Burlington Central handles Harvard
HARVARD - The Burlington Central Rockets shot out to a 32-7 lead on 5 rushing touchdowns in the first half against the Harvard Hornets, and then coasted to a 39-20 Big Northern East win here Friday night.
Junior Jason Berango ran for 124 yards and 3 touchdowns, and senior Trevor Davison added 124 yards and 2 scores of his own to pace the Rockets. Both backs credited the play of the offensive line for their performances.
"I couldn't have done it without the other 10 guys out there tonight," Berango said. "It all starts up front and our offensive line played great tonight."
"We knew it was going to be a really tough game for us and we would have to play more physical," Davison said. "We practiced a new formation all week to catch them off guard, and our offensive line executed it perfectly."
Berango put the Rockets on top on their first possession with a 63-yard run off left tackle, and added his second rushing touchdown of the night less than three minutes later on a 12-yard run to give the Rockets an early 13-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, it appeared as though the rout may be on when Davidson made it 19-0 on a 1-yard dive. However, the Hornets (1-3, 0-2) passed their way down the field and made it 19-7 when quarterback Peyton Schneider found Hunter Freres in the end zone from the 15-yard line.
The Rockets (2-2, 2-0) went back to work after being set up on their own 35-yard line when the Hornets' ensuing kickoff went out of bounds. Nine plays later, Davison scored his second touchdown of the night on a 4-yard run to put the Rockets in front 26-7.
On the Hornets' next possession, Jonathan Frederickson intercepted a pass and returned it 39 yards to the Harvard 1-yard line where Berango scored one play later to give Burlington Central a seemingly commanding 32-7 lead with 54 seconds left in the first half.
The Rockets appeared to have Hornets senior running back Christian Kramer bottled up for no gain on the first play from scrimmage after the ensuing kickoff, but Kramer planted his right leg firm and exploded to his left around the end and turned a loss into a 70-yard touchdown run to end the half 32-14.
On the Rockets' first possession of the second half, junior quarterback Robert Doubek led them on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive with his final pass of the drive connecting from 4 yards out to Brenden Bushy.
Harvard scored their final tally of the evening on an 18-yard pass from Schneider to Freres.
Burlington Central head coach Rich Crabel was happy with the performance by the offensive team, but he indicated that his team may have been over pursuing too much on the play that led to the 70-yard run.
"I thought we played very well offensively," Crabel said. "But I think our defense was a bit over aggressive and that led to a few plays that never should have happened. Those plays never should have happened."