Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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  • Mounts Claim George Male Trophy!

    Mounts Claim George Male Trophy!

    Jeremiah Knowles led all Mounts with 6 receptions. Read More
  • Expectations at Ephrata

    Expectations at Ephrata

    Taylor Haupt comes up with the dig. Read More
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Upcoming Varsity Events

  • 18 Mar 2024
    Track & Field at Penn Manor 04:00 PM to 06:30 PM
  • 18 Mar 2024
    Girls Lacrosse at Schuylkill Valley 07:15 PM to 09:15 PM
  • 19 Mar 2024
    Boys Tennis at JP McCaskey 04:00 PM to 06:30 PM
  • 20 Mar 2024
    Boys Tennis vs Lebanon 04:00 PM to 06:30 PM
  • 20 Mar 2024
    Boys Volleyball at Schuylkill Valley 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM
  • 20 Mar 2024
    Boys Lacrosse at Muhlenberg 07:15 PM to 09:15 PM
  • 18 Mar - 20 Mar
  • 22 Mar - 22 Mar
  • 25 Mar - 26 Mar
  • 26 Mar - 28 Mar
  • 28 Mar - 28 Mar

Diante Cherry caught a touchdown pass and rushed for another to help lead McCaskey past Ephrata, 22-15 [box score], at War Memorial Field Friday.

The win helped the Red Tornado finish the season on a positive note, winning three of their final four games after a 0-6 start.
 


For any McCaskey or Ephrata football fans who didn't get to a game this fall until Friday night, the two teams did you a favor.

In one game, they basically summed up their respective seasons.

Showing constant resilience to overcome a slew of penalties, McCaskey got the game-sealing touchdown on Aaron Swinton's 90-yard kickoff return with 4:47 left to play and outlasted Ephrata, 35-21 [boxscore], in their L-L Section One finale Friday night in Lancaster.


ImagePool play times are now available at www.dodgeballfordiabetes.com! There are mandatory meeting times for all circuits on the schedule. Senior circuit captains do note that you already had your captain's meeting. All matches will be played at the Ephrata Senior High School.

Click here to download the schedule

Once again all teams playing in the pools on Friday night and Saturday, will be seeded and advance to the single elimination tournament.

ImagePool play times are now available at www.dodgeballfordiabetes.com! There are mandatory meeting times for all circuits on the schedule. Senior circuit captains do note that you already had your captain's meeting. All matches will be played at the Ephrata Senior High School.

Click here to download the schedule

Once again all teams playing in the pools on Friday night and Saturday, will be seeded and advance to the single elimination tournament.

Getting a second victory in the final game of the regular season may not seem like much, but for the Ephrata High School football team, the win means plenty.

No, the Mounts won't be playing in the district playoffs next week. But next season, who knows?

Ephrata's players and coaches walked off Conestoga Valley's football field Friday night with a feeling that will last the seniors a lifetime and will carry the underclassmen to next season with a shot of confidence.

The Mounts got four touchdowns and 185 yards on 34 carries from George Murray en route to a 34-24 [boxscore] win over the Buckskins, who despite the loss are headed to the District Three Class AAA playoffs for the first time since 2006, when they played in Class AAAA.


Jared Danneker claimed he had nothing left. After battling Ephrata for four quarters, Elizabethtown's running back said he was flat-out of gas.

He can do a lot on fumes.

The senior scored touchdowns on a pair of grinding runs to the goal line in overtime periods, and blocked an extra point that sealed a thrilling home win for the Bears.

E-town (3-3 L-L, 4-5 overall) outlasted the Mounts, 35-34 [boxscore], in three overtimes, after Danneker broke through Ephrata's offensive line and blocked Chris Fassnacht's kick that would have tied it.


ImagePool play times are now available at www.dodgeballfordiabetes.com! There are mandatory meeting times for all circuits on the schedule. Senior circuit captains do note that you already had your captain's meeting. All matches will be played at the Ephrata Senior High School.

Click here to download the schedule

Once again all teams playing in the pools on Friday night and Saturday, will be seeded and advance to the single elimination tournament.

Pride.

It is one of the seven deadly sins, but when you're a winless football team, playing the last game of the season, sometimes pride is all you have left.

Sometimes, in the case of CV, there's a little more on the line.

Playing the last game of Gerard Novak's coaching career -- for now -- the Buckskins put together just enough offense and just enough defense to hold off Ephrata, 26-21 [boxscore], Friday night at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.


