Torin Evans throws five touchdown passes, leads Susquehanna Township over Steel-High

The play was chippy and host Steel-High turned up its ground assault Thursday on visiting Susquehanna Township. In the end, Hanna's big play ability was just too much ground to cover.

Torin Evans twice connected for touchdowns with Lex Cyrus and Jarrett Kern, finishing with five scores on a smoky night at War Veterans' Memorial Field in Township's 41-20 Mid-Penn crossover win.

Cyrus had both of his TD receptions inside the first 12 minutes as Joe Headen's crew set the pace against the game Rollers. And despite the hosts rolling up 261 rushing yards on 43 attempts, Hanna clamped down in the second half to prevail.

The outcome snapped Steel-High's two-game win streak and Hanna (4-1) provided its bounce back performance following last week's loss to West Perry. Here's the action unfolded.

The stars

Evans was 13 of 19 for 257 yards and those five TDs, the first a 24-yard strike to Cyrus on a third-and-17 chance. Evans again found Cyrus after the Rollers pulled even via Jaishawn George's 14-yard scamper.

George hit 100 rushing yards on just 11 carries, while CD East transfer Jerome Ross Jr. added 98 yards and a fourth-quarter TD rush on 12 attempts.

Kern stung the Rollers (3-2) on a fourth-and-goal opportunity late in the second quarter. In between came an impromptu scramble by Evans, who found Josh Nengite for a 64-yard score.

Hanna's 28-7 edge was trimmed just before the break, when Ni'Shaun Ward-McMullen capped a quick four-play series. George clipped off runs of 11, 30 and 11 yards to help Steel-High get into the break down 28-14.

Kern was 4-for-47 receiving, which included a third quarter TD that spoiled Steel-High's chance of a comeback. Cyrus caught two passes for 69 yards. Rakhi Seville's 90 rushing yards paced the winning side.

Game-winning moment

Trailing 34-20, Steel-High took over at midfield with under 5 minutes to play. After picking up a first down, Hanna DT Mason Lubold came up with a big stop on third-and-14.

A Yahmir Ceasar incompletion handed possession back to Susquehanna Township, which used a 40-yard run by Seville to set up a 1-yard dive by Jayden Riley with 59 seconds to go.

They said it:

Susquehanna Twp. 14-14-6-7 – 41

Steel-High 7-7-0-6 – 20

First quarter

ST-Lex Cyrus 24 pass from Torin Evans (Erin Ramsey kick), 4:08

SH-Jaishawn George 14 run (Judah Hernandez kick), 1:43

ST-Cyrus 45 pass from Evans (Ramsey kick), 1:20

Second quarter

ST-Josh Nengite 64 pass from Evans (Ramsey kick), 10:07

ST-Jarrett Kern 12 pass from Evans (Ramsey kick), 4:59

SH-Ni'Shaun Ward-McMullen 1 run (Hernandez kick), 3:21

Third quarter

ST-Kern 27 pass from Evans (run failed), 9:11

Fourth quarter

SH-Jerome Ross Jr. 4 run (run failed), 8:56

ST-Jayden Riley 1 run (Ramsey kick), :59

Team statistics ST SH

First downs: 18 20

Rush-yards: 27-162 43-261

Passing: 257 46

Comp-Att-Int: 13-19-0 7-9-0

Fumbles-lost: 1-1 3-2

Punts-Avg.: 2-37.5 2-24

Penalties-yards: 11-108 9-93

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Susquehanna Twp., Rakhi Seville 13-90, Xavier Rivera 11-70, Torin Evans 2-1

Jayden Riley 1-1; Steel-High, Jaishawn George 11-100, Jerome Ross Jr. 12-98, Ni'Shaun Ward-McMullen 12-49, Yahmir Ceasar 2-10, Nazier Fuller 2-3, James Evans 4-1.

PASSING: Susquehanna Twp., Torin Evans 13-19-0—257; Steel-High, Yahmir Ceasar 7-9-0—46.

RECEIVING: Susquehanna Twp, Lex Cyrus 2-69, Josh Nengite 1-64, Jarrett Kern 4-47, James Colston 2-40, Darian Brown 3-29, Beau Klingler 1-8; Steel-High, James Evans 5-47, Nazier Fuller 2-(minus-1).