Cocalico defeats Ephrata

In the estimation of Cocalico football coach Dave Gingrich, Monday represented a step forward.

More to follow, he hopes.

The Eagles took advantage of six Ephrata fumbles to register a 28-15 [boxscore] non-league victory over the Mounts in a resumption of the schools' backyard rivalry in Denver.
 

In winning the game, rescheduled from last Friday because of inclement weather, Cocalico (1-1) rebounded from a season-opening 49-21 loss to Schuylkill Valley. The Eagles gave up 516 yards in that one, but were much better on that side of the ball this time, allowing 339 -- 74 on a meaningless drive in the game's final minutes.

But there is still plenty of room for offensive improvement, Gingrich believes. As he put it, "We did some things early. We stunk up the field the second half."

After rolling to 20 points and 190 yards in the first half, all on the ground, the Eagles managed 62 yards and eight points after the break. That didn't prove pivotal, because of all the Ephrata errors. The Mounts lost three fumbles in each half.

"You've got to take care of the football," said Mounts coach Jim Vieland, who saw his team fall to 0-2. "At every level, from Pee Wees up to the NFL, you've got to take care of the football."

Asked if it was his team's carelessness or the ball-hawking of the Eagles, Vieland said, "Both. Their kids were aggressive, and we weren't hanging onto the football real well."

Mounts quarterback Jeremy Franck fumbled on the first two plays of the game, losing the second at the Cocalico 42. That set in motion a 12-play, 58-yard drive that Nick Reitenbach capped with a one-yard run.

After an Ephrata punt, the Eagles assembled a seven-play, 93-yard march, which included a 58-yard keeper by quarterback Brock Gosling (19-93 rushing). Spencer Moser went the final five yards.

Ephrata closed the gap to 14-7 early in the second quarter, on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Franck (18-for-28, 224 yards) to Tim Murray.

But another lost fumble later in the period, this one by Andrew Burkholder as he attempted to field a punt, set the Eagles up at the Cocalico 11. Moser punched it in from the 1 three plays later. The conversion was foiled by a bad snap, but the Eagles, up 20-7, would not be seriously challenged the rest of the way.

They made it 28-7 on a three-yard run by Dalton Kern with 9:48 left in the game, and added the two-point conversion. Ephrata scored its other touchdown with 10.9 seconds left, on a three-yard pass from Franck to Burkholder, and likewise converted the two-pointer.

Final thoughts?

"We need to get better, no doubt," Vieland said. "We've got to get better every week. We've got to keep cranking, get the morale up. This is a tough game to take, because it's a rivalry game."

And as Gingrich said, "When you're playing your rival, it comes down to heart and execution. We played with heart, and we executed better (than in the opener)."

Still, he wants more.

"We're searching for an identity," he said. "We're not a very good football team yet. We're working toward that. … We're young and inexperienced. We've got to work on discipline. We don't have an Austin Hartman or a Kyle Fisher (two star running backs of the past). We've got good kids, but we've got to be very disciplined to be a good team."