Barons’ standout chats about Central’s D effort in win vs. CV

Dakota Royer had an inkling this would happen.

And it turns out that since he’s taking on a little more responsibility, Manheim Central has the top-ranked defense in the L-L League.

The Penn State recruit has spent this season taking on double-team after double-team from his OLB/DE spot in the Barons’ D scheme.

But here’s the good news for Central:

With Royer often taking on two blockers, that means plenty of gaps for guys like Lowen Johnson and Joe Gruber to run through.

End result: The Barons are yielding just 193 yards per game, tops in the league. And Central has three shutout wins this season, including two of their last three Section 2 games.

In Central’s 36-0 win over rival Conestoga Valley last Friday night, the final stat sheet said Kevin Kelley, the league’s leading rusher, had 152 yards. But 65 of those came on a dash very late in the fourth quarter with the game already in hand.

Prior to that, Royer and his D mates held Kelley in check when it mattered most.

One last note about Royer: He found another new way to score this season against CV when he returned Dan Trafford’s blocked field goal 80 yards for a TD. Just last week Royer returned a fumble for a TD, and he got Central’s season off to a flying start when he returned the first kickoff of the year back for a TD.

Royer also caught a TD pass against CV.

I caught up with Royer in the locker room after the game and we chatted about the win over CV, bottling up Kelley, and how he’s dealt with the double-teams – but how they’ve paid off for Central’s D as a whole.

You can listen to the interview by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.

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