 27-7 loss to a really good Hershey team that now improves to 3-1 following the 20-point win over Mifflin County. The Huskies now fall to 2-2 after losing two straight. They will look to do better when they travel to take on Shippensburg next Friday.