Quick Start lifts Solanco over Ephrata
- 25 October 2009
Both Ephrata and Solanco were coming off victories last week when they squared off Friday night at War Memorial Field in Ephrata and both teams had something extra to shoot for.The Mounts wanted their second win in a row after dropping their first six games of the season, while the Mules are still in contention for a playoff spot.
In the end, Solanco came away with a hard fought win in what is becoming the norm, on a rain soaked field, 20-10 [boxscore].
"One of the keys was to come out quick," said Mules head coach Joe Pearson. "I think we did that."
Pearson added, "you have to give them (Ephrata) credit, they took away a lot of what we tried early."
Solanco came out strong on its first possession and marched 48 yards before left-footed kicker Aaron Haines split the uprights with a 27-yard field goal to put the Mules up 3-0 with 6:53 remaining in the first quarter.
After each team swapped offensive possessions, it was Solanco scoring again.
This time it was on a beautiful 51-yard run by John Fisher who went all the way untouched to increase the Solanco lead to 10-0 and it looked like the rout was on.
The Mounts would have none of that.
They took over at their 34 and ran six plays and it looked like the drive stalled at midfield as Ephrata lined up in punt formation.
The center snapped the ball to the up man, who handed off to Steve Hendrickson who raced up the right side for a 30-yard gain and a fresh set of downs for the Mounts.
Ephrata didn't waste the effort as they notched three points on a 22-yard field goal from Chris Fassnacht to make the score 10-3 with 7:23 left in the first half.
Solanco's B.J. Enck led all rushers with 119 yards on 13 carries. Fisher chipped in with 79 and Kutz added 88 for the Mules.
On Ephrata's side, George Murray plodded through the mud for 101 yards on 19 carries.
"I usually buy my offensive line candy bars," said Enck. "After tonight I may have to buy them dinner."
With time running out in the first half, Solanco would add three more points when the 42-yard field goal try hit the upright and bounced in for another boot for Haines.
Ephrata came out charged up in the second half and ran off a six-play, 64-yard drive that was capped off with a six-yard run by Murray to close the gap to 13-10 with 9:50 left in the third quarter.
But Solanco played ball control in the wet, muddy conditions and was able to put the game away early in the fourth quarter with a nine-yard pass from Justin Zellman to Kutz to ice the victory.
"Our kids are playing with confidence and we're starting to get healthy," said Pearson. "Our goal is still to make the playoffs and we have two games left, so it's one game at a time."
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.