Mules Stay Perfect at Mounts Expense

By the end of the night Friday, the Solanco rushing attack tallied 19 first downs at Ephrata.

Four of those came on third or fourth down over the last 10 minutes, which proved to be the final drive of the game to preserve the Mules’ 25-17 win in a Lancaster- Lebanon League Section Three football opener at War Memorial Field.

“That proves we’re a hard-nosed team,” Solanco senior fullback Cole Harris said. “We keep driving to get the first down whenever we can.”

With the win, Solanco (1-0 league, 4-0 overall) remained unbeaten, mainly thanks to a vaunted rushing attack that mustered 350 yards on 59 carries, spearheaded by Harris (22 carries, 117 yards, two touchdowns) and steered by quarterback Brody Mellinger (25 carries, 108 rushing yards, two TDs). Every Solanco player who touched the ball was a senior. And the entire offensive line is made up of seniors. In all, there are 24 seniors on the Mules’ roster.

“We knew from the beginning this was going to be a special season,” Solanco senior two-way starter Nick DeFrancesco said. “We’ve been playing together since we were little.”

Still, Ephrata (0-1, 2-2) had its chances. For instance, after cutting the deficit to 19-17 to open the third quarter, the Ephrata defense then made its first stop of the night. But two plays later, the Mounts fumbled the ball away. The Mules then marched to paydirt over the next seven plays, with Harris scoring on a 4-yard plow to push the lead to 25-17 with 11:35 left.

Ephrata also had those four chances to stop the Mules in the fourth quarter.

“We gave ourselves shots,” Ephrata coach Kris Miller said. “We just didn’t make the plays down the stretch that we had to.”

First half

Solanco went 75 yards on 10 plays in the game’s opening drive, capped by Mellinger’s 2-yard QB keeper to go up 6-0.

The Mountaineers cut the deficit to 6-3 near the end of the first quarter on a 30-yard field goal from Chad Jones.

Solanco answered with a 10-play, 57-yard drive, finished off by Mellinger on a 1-yard keeper to push the lead to 12-3.

Ephrata responded with a 10-play, 62-yard drive highlighted by three passes from QB Sam McCracken (10-for-14, 105 yards, one TD) and capped by a 2-yard TD run from Andre Weidman (15 carries, 47 yards) to cut the deficit to 12-10.

Solanco came back with a quick six-play, 65-yard scoring drive finished off by a Harris 11-yard bulldozing run up the middle to push the Mules’ lead to 19-10 just before halftime.

Second half

Ephrata cut the deficit to 19-17 on the opening drive of the third quarter when, facing a fourth-and-long, McCracken tossed a 37-yard bomb to Evan Boley in the end zone.

About 12 minutes later, Harris’ score put Solanco up by eight, with the Mounts blocking the ensuing extra point kick to keep it a one-score game.