The State High Football Team gave the crowd a night to remember on Friday, Sept. 19. The annual white out homecoming game brought together alumni, students, and the community to watch the Little Lions deliver a 40-0 shutout of the Chambersburg Trojans.
Alumni from the class of 1980 took the field before kickoff, and several other alums were on hand to celebrate the occasion, including State High alum and current Nittany Lion Jashaun Green.
“It feels good being back, coming back to the Alma Mater, you know, just ready to support the team,” Green said.
Genavieve Clayton, last year’s Homecoming Queen, also offered her perspective on returning to Memorial Field.
“It’s great to come back and see the people that I was involved with in school, and yeah, it’s great to see that just the State High traditions are all living on,” Clayton said.
Leading up to the game, the Little Lions coaching staff was impressed with the team’s progression so far this season, according to Quarterbacks Coach Cory Raupers.
“[The team has] progressively gotten better each game, whether it’s running the ball, quarterback, catching the ball, every game has been getting a little bit better,” Raupers said.
Quarterback Connor Kulka opened the scoring halfway through the first quarter with a one-yard touchdown run, the team’s only rushing score of the game. This gave State an early 7-0 lead.
Chambersburg’s offense struggled to find its rhythm, and a key interception by junior AJ Fry late in the quarter swung the momentum firmly towards the Little Lions.
In the second quarter, Shane Markowski kicked a 37-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0 before senior receiver Hank Lustig took over the game. Lustig had touchdowns of 48 and 31 yards that pushed the score to 24-0 by halftime. Junior Rowan Walker added an interception on the final play to keep Chambersburg scoreless.
Senior captain Luke Milito suggested that the overall student energy played a significant role in powering the Little Lions throughout the game.
“I think just the energy, the energy all day through school, that’s just something not every day has, not every gameday has, and you can feel the energy even when you walk in at like 8:40 in the morning,” Milito said.
State’s dominance carried into the second half with a 29-yard run by senior D’Antae Sheffey, which set up Lustig’s third touchdown reception of the night, making the score 31-0. Markowski later added another 37-yard field goal to close the third quarter with State ahead 34-0.
The defense continued to perform in the fourth quarter, as sophomore Micahel Yourey came up with another interception. A few plays later, Kulka connected with Fry for a long-range 68-yard touchdown that capped the scoring at 40-0.
Despite such a complete performance, both coaches and players believe the team has plenty of work ahead of them to keep progressing and improving throughout the season.
“My goal is always to be 100% perfect every play, and until we do that, I don’t think we’ve done good enough,” Milito said.
This victory marked a perfect homecoming night for the Little Lions, improving their record to 4-1. The Little Lions will take on Central Dauphin on the road on Sept. 26.
