Catholic cruises by Mounts
- 12 September 2009
A chill rain? Wet field conditions? A directive by Lancaster Catholic head coach Bruce Harbach to control the line of scrimmage?Crusaders lineman Ross Hall felt like he hit the trifecta Friday night at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.
"Love it, love it," Hall said after playing an instrumental role in Catholic's 35-7 [boxscore] non-league win over the Mountaineers.
"Coach told us before the game, 'Go out and establish the run.' He left it up to the five guys up front. We took that to heart."
Indeed. Messers. Hall, Jamie Pashuck, Andrew Heise, Andrew Foltz and Michael Meck fronted an offense that churned out 306 yards and invoked the mercy rule on its first series of the second half.
Crusaders quarterback Kyle Smith threw for 163 yards and four touchdowns, including two to wide receiver Tyler Purvis.
All this despite the standout performances and aggressive play of Ephrata linebackers Brody Myers and Andrew Burkholder.
"Our line picked up the blitzes and our receivers came to play," said Smith, who spread the ball around and connected with five different targets.
"Our offensive line played pretty solid," said Purvis, who posted game-high numbers with six catches for 84 yards. "With the weather the way it is, we came out trying to establish the run."
Running back Quinn Houser obliged, hammering for 97 yards on 20 carries. He set the tone early when he flowed right on a counter trey and went in from 10 yards out to give Catholic (2-0) its first score.
Following the lead of blocking back Hans Kessler, Houser spent the rest of the game bucking helmets with a physical Ephrata defense.
"It's fun blocking for a back like Quinn," Hall said. "He runs hard."
Smith agreed. "Quinn stepped up big. A lot of his yards came after contact."
Once Quinn established the ground game, Smith and Co. took over the airwaves. The senior QB, who began the night with 62 career TD passes, made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter with a one-yard toss to Purvis.
He capped Catholic's next series -- an 11-play, 70-yard march -- with a 16-yard strike to Purvis.
The Crusaders upped their advantage 15 seconds before the half with a 31-yard pass from Smith to Seth Graham.
Smith's fourth TD of the game and seventh this season -- he threw for three scores in a 42-0 blowout of Trinity last week -- came on a 13-yard reverse screen pass to tight end Andrew Millay.
Smith's two-point pass to Purvis allowed Catholic to invoke the mercy rule for the second straight week.
Ephrata (0-2), which dropped a 14-0 decision to Manheim Township in its opener, scored its first points this season with 9:44 left when workhorse back George Murray (12-38) plowed to pay dirt from the 2.
"Give Ephrata a lot of credit," Smith said. "They played hard the whole game."
Smith should know. He took several hard hits and was knocked to the slick turf on a number of occasions.
"They were bringing everybody," Harbach said of the Mounts' defense. "And they were throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink."
Catholic's defense made its presence felt as well. It forced three first-half turnovers -- picks by Raymond Snyder and Heise and a fumble recovery by Houser. Two of those were converted into scores.
"We've been taking it one game at a time," Smith said. "Now, we can focus on Central."
That would be Manheim Central, which the Crusaders host Friday night.
"Big game," Hall said. "And it's finally here."
The big, 260-pound tackle smiled. No doubt relishing the thought of Catholic laying it on the line again.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.