Central's Fourth Chance at Semi-Finals on Friday

Central is hoping the fourth time is the charm.

Entering this season, the Scarlet Dragons had ventured as far as the PIAA semifinals since Dave Baker became football coach, losing in that round to Aliquippa, Beaver Falls and, last year, to Central Valley.

"That was a tough loss for us," Dragon all-state quarterback Jeff Hoenstine said. "I think that made a lot of our players hungrier and more motivated to get back there and do more."

The only thing standing in the way of Central and its first trip to the state championship game now is Belle Vernon of the WPIAL and one of the best players in Pennsylvania, Leopards' junior multi-purpose back Quinton Martin.

The teams will meet up in the Class 3A final four on Friday night at Central Cambria Stadium. Kickoff time is 7 p.m.

Central is 12-2 and is on an 11-game winning streak after a 35-7 victory at Grove City last week. Belle Vernon brings a 10-2 mark into the contest.

"Without a doubt, they're determined to give their best game," Baker said of his players. "They know what they're up against. They know how good those teams are out there. They've done it for a couple of years now, so it's not like they're struck by it and that it's a bigger deal than they can handle. It's not.

"We're going to play a football game."

The state's all-time leader for touchdown passes in a career and a season, Hoenstine enters the game completing 71.1 percent of his passes for 3,768 yards and 50 touchdowns versus five interceptions after throwing for 318 yards and four scores against Grove City. Three of his touchdown passes went to Eli Lingenfelter, who now is up to 1,610 yards and a state-record-tying 27 scores.

Lingenfelter is five catches shy of a remarkable 100 for the season.

Five other Scarlet Dragons have at least 22 receptions and seven Central players are in double-figure catches this fall. Running back Hunter Smith has 51 receptions. Shalen Yingling has hauled in seven TD throws.

The Dragons are averaging 409.4 yards per game. Hoenstine's also leading Central with 712 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground, while Kade Rhule has 501 yards and Smith 479 ­- both Rhule and Smith have six rushing touchdowns.

Though the offense has been performing at a high clip, the Dragons say it's been the defense that's been the big reason they've made it this far again.

After having graduated five of its top nine tacklers from last season, Central has put it all together on the defensive side of the ball in the postseason, holding four opponents to a combined 33 points. Grove City only managed 265 yards against the Dragons, and a paltry 55 yards rushing.

"It was kind of just said that we have to take over. Coach (and defensive coordinator Joe) Kitt does a great job preparing us, and the scout offense does as well. We've been playing with a little chip on our shoulder, so we had to step up," said Smith, who made 10 stops last game and leads Central in total tackles with 123, solo stops with 78 and tackles for loss with 18. "The whole season's been leading up to this point to see what we do."

Fittingly, that defense will be put to the test again in the state semis. Belle Vernon had a string of 40-point games ended in last week's 24-7 WPIAL championship game triumph over Avonworth. The Leopards eclipsed 50 points in four of those games.

"This is what's going to define our season," Smith said.

One of the big motivators for the Dragons now is measuring itself against Martin. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior already has 20 major Division I scholarship offers from programs like Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State and Michigan and even as far away as Florida State and Texas. He's rated among the top 30 prospects in the Class of 2024 and made the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Fabulous 22 team, which was announced last week.

"We know it's going to be very tough to stop him and very tough to score on him, too, but we're going to go out there and give it our best," Lingenfelter said. "(What stands out about him) is how big he actually is and how well he moves for his size. Just the combination of speed, agility and size is unreal."

There's debate on where Martin's best position will be in college. He does a little bit of everything for the Leopards. He leads the team in rushing with 1,169 yards, in receiving with 26 catches for 43 yards, in touchdowns with 30, in interceptions with three and even is averaging 19.0 yards per punt return.

Baker said the Dragons would probably try bracketing Martin when Belle Vernon splits him out wide and to get linemen to occupy blockers so linebackers can get to him when he's used as a runner. Baker said the Leopards sometimes will put Martin in motion to make it harder to match up.

"He's a guy you have to try to slow down as much as you can," Baker said. "He does a lot of things, but he doesn't do everything. They have guys that do other things. He's an outstanding talent and to do anything against them, we're going to have to control him."

Jake Gedekoh has rushed for 659 yards this season for the Leopards. Quarterback Braden Laux has passed for 944, completing 54.3 percent of his throws. Both those players are juniors, as are many of the Leopards' top players - this is their first time going this deep into the playoffs.

Playoff experience might be an ace up Central's sleeve again.

"The team's made a lot of great strides. I knew if we progressed, we could get back," Hoenstine said.

"This is our last chance at it. We've got to prove that we belong there," Lingenfelter said.

Lingenfelter has extra motivation to do well with the chance to set a state record for touchdown catches in a season.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on my mind," Lingenfelter said, "but the number one priority is going out there and helping us get a win."

This article is sponsored by Small Town Pizza.