Local Sports

Wilson, Mifflin County shut down Central Mountain football in season-opener

MILL HALL- Mifflin County has never lost in coach Shane Breon's two-year tenure for Mifflin County against Central Mountain. Friday, the Central Mountain football team was looking to keep the Huskies from making it three in-a-row as they hosted in Mill Hall for their 2024 debut.

There were new faces in the starting line up for the Huskies, but there was a lot of new ones as well for a feisty Central Mountain team that is looking to build off a three-win season they had last year as well as get revenge for the last two previous season openers against the Huskies.

Despite a strong early effort by the Wildcats, the night belonged to the Huskies as they defeated Central Mountain, 42-6.

"I just got done telling the team that there is a couple different plays there that it just went wrong. You have a pick-6, we throw an interception and one returned to the 6-yard line," said Central Mountain coach Travis Thompson. "A couple things go poorly, we can't afford to give them short field position. We have to be able to execute properly. We fought some injuries at the beginning. At that point the game plan switches up."

"We were trying to get the run game going early and missed a couple things, a little first-game jitters. I think they got up and out a bit," said Breon. "We started seeing what they were doing, how they were reacting and we started calling plays that we were able to hit on. I was really happy with how our receivers and our quarterbacks played. We got some talented kids and I think people are going to start to realize that."

Fletcher Wilson looked strong in his quarterback debut for the Huskies, going 11 of 15 for 175 yards and four touchdowns.

Both defenses came out strong early in the first period as they failed to allow a score for most of the first quarter.

Mifflin County's defense made the first big play of the game when Cyrell Green stepped in front of a Central Mountain receiver and blazed his way downfield for a pick-6, 40-yard TD interception. Green had two interceptions on the night to pace his team.

With the Brendon Noerr kick, the Huskies led 7-0 with 3:14 left in the stanza.

The Huskies passing attack started to heat up in the second quarter as Wilson started to find his receivers for the total of 172 first-half throwing yards along with three TD pass hook ups.

The first came when Wilson hit Dupree Reed in stride for a 31-yard TD pass. With another Noerr kick, the Huskies increased its lead to 14 with 10:35 still left in the half.

"The first quarter jitters are always a thing. It was the first time in the field and the first time I started," said Wilson. "Our team really locked in after the first couple of drives. I'm really glad we were able to do what we wanted to do out there today."

Special teams came up with a key play for the Huskies on the following kick, forcing the Wildcats to fumble. Avery Aurand came up with the recovery, putting Mifflin County back on offense deep in Central Mountain territory.

Wilson hit his second TD pass of the night as he found Landon Haigh for a 22-yard hook up. With 9:42 still showing, the Huskies led 21-0.

Wilson hit Green on a 20-yard TD pass to put the Huskies ahead 28-0 with 5:29 left in the half.

The young Wildcat team came out strong in the second half. They kept the Huskies defense in check, forcing a Noerr punt. Noerr hit a blast that was stopped at the Central Mountain two.

However, an 88-yard scamper by Kole Corman set the Wildcats up for its lone touchdown.

On third-and-goal, Central Mountain fullback Dalton McDermott muscled it in from four yards out. After a blocked kick the score showed 28-6.

Back came the Huskies offense once again. Wilson tossed his last touchdown to Aurand on a short 3-yard TD. The Noerr kick put the Huskies up 35-6 at the 1:50 mark of the third.

The Huskies handed quarterback duties to Chase Hartung. Hartung did not disappoint as he found Haigh for a 70-yard hook up, increasing the Huskies lead to 42-6 on the last play of the third, sending the game into the mercy rule portion of the game.

"We knew we were going to be young but we got even younger in a hurry so it was a big eye opener for some of our guys," coach Thompson added. "We've got Bloomsburg next week and hopefully we can rebound and get at it."