Warriors retain Male Trophy

Warwick senior quarterback Grayson Kline hooked up with wide receiver Carter Forney for three first-quarter touchdowns and Nick Fucci ran for two more in the quarter, as the Warriors rolled to a 61-0 victory [boxscore] over host Ephrata on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.

For Warwick (2-1), the victory was its 12th straight over rival Ephrata (0-3) to retain the George Male Trophy.

Turning point: After scoring its second touchdown early in the first quarter, Warwick recovered Pietro Elliott’s kickoff at the Ephrata 6. Three plays later, Fucci ran it in from the 1 to make it 20-0.

Star of the game: Working out of the shotgun and no-huddle offense, the 6-foot-5 Kline connected on 13-of-16 first-half pass attempts for 209 yards and those three touchdown passes to Forney.

“He made some really good reads and he has some weapons,” Warwick coach Bob Locker said about his quarterback. “He’s getting better every week at seeing what’s there and what’s offered up to him. He’s growing into it.”

Kline is in his first season at Warwick and, though he’s a senior, the quarterback has shown a lot of poise and a high comfort level with his new teammates.

“He’s very, very good,” Locker said. “For the first year in our program, he’s going to get better each week he’s out there.”

Key statistic: Warwick piled up 296 yards of offense in the first half and forced three Ephrata turnovers, including the backbreaking recovery of a kickoff at the Ephrata 6.

Under the radar: Senior running back Isaac Rissinger picked up 125 yards on 20 rushes and two touchdowns.

A week after returning two interceptions for touchdowns in a wild win over Garden Spot for LNP football Player of the Week honors, Jorden Cruz added another interception on Friday night.

Quotable: Locker on the diffculty of playing with such a large lead: “We had a chance to get every single player on our team some varsity minutes tonight. I have a great deal of admiration for the Ephrata kids because they kept playing. When things aren’t going your way it’s difficult, but I give them a lot of credit for hanging in there and playing hard.”

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