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Encore Crown for Ephrata
- 07 October 2005
The writing had long since been on the wall.After all, it was no secret back in August that Ephrata was returning the bulk of its Section Two championship team from last year.
And when the Mountaineers went out and started winning by football scores over the next few weeks, speculation quickly grew that Ephrata was on the verge of a second straight section crown.
Thursday night in Manheim, the Mounts made it official.
Using its wealth of speed, pinpoint passing and a few defensive mistakes from Manheim Central, Ephrata got a pair of goals in the game's first 8:08 and eventually rolled to a 5-0 victory over the Barons at Elden Rettew Field.
Derek Sipe, who scored two of Ephrata's goals in a five-minute span
during the first half, controls the ball as Kyle Kiralfy defends for Manheim Central.
© Deb Grove / Intelligencer Journal
The result was the Mounts' second Section Two title in as many years. Perhaps even more impressive was that Thursday's victory enabled Ephrata (11-0-1 Section Two, 13-0-1 overall) to keep its 26-game, regular-season unbeaten streak alive.
Since moving from Section One prior to the 2004 season, the Mounts are now 24-0-2 against Section Two opponents.
"This team is very good," Ephrata coach Chris Jahnke conceded of his players. "They're smart, they're solid and, as you saw here, they just don't stop moving."
All of which once again turned out to be bad news for Central (8-3-1, 9-5-1), which quickly realized its goal of avenging a 4-0 loss to the Mounts in Ephrata Sept. 16 was going to be an uphill climb.
In fact, using speed and stellar ball control to put the Barons on the defensive from the opening touch, it took Ephrata all of 2:21 to score what turned out to be the game-winner.
That came compliments of Mounts senior striker Paul McHenry, who after knocking down a ball at the top of the box, zig-zagged his way through four Baron defenders on the dribble, before beating Central goalie Steve Bullock (four saves) with a rolling bullet inside the right post.
Just under 6:00 later, McHenry spread the wealth by sending a 40-yard rainbow into the top of the box. It ended up on the foot of Mounts junior striker Dan Hagey, who after turning on the jets to get behind Central's last line of defense, found himself in a one-on-one footrace for the ball with Bullock.
Hagey won. And a few seconds later, with Bullock stuck way out of position, Hagey doubled the Mounts' advantage by punching a left-footed liner into a wide-open net.
Derek Sipe scored twice within a five-minute span of the first half, helping to pad the lead.
"They don't give you any time to relax," said Central coach Matt Schwartz, whose team dropped into a tie for second in the section with Cocalico. "They don't give you any time to recover.
"There was a case where one of our backs settled (the ball) with his chest and their man ran past him and took it right off his chest. There was no time to settle (it). And it's tough to play against a team like that."
Evidence of which could be found in the numbers.
By game's end, Ephrata had outshot Central 12-3 and created 10 quality scoring chances to the Barons' one.
In fact, the only real scare Central gave Ephrata goalie Josh Peifer (one save) all night came 6:26 into the first half, when the Barons' Mike Leitzel took a perfect feed from Justin Gruber on the left side of the box only to watch his blast sail over the crossbar.
Otherwise, it was a typical defensive gem for Ephrata, which notched its eighth Section Two shutout this season and its 10th of the year — some credit for which has to go to a relentless attack, which has now outscored its opponents 55-4 in 12 section games.
"Once you get that first goal, it boosts your team so much," junior defender Jeremy Yoder said. "And then you want to get a second goal ... and a third. And we work the ball well.
"It's a good time out here when we're playing."
Just usually not for the opposing team.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.