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After their deep run into the PIAA playoffs last fall, Lancaster Mennonite's boys' soccer team could wait for the postseason to roll around again.

That moment finally came Tuesday.
 

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Warwick has absorbed its share of punishment all season long. On Friday, the Warriors inflicted it.

The injury-plagued squad rushed 50 times for 213 yards and three scores to beat Ephrata, 30-14 [box score], at War Memorial Field and retain the George Male Trophy.
 

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Under normal circumstances, Kyle Smith wouldn’t think of taking a shot from outside the 18.

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Penn Manor head football coach Todd Mealy admitted his team took a few days to get over last week's heartbreaking overtime loss to Hempfield, but he was confident the Comets were ready by Wednesday.

They were definitely ready by game time Friday as Penn Manor (1-1 Section One, 3-2 overall) rolled to a 42-7 [box score] victory over Ephrata (0-2, 0-5).
 

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Cedar Crest football coach Tom Waranavage and his staff have had a lot of sleepless nights this season. A record of 0-8 will do that to you.

Needless to say, he and his staff will finally be well rested when they wake up this morning.

Friday night at War Memorial Field in Ephrata, the visiting Falcons finally got off the schneid. Trailing 21-7 late in the third, they outscored the Mounts 21-2 the rest of the way to earn their first victory of the season in a 28-23 win [boxscore].

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In many ways, it's a stereotypical Lancaster County town.

There's a cloister that dates back to 1732, when it served as a worship center for German settlers.

There's a certain farmers market that's been running strong since 1932.

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The Hempfield offense runs the ball to set up the run.

And the Black Knights' dive-option running game was in full gear Friday night on Homecoming in Landisville, keeping the Ephrata defense off balance all night in a 44-13 [boxscore] L-L League romp over the Mountaineers.

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The Mounts started Tuesday night's L-L League Quarterfinal match strong, which put Ephrata in the driver's seat early. The quick start propelled the Mounts (12-4-3) to a 2-0 win over Garden Spot.

The Mountaineers brought the pressure from the opening tap and had six corner kick opportunities in the first 10 minutes.

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The Wilson Bulldog express train continued its stampede through Section One of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Friday night with a 63-0 [boxscore] trouncing of host Ephrata.

Wilson (4-0 Section One, 7-0 overall) dominated every facet of the game in racing out to a 49-0 halftime advantage, including 35 second-quarter points.

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Dave Hartlaub could understand the emotion.

After all, he'd just watched his guys build a 11-3 shot advantage and a 6-1 edge in corners over the last 90 minutes, only to get nothing out of it.

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Total domination.

That is the only way to describe the performance of the Penn Manor defense Friday night in its 21-0 [boxscore] shutout of Ephrata.

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The Ephrata Mounts boys soccer team played host to the Garden Spot Spartans Monday night in a District 3 AAA play-in game.

After battling to a 0-0 tie in the first half, Ephrata's Nate Latshaw scored off of a cross by Alec Weaver eleven minutes into the second half to give the Mounts (11-5-3) the only goal they'd end up needing to eliminate the Spartans (7-6-6).

Within 7 minutes however, Latshaw looped a shot of the Spartan keeper to put the Mounts up 2-0 with 22:04 left in the contest.

Despite outshooting the Mounts 9-7, and holding a 12-4 corner advantage, the Spartans could not slip one past Mount's goalie Brooks Carr. 

Carr recorded another clean sheet, registering 9 saves on the night.

The Mounts now advance to play the number 3 seed, Central Dauphin (15-4-0) Thursday night at Central Dauphin Middle School [directions], that contest is slated for 7:00.

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Lancaster Mennonite topped Ephrata, 25-18, 25-14, 25-18 in the opening round of the league playoffs. The Blazers didn't really run away with any game but kept Ephrata at arm's length throughout.

"We just haven't been able to close out a match,'' said Mounts coach Brian Lesher. We've hung around with a lot of teams but we just can't seem to close them out.''

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Both Ephrata and Solanco were coming off victories last week when they squared off Friday night at War Memorial Field in Ephrata and both teams had something extra to shoot for.

The Mounts wanted their second win in a row after dropping their first six games of the season, while the Mules are still in contention for a playoff spot.

In the end, Solanco came away with a hard fought win in what is becoming the norm, on a rain soaked field, 20-10 [boxscore].

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It was roughly 38 degrees, with a steady, misty rain blowing sideways.

In short, not exactly the conditions in which you want to have a huge jug of ice-cold water poured over your head.

Jim Vieland didn't mind all that much.

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Ephrata won the District Three girls' team title Tuesday at Briarwood with a score of 441, which was 22 shots better than runner-up Mechanicsburg.

Completing an L-L League sweep, Conestoga Valley's boys golf team added to its resumé Tuesday at Briarwood Golf Club in York, where the Buckskins posted a score of 407 to win the District Three team title.

Lauren Smith, who finished tied for second at the L-L Girls' Championships two weeks ago, shot a team-best 86 Tuesday to lead Ephrata.

The Mountaineers also counted scores from Lacy Bensing (95), Megan Esterbrook (99) and Paige Hamaker (161).

