The late Lex Cyrus TD lifts Susquehanna Township past Middletown in the Colonial Division

HARRISBURG— University of South Carolina commit Lex Cyrus slipped and fell to the wet turf for a 2-yard loss after catching a screen pass from quarterback Torin Evans in the fourth quarter of the Mid-Penn Conference Colonial Division game Friday night , where it stood at 14 points.

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“I think he’s got Fred Flintstone’s feet on him. He tried to run too fast and slipped,” Susquehanna Township head coach Joe Headen said. “So I knew that if we got the ball back and had a chance to play it again, we would.”

In fact, Susquehanna Township got the ball back in the final minutes of regulation and Evans took it to Cyrus in the lowfield on a first-down play near midfield as time expired.

This time, Cyrus stormed down the sideline and into the end zone for a 52-yard game-winning touchdown with 44 ticks remaining in the game and Hanna defeated Middletown 21-14 on a windy, foggy Roscoe Warner Field on Homecoming Night.

Susquehanna Township improved to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Colonial Division. They will travel to East Pennsboro next week.

Middletown is now 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the division. The Blue Raiders travel to Line Mountain next week.

THE STARS

Cyrus caught 7 passes for 100 yards, scoring the game-winning score. Evans completed 14 of 25 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown. At running back, he hit the rock 14 times for 100 yards. Jarret Kern played a crucial role in the fourth quarter, catching four passes for 51 yards.

Middletown running back Luis Roman ran 18 times for 81 yards and a touchdown. Receiver Genesisia Ross threw an option pass to Nickayus Zenon for 79 yards and a score to lead the passing attack.

GAME DECISIVE MOMENTS

Middletown took a 14-7 lead by capping a 17-play, 80-yard drive with 8:53 remaining with a 22-yard TD by Roman with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

Hanna responded, marching 30 yards in six plays, sparked by a 21-yard catch and run by Cyrus. Jayden Riley ran the final two yards to make the score 14-1 with 10:25 left.

Unable to get a critical first down that likely would have expired time and sent the game into overtime, Middletown hit the ball to Hanna at its own 34 with 2:14 left in regulation Playtime.

Evans hit Kerns for a third down and eight for a new set of downs at the Hanna 48 and found Cyrus for the game-winner on the ensuing play.

YOU SAID IT

“We streaked the whole game. We tried and faced a lot of adversity. Finally, at the biggest moment when we needed it, we did it. I feel like we let it go to our heads. It wasn’t a problem in the second half. It took a minute, but we did it,” – Lex Cyrus, Susquehanna Township senior.

“Definitely a tough win but sometimes you have to win ugly and we had to prove to ourselves that we could do it. Today we proved that we can come back, score and win the football game.” – Torin Evans of Susquehanna Township.

“I watched (Middletown) play last Friday and saw a lot of determination from them. I told these guys all week that it wasn’t going to be easy. Tonight showed us a lot about this team. They could have let things slip, but they stuck with it. There were leaders out there and no one ever backed down.”– Susquehanna Township head coach Joe Headen.

Middle town 07 00 07 00 – 14

Susquehanna Parish 07 00 00 14 – 21

FIRST QUARTER

M: Nickayus Zenon 79 pass from Genesisia Ross (Landon Keyser kick) 2:52

S: Xavier Rivera 4 run (Eren Ramsay kick) 0:35

SECOND QUARTER

No rating

THIRD QUARTER

M: Luis Roman 22 run (Keyser kick) 0:50

FOURTH QUARTER

S: Jayden Riley 2 run (Ramsay kick) 10:25

S: Lex Cyrus 52 pass from Torin Evans (Ramsay kick) 0:44

TEAM STATISTICS

Middletown Susquehanna Twp

First downs 11:16

Overtaking yards 114,235

CAI 8-14-2 14-25-0

Rushes/Yards 35/134 25/124

Punts/Average 6/31 3/26

Fumbled/lost 2/0 1/1

Penalties/Yards 9/85 7/52

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

HEALING – Middletown: Gavin Paul 12-66, Ross 1-6, Roman 18-81, Harrison Ortiz 1-0, Team 1-(-19); Susquehanna Township: Evans 4-15, Rakhi Seville 14-100, Rivera 5-11, Cyrus 1-5, Team 1-(-10).

HAPPEN — Middletown: Ortiz 7-12-2, 53, Ross 1-2-0, 79; Susquehanna Parish: Evans 14-25-0 240.

RECEPTION – Middletown: Caine Kalonick 1-1, Ross 2-9, Zenon 2-87, Adiel Johnson 1-2, Roman 1-15; Susquehanna Township: Cyrus 7-100, Zi’kere Leaks 1-6, Rivera 1-55, Jarret Kern 4-51, James Colston 1-23.

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