Sophomore Football: Harrisburg runs away from Mt. Carmel for first win of season

The Harrisburg High School sophomore football team earned its first win of the season in a 50-20 rout of Mt. Carmel.

Brian Owens recovered the opening kickoff on Mt. Carmel's 22-yard line which set up Harrisburg's first score from Xavier Doss from 22 yards out with 11:49 in the first quarter.

Brian Owens then intercepted a pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown at 10:17 of the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 12-0 lead.

Matt Upchurch closed out the scoring in the first quarter, finding paydirt from 18 yards out with 45 seconds to play.

Upchurch then scored on a 42-yard run with 11:35 to go in the second quarter and with 3:34 to go before half, Austin Hefner recovered a fumble and scored from 20 yards out. Doss then scored from 32 yards out on a reverse as time expired before half giving the Bulldogs a 38-12 lead.

Upchurch scored on a 39-yard run in the third quarter with 18 seconds to go and the last score came at 1:30 of the fourth quarter, as Jordan Gould scored from 34 yards for the 50-20 final.

"We got off to a fast start with a fumble recovery and interception by Brian Owens," Harrisburg coach Kyle McGowan said. "There was a point in the game where the score was 20-12 and our kids stepped up and added 18 points before the half. Our offensive line play at times was really great. The only problem was that we were inconsistent. Defensively, I thought we played well. We gave them a short field for two of their touchdowns. We definitely have to improve on our extra points. It was a great win to start the season and even though we got a win we still felt like we could have played better."