Solanco grinds out win over Mounts
- 29 October 2006
Solanco head football coach Joe Pearson and his staff challenged the Golden Mules' offensive line during practice this week."We knew Monday that the weather would be bad tonight," said Pearson Friday night. "We needed to be able hold the line up front and run."
And run they did, piling up 247 yards on the ground in their 20-12 win (click here for boxscore ) over Ephrata Friday in Quarryville.
With driving rain falling, Ephrata (1-5 L-L, 1-8 overall) and Solanco (2-4, 3-6) combined to run the ball 89 times.
After a three-and-out by Solanco to start the game, Ephrata went to work on their 33. Quarterback Blake Crowther hooked up with junior running back Joel Yoder for a 15-yard strike to open the possesion. Crowther had runs of 14 and 11 yards on the next two plays and Yoder picked up two yards to reach the Solanco 25. Looking to keep running right at the Mules, Crowther turned to hand it off to Sam Weist but the ball popped out and was recovered by Solanco.
On the ensuing drive, senior quarterback Dustin Musselman led the Solanco offense right back down the field. After senior Nic Lewis open with a seven-yard run, Musselman scrambled for 20 yards on two carries to move the ball into Mountaineer territory. From there, Solanco ran the ball down to the Ephrata 10, including a 24-yard run by senior running back Joe Wise.
On third-and-six from the Ephrata 10, Musselman dropped back and found Lewis in the back of the end zone for a touchdown and the 7-0 lead. Musselman went 5-for-6 passing for 70 yards and a touchdown in the game.
On its next possession, Solanco used five different ball carriers. Junior running back Patrick Nieto closed out the 11-play, 80-yard drive with an 11-yard run around the right end, to give Solanco a 14-0 lead.
Needing to respond and looking at third-and-16, Crowther scrambled for seven yards, well short of the first down. But a Solanco late hit penalty kept the drive alive. Four plays later, junior Joel Yoder ran 18 yards around the right end for a touchdown, cutting the Mules' lead to 14-6.
Solanco made it a 14-point game on an 11-play, 74-yard drive to open the scoring in the second half. Following the plan that worked in the first half, four different players had carries for the Mules, with Wise's eight-yard run capping the drive as time expired in the third quarter.
For the game, Wise had 11 carries for 84 yards and touchdown.
Ephrata answered quickly as Crowther hit wide receiver Curtis Kolp for 24 yards on a slant route to reach the Solanco 41. Crowther ran twice from there, including a 19-yard touchdown run, moving the Mounts to within eight. Crowther totaled most of the Mounts' offense, rushing 29 times for 151 yards.
"He's a great athlete," Pearson said of the Mounts' junior QB.
Ephrata had one last opportunity after a Solanco fumble gave the Mounts the ball with 1:50 on the clock, but the Solanco defense sacked Crowther to end the threat.
Both teams wrap up their seasons on the road next week. Ephrata travels to Garden Spot and Solanco will visit Lebanon.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.