ImageOn November 4, five Ephrata boys soccer players were honored at the Willow Valley Resort being named as league all stars. the senior boys on this team have own four Section Two championships in a row and have lost only one Section Two game during their time at Ephrata.

First Team Section Two honors went to seniors Tom Renko and Kyle Nelms, and junior Tyler Phillips. Second Team Section Two honrs went to senior Ian Bippus.
Academic All Star honors went to senior Brennan Harding.

Renko was named Section Two MVP and this was the third time he was selected for the All-Star team.

ImagePool play times are now available at www.dodgeballfordiabetes.com! There are mandatory meeting times for all circuits on the schedule. All matches will be played at the Ephrata Senior High School.

Click here to download the schedule

Once again all teams playing in the pools on Friday night and Saturday, will be seeded and advance to the single elimination tournament.

ImageKen Grove and Blake Crowther finished their storied careers at Ephrata High School in style Friday night, winning their final game over Garden Spot, 28-7 (boxscore), at War Memorial Field.

Grove, who has served as head coach for the Mounts (2-5 league, 2-8 overall) for 18 years, retired from this role to focus on his administrative duties at the school.

ImageChampionships defended, over $14,000 raised!

The 3rd annual Dodgeball Tournament has concluded after another high energy filled weekend. Although the Dodgers weren't able to defend their title on the court, they were able to defend their title as the top money fundraiser in the Senior High School. The Dodgers raised more money then all the other High School teams combined.

Not to be outdone, Candy, Inc. raised almost $4,000 in the Middle School. Seven out of the 15 teams competing in the Middle School raised more then the minimum amount of money, which is fantastic. Candy, Inc. and the Dodgers will take home the DVD together for the last time as Candy, Inc. moves to the Senior Circuit next year. Both teams showed success on the court as well as they bothed reached the finals before dropping 2 to 1 decisions.

The Tigers were impressive in the Rookie Circuit as they cruised through the tournament as the only team to never taste defeat all weekend. Look for the Tigers to make an immediate impact in the Junior Circuit next year.

As for the adults, there has only been one champion and that's Demolition Dodgeball, who successfully defended their title this weekend, finishing first in the pool play and turning back the up-start All-Star team in the finals. 

You can view the final results here.

Click
here or on the link at the left to go to the Dodgeball home page.

Thanks to everyone that contributed this weekend, your help was greatly appreciated! 


ImageAlthough being outshot 21-16, the Mounts Ice Hockey team opened their season with a convincing 11-4 (boxscore ) victory over Penn Manor.  Scoring started early with Tim Wanner slipping one of his four goals in six seconds into the game.  Wasting no time, Shane Allen added another goal with a blistering shot from the blue line that the goalie never saw just 52 seconds later.
 
At one point in the first period Mounts were 6-6 shooting and held the lead at 6-2.  The Comets did make a game of it, pulling the score to 6-4 in the second period, but the Mounts onslaught was too much.  Shane Allen set the tone with a crushing hit on Olivia Pryzbylkowski early in the third period and the Mounts didn't look back.
 
Also adding goals for the Mounts were Brandon Pike (3), Robbie Barclay, Keith Sauder, and Sam Wiest.

ImageEphrata junior quarterback Blake Crowther wanted to make sure his senior teammates would not end their high school careers with a loss.

After running and throwing for a touchdown pass earlier in the second half, Crowther made a game-clinching interception in the end zone Friday night to lead Ephrata to a 14-10 victory (boxscore ) over Garden Spot and spoil the Spartans' bid for a district playoff spot.

Crowther preserved the victory by snatching Spartan quarterback Tyler Horst's fade pass into the corner of the end zone with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

"Before the play, I was thinking, 'c'mon, throw it my way," said Crowther.

ImagePool play times are now available! There are mandatory meeting times for all circuits on the schedule. All matches will be played at the Ephrata Senior High School. Click here to view the schedule. Once again all teams playing in the pools on Friday night and Saturday will be seeded and advance to the single elimination tournament.

Three teams set to defend titles

For the first time ever in the history of the Ephrata Dodgeball Tournament, three teams will be coming back to defend their title.

Three of the four winners last year are back to defend their titles.  There will be a new king crowned this year in the Elementary division as last year's champion the Money Makers have moved on to the Junior Circuit. Captain Ryan Lefever returns along with Kyle Phillips, but the rest of the cast has changed as well as their name. They will be competing in the Junior Circuit as "The Justice League".

