It was Senior Night at Ephrata's War Memorial Stadium Friday night. It's a night when the fans honor the senior band members, cheerleaders and football players.

 

Of course the Mountaineers wanted to notch their first victory when they hosted Solanco and it looked like they might do that as they scored first. But unfortunately for Ephrata, the Golden Mules played spoiler and came back to win, 37-17 [box score].

 

Ephrata (0-6 Section Two, 0-9 overall) scored on a 33-yard pass from Gyree Durante to Bobbie Nye with 41 seconds left in the opening quarter to give the Mounts a short-lived 7-0 lead.

 

Solanco (2-6 section, 2-7 overall), scored on the very next offensive play, when Toby Kreider ran straight up the gut for a 67-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was good on a pass from Noah McCardell to Evan Hess to put the Mules up 8-7 with 25 seconds left in the first quarter.

 

Ephrata kept the game close throughout most of the first half, but finally the Mules would score again. This time Robbie Hassel took the handoff at his 46 and outraced the Mounts defense for the score. The two-point conversion was on a run by Prosper Eguzouwa to make the halftime score 16-7.

 

Hassel would finish the game as the leading rusher with 119 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns.

 

"I really liked the way the game went," said Hassel. "Of course I like to run the ball as compared to pass. I'll take it anytime."

 

For the Mounts, Dakota Keefer notched 110 yards on 22 tries.

 

Again Ephrata kept the game close as Keagan Remp kicked a 37-yard field goal to make the score 16-10 with 6:56 left in the third.

 

That was as close as Ephrata got as Solanco scored on a four-yard run by Hassel. Then after a fumble by Ethan Sipe, the Mules took over at the Ephrata 28 and again it was Hassel on a one-yard dive to put the game away with 11:11 left in the game, making the score 30-10.

 

The Mounts scored one last time when Durante hit Joshua Gehman with an 18-yard pass, but Solanco answered right back when Roy Ingerson ran it in from the 1 to make the final score 37-17.

 

"I told the team that this was two in a row," said Mules coach Joe Pearson. "After a couple tough lossess earlier it is nice to put a couple wins together."

 

Despite their record, Pearson is very proud of his squad.

 

"After the losses to Lebanon and Conestoga Valley it could have been very easy for these guys to give up and they didn't,'' he said. "I'm very proud of the way they have stuck together and found a way to win."