Bears eliminate Mounts

Elizabethtown and Ephrata both needed victories Friday night. The Bears were coming off a blowout loss to Garden Spot, while the Mounts had to win to clinch a District Three Class 5A playoff spot for their first postseason appearance in over three decades.

In the end, Elizabethtown sweated out an Ephrata turnaround to come away with a 35-30 win in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three finale for both teams.

Both teams went three-and out to start the game. Ephrata (3-3 L-L, 7-3 overall) had a solid drive on its second possession, but stalled outside of Elizabethtown’s red zone. Braden Cummings had a clutch pass breakup on third down, then picked off a fourth-down pass as a follow-up. He then reeled in a 44-yard bomb from Josh Rudy to put the Bears (4-2, 8-2) on the scoreboard.

Ephrata initially went three-and-out again, but a muffed punt set the Mounts up at the Elizabethtown 12. However, the Bears’ defense forced them back on four straight plays for a turnover on downs. They came through with another turnover on downs on the next Ephrata series as well; the Mounts saw a 56-yard TD from Jeremiah Knowles wiped out by a holding penalty.

A 35-yard pass from Rudy to Brady Breault midway through the second quarter set up a 27-yard TD throw to Cummings, with a missed extra point.

Ephrata had more misfortune after another three-and-out; the snap before the punt went over Sam McCracken’s head, and he had to step out of bounds for a safety. Rudy would use a reverse pass to find Breault for 43 yards, and Cade Capello scored from 16 yards out on the next snap to make it 21-0.

The Mounts came back with an eight-play scoring drive in response, with McCracken going 4-for-4 on the series; Quintin Pfautz caught three of those passes for 44 yards. Andre Weidman rumbled in from 4 yards out for a TD, then caught a fake 2-point pass from Knowles.

After forcing a quick three-and-out, Nick Keller then pulled down a 27-yard TD on a simultaneous catch to cut it to 21-15 before the break; that counted for two TDs in the final minute of the first half.

Elizabethtown rapidly moved inside the Ephrata 10 before Weidman snatched an INT in the end zone for the Mounts. He ran six times for 79 yards on the ensuing drive, also catching a 10-yard pass on fourth down for a first before running in from 13 yards out to give Ephrata the lead.

Cummings came up with a 57-yard catch-and-run on the next Bears drive, setting up a 15-yard Rudy option TD, though E-town saw a 2-point pass fall incomplete.

• Prev
• Next