The competition in the Junior Circuit will be tough as 15 teams will once again battle it out. Defending their title will be the Power Rangers, who graduated 2 players to the high school but the core group is back led by 8th grade captain Mark Lowrie. With the Wombats moving onto the Senior circuit, the Power Rangers stiffest competition may come from last year's semifinalists Candy, Inc. led by Captain Dusten Rutt. Last year's other semifinalists, a core of 6th graders, the Old School Ballers, were unable to compete this year due to the Midget Football B team's success.

The Dodgers are back once again in the Senior Circuit, but to defend their crown they'll have to survive the deepest bracket ever with 14 teams competing. They'll face stiff competition from the Playground Legends a Junior Circuit Champion and Senior Circuit finalist last year.

The adult league returns on Sunday the 12th with last year's champion and runner-up Demoliton Dodgeball and House of Pizza prepared to do battle again. Talks of the first ever "Last Man Standing" competition have swirled around and it looks like it may be a possibility this year, and based on favorable results something that could carry over into the senior circuit next year.

There has yet to be a two time champion in the history of the tournament. Will this be the year that someone walks away with their second "Champion" t-shirt?

Stop by November 10th, 11th and 12th to find out!

ImageEphrata dropped a 2-0 decision to Wilson in the first contest, while Manheim Township defeated Mechanicsburg, 2-0, in the nightcap.

Ephrata (18-4-2) will take on Mechanicsburg (19-4-2) in the consolation game, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at Landis Field (directions ) behind Central Dauphin Middle School.

Manheim Township (24-0) will defend its District Three crown against Wilson in the championship game on Saturday, 8 p.m., at Hersheypark Stadium.

After a scoreless first half in the opener, Wilson senior Danny Guthrie netted a shot just 2:31 into the second, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Wilson iced the game when John Brehm found Cory Pfeifer, who booted the ball by Ephrata goalie Josh Peifer at the 78:00 mark.

Playing close games is not new to Ephrata. The Mounts reached the semis after beating Cumberland Valley, 3-2 in overtime, and Twin Valley, 2-1, in the first round.

"The last couple of games have been exciting right to the end. I thought that we might have had the better of play tonight, but winning the other games might have come back to haunt us," Ephrata head coach Rob Deininger said afterwards.

The Mounts outshot Wilson, 14-12, and had more corners, 4-2, but couldn't seem to get off a clean shot.

"They played us hard," Deininger said. "We made mistakes and they capitalized and they seemed to get in front of our shots."

The task now for Ephrata is to rebound from the loss. The Mounts can still earn a trip to the PIAA playoffs with a win over Mechanicsburg.

"We've been down this road before," Deininger said, referring to his program's 3-8 record in the district semifinals. "We'll tell them it's a reward to be here, there are only a couple of teams left and we're one of them."

ImageHeading into the District three Cross Country Championships held Monday afternoon at the Parkview Golf Course in Hershey, Ephrata's Alicia Harbold was the local favorite to advance to the State Cross Country Meet.

Afterall, Harbold has made the trip to States the last two years and as a senior has been one of the Lady Mounts' top performers.

Well, despite running an excellent time of 20:54.92, the EHS senior fell victim to a numbers game.

Although she finished 49th overall, she missed the State cutoff by just 11 places. The top five teams and 30 individuals qualified to move on, but just eight runners from the top five teams were included among the top 30 individuals, which is a low number. That left only eight extra runners or 38 total, which will advance.

Despite the disappointment, Ephrata Coach Steve Sweigart was pleased with Harbold's performance.

"Alicia Harbold was the closest on either of our teams to qualify," Sweigart said. "She had a real good effort, but she just came up 11 places short."

While Harbold's performance was Ephrata's personal best, the Lady Mounts as a team turned in a solid 12th place showing, finishing with 387 points. Four of Ephrata's top five placed in the top 100. In addition to Harbold, Jaime Singer was next in 69th place with a time of 21:13.86, followed by Dana Haas (70th, 21:15.34) and Brynn Lyons (98th, 21:44.31). Samantha Fink (143rd, 22:19.32) and Kate Anderson (194th, 23:01.64) rounded out the team scoring for Ephrata.

In the L-L League the Mounts finished behind Manheim Township (1st) and Hempfield (6th), while out-running Cedar Crest (16th), Solanco (17th) and Warwick (18th).

On the boys' side, Brad Sweigart was the lone Ephrata runner to place in the top 100 as the Mounts finished 24th overall out of 51 teams. He placed 66th overall with a time of 17:54.24. Other EHS runners in the top five included: Cordell Oberholtzer (123rd, 18:27.76); Givi Palagashvili (146th, 18:38.55); Mickey Molchaney 181st, 18:52.88); Andrew Redcay (197th, 19:00.27) and Ryan Trella (249th, 19:32.37).

