Spartans pad section lead with win over Mounts
- 07 October 2008
In the end, it came down to a couple of bullets.The gigantic bullet Garden Spot dodged in the first 12 minutes of the game.
And the one Tyler Brubaker uncorked in the 14th.
Brubaker's goal off a point-blank blast in the box with 26:18 left in the first half turned out to be the difference for Spot, which fought its way to a key 1-0 Section Two victory over Ephrata Monday night at War Memorial Field.
Entering Monday's game with a one-point lead over Ephrata in the section standings, the Spartans (9-4-1 L-L, 10-5-1 overall) now hold a two-point advantage over Conestoga Valley (8-4-2, 10-4-2) and Elizabethtown (8-4-2, 8-4-2) with two regular-season games remaining.
Ephrata (8-6, 8-6), meanwhile, dropped into fourth, four points behind Garden Spot -- putting a serious hurt on the Mountaineers' quest to capture their fifth straight Section Two title and their sixth section crown in the last eight years (including a pair of Section One titles).
Instead, the late-season driver's seat is suddenly being occupied by Garden Spot, which hasn't won a section title since 1993 (co-champs with E-town) and hasn't earned a Lancaster-Lebanon League playoff berth since 2003.
"We knew coming into the year we would be overlooked by everybody," said Brubaker, a senior midfielder. "We knew we didn't have a lot to live up to. But this is our year. This is our time."
Even if they did arrive a tad late, so to speak, on Monday.
Seemingly in a defensive daze from the opening touch, the Spartans nearly fell behind 2:00 into the game thanks to a badly-botched defensive clear.
Less than 5:00 later, more miscommunication in the back allowed Ephrata senior midfielder Tyler Phillips to get in a one-on-one situation with Spartans goalie David Shaffer.
Phillips eventually managed to get a chip shot on net as Shaffer slid to break up the play, only to have a Garden Spot defender clear it off the line by the right post.
"The first 10 or 15 minutes was awful," Spartans coach Kevin Davy said. "It was like we never played soccer before. We just weren't coming to the ball at all."
"We came out flat," Brubaker agreed. "We just didn't come out with the intensity level we needed to. Thankfully, we stepped it up."
Thanks in no small part to Brubaker.
After dribbling himself into an opening on the right wing just over 13:00 into the match, sophomore striker Chris Sprecher punched a rolling pass toward the center of the box that was met in stride by Brubaker, who one-timed a blast right at Ephrata goalie Brett Simmons.
Simmons initially got both hands on the ball, but not enough to keep it from ricocheting over his right shoulder and into the left side of the net.
And just like that ... momentum, Garden Spot.
"That's been our M.O. in the last three games," Ephrata coach Rob Deininger said. "In all three we came out like gangbusters and could have had a couple of goals. They were good opportunities that didn't go in. And then the other team comes down and scores and it changes the complexion of the game a bit."
In fact, aside from a 25-yard direct kick by Noah Passage that ricocheted off the crossbar with 22:00 left in the first half, and a Phillips blast that was barely knocked wide of the right post by Shaffer (four saves) with 7:40 left until the break, Ephrata's offense remained relatively quiet the rest of the way.
After creating seven scoring opportunities in the first half -- a handful of which came in the first 12 minutes -- the Mounts created only one after the break, when they got off a mere three shots to Spot's eight.
Truth is, if not for the efforts of Simmons (seven saves), the Spartans -- who put together eight scoring chances in the second half -- might have run away with it.
"They're disappointed we couldn't win our fifth (straight) section title," Deininger said of his players. "But we were competitive all year and it just didn't go our way. A bounce here, a bounce there, you know?"
Or a bullet here and there, which made all the difference Monday.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.