Jake Johnson was soaking in the moment of getting his first home victory at Warrior Stadium. A week after an impressive win on the road at New Oxford, the Warriors welcomed the Hershey Trojans to town and delivered a decisive win for the home crowd to the tune of 28-14.
“It’s been 51 weeks since we won on this field; people are coming to us now,” the coach noted. Johnson and his staff have instilled a certain ferocity in the team in the few months he has been at the helm. The Warrior defense is tackling more soundly, and the defense has kept opponents under 15 points after averaging over 30 points per game last season. “Defense Coordinator John Packard and coach Daniel Spangler are relentless; they are great at preaching discipline and fundamentals with the men,” said Johnson. Junior Nathan Anders anchored the D-line with five-plus tackles while senior captain Donte Howard maintained the back end with four tackles from his safety position on Friday night.
Gettysburg’s Trevor Cunningham heads for the end zone in Friday night’s Warrior win.
(Gettysburg Connection Photo)
The scoring started early in the matchup; just over a minute after opening kickoff, Grant Johnson found junior Elijah Allen for a touchdown. Junior Grant Johnson totaled four touchdown passes and 190 yards, while also compiling another 100 yards on the ground.
After a quick two-point conversion, the Warriors were up 8-0. Gettysburg found paydirt again with another Johnson TD pass to junior Steven Kahler; they would carry the 14-0 lead into half.
Midway through the third quarter, Hershey took care of business with a short field and capitalized in the end zone with a Caine Stepp touchdown run. The Warriors struck back with another Johnson td pass to junior Trevor Cunningham, who took the swing pass 20 yards into the end zone to give Gettysburg a 22-7 lead.
Cunningham has had the tough burden of filling all-time rushing leader Preston Burnett’s shoes as he’s graduated and taken his talents to Lock Haven. Trevor did Preston proud on Friday with 16 carries for 77 yards, five catches for 60 yds, and two scores. Cunningham sealed the game with his second TD pass as he caught another Johnson throw for a TD with six minutes left in the game.
Gettysburg will hope to keep its record perfect when the Warriors welcome Waynesboro (0-2) next Friday for their homecoming game.
