Penn Manor's Todd Mealy had to sweat on the sidelines a bit to earn his first career win as a head coach, but it was well worth it once the final horn sounded.
With the former McCaskey assistant coach in charge, the efforts of junior running back Carl Christmas, sophomore quarterback Patrick Rehm and a hard-hitting defense allowed the Comets to come from behind in the fourth quarter Friday night to upend Cocalico, 36-21, at Eagle Stadium in Denver.
Facing a 21-15 deficit after three quarters, the momentum shifted towards Penn Manor (1-2) on the first play of the fourth.
A swarm of Comet defenders knocked down Cocalico (2-1) junior tailback Kyle Fisher, who had caught a pitch while moving right, to pop the ball loose.
Junior defensive lineman/tight end Cody Booth picked the bouncing ball off the turf and ran 43 yards down the sideline for a touchdown that put Penn Manor ahead by one after the extra point was made.
"In the previous two games, it was the other way around," said Mealy, regarding his team's ability to force two turnovers and not commit any Friday. "I think the kids played well for all four quarters, especially in the second half."
On the fourth play of the Eagles' next drive, senior quarterback Trevor Kling fumbled the ball away on a rushing attempt for his team's second turnover, giving the Comets possession at their own 27-yard line with 9:56 remaining in the contest.
Deciding to chew up the clock, Penn Manor called eight straight rushing plays as Christmas finished off the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run around the right side, increasing the lead to eight with 5:25 to go.
For the game, Christmas piled up 213 yards on 33 carries and scored twice on the ground, running for over 100 yards in each half.
The Comets sealed the victory, after Cocalico had subsequently turned the ball over on downs, with a five-play, 41-yard drive, which ended on a fourth-and-10 play-action pass from Rehm to Booth for a 25-yard score in the back of the end zone.
"The first two games out, we just struggled to get in the flow offensively because we were turning it over so much," Mealy said, with the game ball his kids gave him afterwards in his hand. "Our goal going into this week was ball control, was to dominate and control the ball, and we did that and we won."
Rehm was efficient in executing the offensive game plan, going 6-for-12 for 77 yards, with two touchdown tosses and an interception, and adding 68 yards rushing on 12 attempts.
In addition to his huge fumble recovery, Booth had three receptions for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
For Cocalico, Fisher was dynamic in the Veer option offense as he amassed 165 yards on the ground on only 10 carries and accounted for all three of his team's touchdowns, on scampers of 48, 47 and 61 yards.
E-mail: ksmiley@lnpnews.com