Milestone for Mounts

When you’re climbing the mountain, even though you haven’t reached the summit, there’s nothing wrong with taking a moment to reflect on the journey.

A season that began with Ephrata football posting its 52nd consecutive defeat ended with back-to-back victories and a .500 record as the Mountaineers (5-4 Section Three, 5-5 overall) defeated Octorara 42-6 [boxscore] on Friday night at War Memorial Field.

Junior quarterback Caden Keefer completed 9 of 12 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 21 times for 86 yards and two more scores as the Mounts posted their first non-losing season since 2003.

“When I came here, three years ago, everyone said just win a game,” Mounts coach Kris Miller shared.

“Coming into this season, I refused to let that be our goal. Once you get over that hurdle, what’s the rest of the season for?

“We never spoke of winning a game. It was, let’s win as many as we can.”

“It’s absolutely massive,” Keefer said of winning the fifth game.

“Coming into this game 4-5, this was going to be a huge game,” he said. “We wanted to play for the seniors who’ve worked so hard and helped us turn this program around this year.”

With Octorara (2-7, 2-8) netting for 14 and 11 yards on its first two punts, the Mounts were blessed with great field position, starting at the Braves’ 42 and 32.

But with the Octorara defense jamming the middle of the line — and the Mounts killing themselves with holding penalties — nothing came of it.

“We started a little slow,” Miller said. “We had good position, just couldn’t punch it in.”

“It just took a little bit to feel each other out,” Keefer said. “Once we got going, we didn’t stop.”

Beginning their third series at their own 47, Ephrata began to click.

Keefer completed a 21-yard pass to Castor Shuman to the Braves’ 19 and six plays later Keefer waggled right, completing a 6-yard TD pass to Tucker Parmer.

Then the game turned as Ephrata recovered an onside kick at the 50.

“One of the coaches asked, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ We say something on film and practiced (it) all week,” Miller said.

A 21-yard completion to Parmer (4 catches, 71 yards) put the ball at the 13. Keefer picked up 8, then bootlegged around the right corner for a 3-yard score.

“Once we got the first touchdown,” Miller said, “we went for the onside kick, and scored again, our kids just started relaxing and playing football.”

Shuman intercepted Jansen Schempp at the 44, returning it 33 yards to the 11 and Richard Greer took an option pitch one yard to paydirt.

Scoring three times in 4:35, the Mounts took command.

Octorara put together its best drive of the game, moving from its 30 to the Ephrata 28 before turning the ball over on downs.

With a 25-yard completion to Greer and a 24-yard toss to Miracle Wratto, the Mounts went 72 yards in seven plays, and one minute, as Keefer completed a 7-yard TD to Trent Martin.

Wratto’s 43-yard halfback option pass to Samuel Knowles set the stage for Keefer’s 39-yard TD burst as Ephrata took the second half kickoff and went 83 yards in three plays to trigger the mercy rule.

Next possession it was Cody Mountz with a 12-yard TD to cap a five-play, 60-yard march, capping the Mounts’ scoring.

With 2:29 to play, the Braves took over at their 14 and drove to the goal line as time ran down.

With the clock at all zeroes, backup quarterback Weston Stoltzfus fumbled as he plunged in from the 1, Ethan Leen covered the loose ball in the end zone to spoil the shutout.

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