Montoursville Rides 4 Touchdown Night From Christian Banks To 49-0 Win Over Central Columbia

By: Davin Ridall  |  September 27, 2024

Coming off a blowout home loss to Mount Carmel in week 5, Montoursville (4-2) was looking for an opportunity in week 6 to get back on track, and a game against a struggling Central Columbia (1-5) team was just what they had hoped for. Montoursville rode a four touchdown night by junior running back Christian Banks to a 49-0 road win over Central Columbia.

Montoursville took the second play of the game to the end zone on a 58 yard touchdown run by Christian Banks, his first of four touchdowns, making the score 7-0 not even 30 seconds into the game. After a quick three and out by the Blue Jays offense, Montoursville drove right back down the field and capped it off with a two yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Hayden Harvey, increasing their lead to 14-0. Soon after, the Warriors defense would force yet another three and out, giving Montoursville the ball once again. They would drive 58 yards down the field once again, this time capped off by a 28 yard run by Banks, making the score 21-0 Montoursville with 3:15 left in the first quarter.

Two consecutive three and outs to start the game left the Blue Jays looking for a spark on offense, and a chance at great starting field position seemed to be coming their way, as Tanner Regan took a kickoff return from his own 10 yard line all the way up into Montoursville territory, however a hit by Kaden Kleinman knocked the ball free and it was recovered by Kane Moore at the 35 yard line. It didn’t take long for the Warriors offense to cash in again, as just two minutes into the second quarter, Christian Banks took a one yard handoff into the end zone for his third touchdown of the half, and after yet another three and out, the Blue Jays were scratching their heads on offense.

Montoursville took another drive into the red zone once again, but this time came up empty as a 4th and 11 pass fell incomplete giving the Blue Jays possession. Central Columbia wouldn’t do much with it, leading to another punt, however, Warriors returner Kane Moore would muff the fair catch and a recovery by Crue Chipeleski near midfield gave the Blue Jays life with just under a minute and a half to play in the second quarter. Central Columbia would put together a promising drive that led them all the way down to Montoursville’s 14 yard line, where the drive would stall as a run by Aiden Mahamadou on 4th and 1 would go nowhere, keeping the Blue Jays off the scoreboard going into halftime.

That drive at the end of the half would be Central Columbia’s best chance at scoring the entire game, as the second half would be more of the same. Half way through the third quarter, Banks would take a 9 yard run to the end zone for his fourth touchdown on the night, increasing the Warriors lead to 35-0. This margin was good enough to push the game into a mercy rule heading into the final frame.

Sophomore running back Alex Felver would cash in twice in the forth quarter, first on an 11 yard run with 8:59 left to play making the lead 42-0, and then once again on a 10 yard run with 1:48 left to play, sealing the final score at 49-0.

"He's a catalyst for us, he's our workhorse at running back, him and Hayden," head coach Joe Hanna said when asked about Banks' performance. "We wanted to be physical at the line of scrimmage and move the ball and chains that way and opens up things in the pass and play action."

Montoursville (4-2) will hope to keep this momentum as they are back at home next week as they will face a winless Central Mountain squad, whereas Central Columbia (1-5) will try to fix their struggles as they are at home once again next week against Milton who is 2-4 on the season.

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Davin Ridall