Mounts Secure George Male Trophy

When Kris Miller took over as Ephrata’s football coach in 2016, one of his goals for the program was to close the gap against Warwick in the battle for the George Male Trophy.

Over time, the Mounts have done exactly that. And when they pulled off an emotional 29-21 win last season, Ephrata snapped a 15-game losing streak to its backyard rival.

On Friday night, the Mounts made it two in a row, snapping a scoreless tie in the fourth quarter and bringing the Male Trophy back to Ephrata with a 14-0 nonleague shutout of Warwick at Joseph Grosh Field in Lititz.

“It’s a huge win and a measuring stick for our program,” said Miller, whose Mounts improved to 2-0. “We’ve been measuring our program to Warwick since I’ve been here, and it was about how do we close that gap? And now that we’ve closed it, how do we keep getting that momentum and not get complacent?”

Running back Brayden Brown provided a lot of momentum for the Mounts on this night, rushing for a game-high 134 yards on 23 carries.

A big chunk of those came on a 13-play scoring drive, capped by Brown’s 3-yard TD run with 11:13 left in the fourth, putting Ephrata up 6-0. Through two games, the 6-foot-1, 202-pound junior has collected 339 yards on the ground.

From there, the Warriors’ (1-1) next three drives ended with turnovers, and Brown was again in the middle of things for the Mounts when he returned a pick-six 65 yards with 3:32 left in the game.

QB Sam McCracken then ran for the two-point conversion, putting the Mounts up 14-0.

Not that Warwick didn’t have its opportunities, however. Its best chance to score came late in the second quarter with a first-andgoal at the Mounts’ 1. But Ephrata’s defense made a goal-line stand and took over on downs, keeping it scoreless at the half.

In a defensive battle, the two teams combined for just 139 yards of offense and seven first downs in the opening half. Together, Ephrata and Warwick punted six times in the first quarter.

Andrew McClune rushed for a team-high 54 yards for the Warriors.