Freshmen Mickey Molchaney was the 13th freshmen to cross the finish line.
ImageEphrata senior swimmer Justin Brown, who was a District Three silver medalist for the Mounts a year ago, has announced he is accepting a partial swimming scholarship to Towson University. The freestyle sprinter drew interest from the likes of LaSalle, Drexel, Shippensburg and Lehigh. But in the end, Brown chose Towson for what the program has to offer.

“I just liked their overall team aspect,” Brown said last Tuesday. “I liked the atmosphere there and I feel I can really fit in with their program. I think their program will really takeoff the next few years and it’s really going to be great to be a part of it.”

Brown has been a key contributor to the Ephrata boys varsity since coming out for the team during his sophomore season. He said he really never thought about swimming at the next level until his fine post-season run a year ago when he finished second in the District in the 50 free and then went on to compete in his first State meet.

“I think I realized I could swim (in college) after what I did last spring,” Brown said. “After what I did at Districts and then qualifying for States, that’s when people started contacting me.”

Brown, who will continue swimming in the sprint races at Towson, will major in Business Administration.

Towson University is located just north of Baltimore, Maryland. The Tigers compete in the Colonial Athletic Association.
ImageComing from a rival school, Ephrata’s new head wrestling coach has quite an interesting perspective on the Mountaineer program.

“When I was in high school Ephrata had a certain mystique about them that many people feared wrestling them,’’ said 1998 Manheim Central grad Josh Clair, recently named as the successor to Kerry Hyman, who resigned in August. “It’s not that the mystique is gone, but the style has changed. I want to get the guys back to their roots of being a team that is hard-working, hard-nosed, blue-collar type wrestlers. I want to bring back that “old school” mystique.

Clair, 26, was actually hired by Ephrata back in August as a high school health and physical education teacher. Following graduation in December of 2002 from Lock Haven University, he returned to Central to coach under Justin Barbush. Last year, he was the coach of a JV team that went 11-0 and was part of the staff that won back-to-back Section Two titles. He was also the team’s strength coach for two years.

From his days as a Baron wrestler under who he considers “legendary” coaches George Way and Walt Price, to the present; he has had a chance to take a good look at the Ephrata program.

“I wanted to get involved coaching wrestling here,” Clair said last week. “I know of the great tradition of Ephrata wrestling and I wanted to be part of it. When Kerry Hyman stepped down I decided that I wanted to put my name in for the position because I see a lot of potential in these wrestlers and I don’t want it to go to waste.”
ImageThe Ephrata Mounts Ice Hockey Team dropped their first game as the Elizabethtown Bears skated to a 6-3 victory Monday Night (boxscore).

Ephrata got things going first as Shane Allen scored on a feed from Jeremy Martin, after Zach Lokey scored for E-town, Allen scored his 2nd goal assisted by Brandon Pike. But Lokey would add two more goals for E-town as would Zach Zellman as the Bears built a 4-2 lead.

With 1:57 left in the 2nd period Allen scored his third goal to cut the lead to 4-3, but unfortunately for the Mounts that would be their last goal of the game.

In the third period E-town slid two more past Devin Williams (27 shots, 21 saves), as the Bears wrapped up the scoring.
ImageEphrata senior Kyle Sensenig came up with a game-saving interception and caught the game-winning touchdown pass as the Mounts edged Warwick, 24-21, in a non-league rivalry game Friday night in Lititz.

Ephrata retained the George Male Trophy for the third straight year thanks to a 5-yard TD pass from quarterback Blake Crowther to Sensenig with 1:01 remaining.

Ephrata won its final three games to finish the season 5-6 overall and 3-4 in Section Two, while Warwick fell to 2-9 for the year and 1-6 in Section One.

Crowther finished 16-for-20 for 197 yards passing and two touchdowns. He also had 78 yards rushing, while running back Mike Burkholder ran for 64 yards and a touchdown. Burkholder also had 68 yards receiving. Click here for the complete boxscore.

The top performer for Warwick was running back Tyler Steffy, who ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

The Warriors also received a spark from Trevor Sell, who ran for 54 yards and a touchdown on just three carries.

Sell's fourth-quarter touchdown gave Warwick a 21-17 lead with under six minutes remaining and an Ephrata fumble forced by Warwick's Jason Griffith and recovered by Jason Mosimann gave Warwick the ball at the Ephrata 24-yard line with the lead.

