Dutchmen drop Mounts

Annville-Cleona seized the lead on its first play from scrimmage, a 62 yard touchdown run from Cameron Hoch, and ran past Ephrata (0-3 L-L, 0-6 overall) to capture its fifth win of the season, exceeding last year’s total.

The 37-0 win [boxscore] keeps the Little Dutchmen (3-0, 5-1) perfect in Section Three and sets up a key game in the title race with Northern Lebanon in two weeks.

“I can’t say we were very consistent tonight, which we usually are,” A-C head coach Terry Lehman said. “We made plays when we had to. I got to give Ephrata credit, they have some spunk.”

Turning point: Already up 10-0, A-C’s Will Langan had a 23-yard touchdown burst to cap a quick, 3-play, 50-yard drive with 3:36 remaining in the first quarter. The Little Dutchmen defense forced Ephrata into three-and-out drives on their next two possessions before Noah Connor capped a 13-play, 50-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run to make it 23-0 before the half.

Star of the game: Connor finished with 129 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, winning the Steve Johnson Homecoming MVP Award.

Key Statistic: The Little Dutchmen picked up 418 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, offsetting a passing game (0-8 with 1 INT) that never got going. The A-C defense also held Ephrata to just 80 yards of total offense.

Hoch added 117 rushing yards on just seven carries, completing the 100-yard-hat-trick, Will Langan rushed 14 times for 119 yards.

Quotable: “We took away their passing game. We’ve actually taken the passing game away two weeks in a row,” Ephrata head coach Scott Shelley said. “We were terrible at it earlier on, the kids are learning. They’re putting forth the mental and physical effort. I never heard pads crack the way we had tonight.”