York High comes up short in season opener against Harrisburg

Bud Kyle considers his first week coaching York High a success, even if the Bearcats came up short.

Friday night at Small Field was going to present a challenge no matter how the Bearcats cut it. Harrisburg, the reigning District 3 Class 6A champion, was paying a visit. Kyle had assumed head coaching duties over the summer, and the Bearcats were working with a revamped roster, a new quarterback and a running primary running back.

But, for the better of three quarters, York High played tug of war with Harrisburg. Even as the Cougars took command and ran out to beat the Bearcats 40-19, Kyle will still take the result. There's still room to grow.

"At the end of the day we were in a one-score game, we get down two scores, we get a punt return to our 10 yard line and we fumble on the next snap," Kyle said. "We missed a lot of opportunities tonight that really could have helped us. Against a well-coached team like that, you can't allow mistakes over and over again because they capitalize."

York High didn't let Harrisburg get the jump. After the Cougars scored on their opening drive, the Bearcats defense closed out the first half by forcing two punts and two turnovers on downs. Princeton Dent scored his second touchdown of the half for Harrisburg, but the Bearcats shut them down until the break and let the offense work.

"The defense was fine all around," Kyle said. "We knew we had a pretty good defense, really fast and physical. Offensively we've got to clean up some mistakes that we did, but I think it's going to be fine. We've just got to continue to get better."

Malik Cain and John Vellon carried most of the load Friday. The duo rushed for a combined 121 yards while Vellon added three receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Austin Kehr had a hand in the Bearcats' first two touchdowns, lobbing scoring passes to Jaishan Matte and Vellon from 20 and 22 yards, respectively. Kehr ended the night with 131 passing yards. Senior Di'Mir Andino also got in on the scoring, running back a 90-yard kickoff return in the third quarter to cut into Harrisburg's lead.

It wasn't enough. Harrisburg took its time and wore down York High's defense behind Dent's rush attack and quarterback Kayden Stephens' repeated pass work with Trays Walker and Jayion Lewis. Harrisburg's own defense picked off three passes in the first half and recovered a fumble on a bad snap in the fourth quarter.

"We forced some stuff, hurrying up a lot and had some jitters early on," Kyle said. "Moving forward I think we'll be a lot better, but we still have to capitalize and do the right things, regardless of who we play. Turnovers are going to hurt you."

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York High comes up short in season opener against Harrisburg