Mounts' comeback falls short

Ephrata controlled two-and-a-half quarters of its home football game against L-L League Section Two rival Lebanon Friday, but it was a 13-minute period of poor play that led to the final result.

The Mountaineers (1-2 L-L, 1-5 overall) led 20-19 at the half, but surrendered 22 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters before making a late comeback in a 41-36 [boxscore ] loss to the Cedars.

Lebanon (1-2, 1-5) earned its first win of the season behind the accurate passing of freshman quarterback James Capello (10-of-11 for 161 yards) and the all-around play of junior Duran Ramos. Ramos returned a kick for a touchdown, caught two passes and ran the ball 13 times for 71 yards.

"I have no idea what happened to my team today. You have to have a heart and gut check after seeing the way they played to start the second half," Ephrata coach Ken Grove said.

"We showed them a highlight tape before the game to get them jacked up, but maybe the players think they are better than they are and the other team would roll over, but we only have one win."

Lebanon appeared to have the game in hand with less than five minutes remaining and leading by 21, but the Mounts scored two late touchdowns and recovered an onside kick with 33 seconds left to give them a chance to win.

Senior QB Blake Crowther drove his team to the Lebanon 26-yard line, but two passes in to the end zone fell incomplete.

"The kids gave a strong effort at the end of the game and recovered the two onside kicks. We had a shot there," said Grove. "This game, though, came down to tackling and blocking, and we did not do that today."

The early part of the game featured the stars on both teams, but problems on special teams for both Ephrata and Lebanon played a big part. Crowther scored on a two-yard draw for the early lead. Kicker Chris Beatty's extra point was blocked, a foreboding sign of things to come for both teams.

Lebanon scored two drives later on a 46-yard run by Ramos, who ran down the right sideline, stopped, cut back all the way across the field and scored. Lebanon kicker Jordan Clentimack also had his kick blocked.

Beatty had another extra-point blocked, and Crowther had a punt blocked, which led to a Lebanon score. The Mounts also gave up four long kickoff returns, one of which went for a touchdown.

"Kicking is a critical piece of the game and our special teams definitely were not with it in the first half," Grove said. "A lot of points came from those situations."

Capello used the bootleg play to run for 129 yards, and threw TD passes on three consecutive drives in the second half.

The Mounts played without starting fullback/linebacker Woody Miller, who was serving a one-game suspension for being ejected from last week's game.

Running back Joel Yoder came up big for the Mounts, rushing for 152 yards on 21 carries.