But Sensenig picked off Warwick quarterback Chris Uibel's pass deep in Ephrata territory and returned the interception to the 50-yard line, which began the game-winning drive.

Crowther and Sensenig also connected on a key 13-yard pass on fourth down to keep the final drive alive.

The teams entered halftime deadlocked at 14-14, after a first half that featured a 14-yard touchdown pass from Crowther to Eric Petters and a 23-yard TD run by Burkholder for Ephrata. Warwick's scores came on 1 and 2-yard runs by Steffy.

Ephrata got an important 32-yard field goal by Eric Petters early in the fourth quarter, which in the end was the decisive score.
ImageSeveral Mounts garnered individual recognition following the Mounts Section II championship season. For the second year in a row Derek Sipe received the Section II MVP award and was nominated for All-State as well as All-American.

Along with Sipe, Paul McHenry and Dan Hagey earned 1st team league All-Star status, while Tom Renko and Dan Szabo were named to the 2nd team.

This past Monday (November 7th) the Mounts had their own awards ceremony. Collecting individual accolades from the Varsity team were Dan Hagey (Outstanding Offensive Player), Dan Szabo (Outstanding Defensive Player), Dallas Stauffer (Haberman Award) and Paul McHenry and Derek Sipe shared the Co-Most Valuable Player award.

From the JV team, Kyle Nelms received the Outstanding Offensive Player Award, Ian Bippus took home the Outstanding Defensive Player Award, and Brennan Harding received the Coaches Award.

Also on Monday head coach Chris Jahnke announced his resignation. "I believe the program deserves to have someone who could give it the time it needs to remain successful", Jahnke commented on his decision. "I couldn't continue committing as much time as I was, in my position as assistant principal" Jahnke added.

Jahnke, a 1985 Brunswick High alumnus, coached 12 years at Ephrata, finishing with a 162-74-17 record.
ImageThe Ephrata Mounts Ice Hockey team blasted Annville-Cleona in their season opener. The Mounts got better each period on their way to a 11-4 victory (box score). Devin Williams recorded 13 saves between the pipes.

Ephrata won the first period 3-2, the second 4-2 and the last period 4-0.

Ephrata spread the scoring around getting 2 goals a piece from Jeremy Martin, Jeff Bohler, Brandon Pike, and Michael Cox. Sam Wiet, Shane Allen and Kyle Sauder added individual goals for the Mounts.

Allen also added 3 assists for the Mounts. Also assisting were Cody Bowen (2), Timothy Wanner (2), Christopher Lyons and Bohler.

The Mounts next play November 14th at 8:30, at the Lancaster Ice Rink.
ImageJunior Alicia Harbold finished a very respectable 138th this past weekend at the State Cross Country Meet. Harbold's time of 20:44 was 33 seconds faster then her sophomore time. As a sophomore Harbold finished in 165th place.

The meet held this past Saturday concludes the Mounts Cross Country season.
ImageThe football seemed to be in the air on every play at War Memorial Field Friday, but was actually only lofted downfield two-thirds of the time in the relentless air attack from both Conestoga Valley and Ephrata.

Ephrata (3-4 L-L, 4-6 overall) beat the Buckskins at their own game, riding the hot arm of sophomore quarterback Blake Crowther and the hands of senior wide receiver Kyle Sensenig in a 49-34 slugfest.

Crowther completed 16 of 19 passes for 231 yards and five touchdowns, while Sensenig caught 10 passes for 171 yards and three scores, helping blow open a 14-12 game. (Click here for the complete boxscore.) Sensenig expanded his school record for touchdown catches in a season to 12 with one game remaining.

"The team is rallying around Blake right now," said Ephrata head coach Ken Grove. "I tell you, though, No. 2 (Sensenig) is making some catches for us. Blake did a great job. He is a good kid who wants to play hard."
ImageSophomore QB leads Mounts to a pair of victories in his 1st 2 career starts, including last Friday's 56-28 triumph over Solanco. For his efforts, Blake has been named the New Era Player Of The Week this week.


Talk about making the best of a bad situation.

Ephrata was down in the dumps at 1-6 overall, with losses to Manheim Township (8-1), Cocalico (7-2), Manheim Central (8-1) and Elizabethtown (5-4).


Blake Crowther at the War

Ephrata QB Blake Crowther is the New Era Player of the Week.
© Andrew P. Blackburn/New Era


And to make matters worse, senior quarterback Seth Zimmerman went down with a shoulder injury — an injury that will force him to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in the coming days.

Enter sophomore Blake Crowther.

Directions!