Ephrata battled while Manheim Township cruised.

 

Both teams, though, are heading to the L-L League boys' lacrosse championship game for the second straight season.

 

The Mountaineers used a fourth-quarter rally to edge Hempfield 9-7 in the first game, while the Blue Streaks were dominant in a 17-1 win over Penn Manor in the nightcap of the L-L semifinals Wednesday at Hempfield.

 

Township (15-4) and Ephrata (17-2) will square off in Friday's 7:30 p.m. championship at Penn Manor.

 

The defending champion Streaks will seek their sixth overall title as they make an unprecedented 10th straight appearance in an L-L title contest.

 

"We want to defend our title and that's what we've set out to do," MT coach Kyle Wimer said. "Township has been in every league final and we're happy to keep that tradition going."

 

Ephrata will try to become the first team other than Township or Hempfield to win a league crown in its second trip for L-L gold.

 

"It's great to get back to the championship game," Mounts coach Kevin Pletz said. "It really shows the improvement we've had as a program."

 

Ephrata also showed some fortitude Wednesday.

 

The Mounts, who handled the Black Knights 13-4 in the regular season, trailed twice against Hempfield Wednesday but had an answer on each occasion.

 

After the teams matched each other twice in the first quarter, Nick Valentino found Cameron Kline to give the Knights (14-5) a 3-2 lead to start the second quarter. Ephrata responded with a 3-0 scoring run to end the second quarter ahead 5-3. Joey Sellers scored in the run before Dakota Keefer struck twice.

 

"They were beating us in transitions," explained Hempfield coach Dave Ondrusek. "We weren't sliding to the right spots and they beat us."

 

Hempfield, too, showed its ability to face adversity with a 3-0 third quarter to lead 6-5. The Knights evened the game in the third after scores from Kline and Valentino, before C.J. Bosch's goal with 1:50 left put the Black Knights ahead for the final time.

 

Ephrata quickly knotted the game when Keefer found Evan Hornberger in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. The Mounts went ahead for good six minutes later when Josh Frey deposited a Hornberger feed, and padded their lead with scores from Hornberger and Tucker Keefer to lead 9-6 with 2:55 left.

 

Both Ephrata goalie Brian Neff and Hempfield keeper Dylan Risner played well. Neff finished with 11 saves while Risner stopped eight shots.

 

In the nightcap, Township jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Brady Charles halted the scoring run for Penn Manor (13-5) with 7:51 left in the first quarter.

 

It was all Blue Streaks after that.