The District Three Individual Golf Championships will be played Friday and Saturday on Briarwood's East (boys) and West (girls) Courses.

The boys' first round begins Friday at 10 a.m. with a shotgun start. The girls' competition will start at 11 a.m. Friday. Smith, Bensing and Esterbrook will all be competing individually, representing Ephrata.

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The threat of a major upset Friday night in Manheim lasted all of seven minutes.

It took Manheim Central blue-chipper Dakota Royer about six seconds to squash Ephrata's upset bid. That's how quickly the Penn State-bound linebacker gathered a Mountaineer fumble off a teammate's helmet and raced 60 yards to paydirt.

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As they sat on the visiting team's bench when it was finally over Wednesday night, the mutual respect that Conestoga Valley boys' soccer coach Dave Hartlaub and Ephrata coach Rob Deininger have for one another -- and one another's programs -- was obvious.

And completely understandable, considering all the epic battles their respective teams have been through in what is one of the Lancaster-Lebanon League's deepest soccer rivalries.

Wednesday night's clash was just another case in point.

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Cocalico running back Austin Hartman used his speed and agility to make up for early miscues and helped prevent the Ephrata Mounts from completing their second-half comeback in Denver Friday night.

Hartman, a junior running back, rushed for 234 yards as the Eagles (1-1, 4-1) withstood an Ephrata charge, winning 28-10 [boxscore] against their cross-town rival.

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The Ephrata Mounts boys soccer team visited Neffsville on Thursday night, as the Manheim Township Blue Streaks played host to the Mounts.

Unfortunately for the Mounts, the Blue Streaks took this contest 4-0.

Forgive Dave Ammon for looking ahead to the postseason.

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All five Lancaster County Class AAA teams needing victories to advance to today's District Three pool play round got them in preliminary round matches Monday night.

Manheim Central, Ephrata, Hempfield, Warwick and Conestoga Valley will join Garden Spot and Penn Manor, which received preliminary round byes, in tonight's pool play at four different gyms.

Ephrata got 17 kills from Laurie Zeager to pace the Mounts in their 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 26-28, 25-21) win over Governor Mifflin. Brittany Nice had three aces and Steph Goshert three blocks for the Mounts, who will take on Penn Manor, Cumberland Valley and Central York in pool play at 4:30 p.m. at Gettysburg [directions].

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A butterfly bandage covered the gash on Conrad Heisey's chin. The injury was picked up at the end of his 30-yard, fourth-quarter kickoff return.

It was symbolic, in a way, as Heisey gashed the Ephrata defense in a 28-21 [boxscore] win Friday night at Ephrata's War Memorial Stadium.

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Ephrata's plan heading into its match with Manheim Central was a good one. Keep the ball away from Barons' hard-hitting junior Rachelle Wiegand. That worked to some extent, although Wiegand finished with a match-high 13 kills. Problem was, the Barons have other weapons, namely Sam Pabon (three kills, three blocks), Sam Ginder (three kills) and Destinee Horning.

"I know that if Rachelle doesn't get the ball, someone else can get the job done just as well,'' said Barons coach Craig Dietrich.

The key to the match was the second game. The Barons held a 24-21 lead but a Manheim hitting error and a Brittany Nice (eight kills) swing drew the Mounts to within one at 24-23. An Ephrata serving error, however, gave the game to Manheim.

"We close that out and it's a different match,'' said Ephrata coach Brian Lesher. "When we didn't, the match almost ended then and there.''

The 25-12 win in the third game proved his point.

Ephrata's serve threw the Barons out of whack at times. Central was unable to get a solid game out of its middle hitters.

"That made us one-dimensional,'' Dietrich said.

But that was enough to claim the win.

Note on Districts: Tonight's semifinal losers will play a match after the semis for District Three Class AAA seeding purposes. A round-robin tournament involving Ephrata, Warwick and Conestoga Valley, also for AAA seeding purposes, will start at 6 tonight at Hempfield.

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At Birdsboro, Chris Roell scored the last of his three goals with 8:17 left in the second overtime, and the 16th-seeded Blazers (14-5) earned their first district win in 17 years with a 3-AAA preliminary decision over 17th-seeded Mountaineers (10-8) edging the Mounts 4-3.

Boone goes to top-seeded Red Land for a round-of-16 match Thursday at 4 p.m. at Crossroads Middle School.

There were 37 combined shots on net in Monday's shootout, and Ephrata scored first on Noah Passage's goal nine minutes into the match.

Dillon Leone (goal, assist) tied it for Boone midway through the first, and Roell seemed to put the Blazers in command with a pair of second-half goals.

But Tyler Phillips scored twice in a two-minute span, tying it at 3-3 with his second goal with 10 minutes left in regulation.

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Needing a win to spark a late-season playoff run, Solanco (4-4, 2-3) used an efficient ground game and big pass plays to outscore Ephrata (0-8, 0-4) 48-28 [boxscore] on homecoming night in Quarryville.

B.J. Enck scored the last of his three touchdowns late in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard touchdown run to provide the final margin and finally put the feisty Mountaineers away.

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Following Friday night's game with Ephrata, Garden Spot head coach Matt Zamperini spoke to his team about the focus and desire necessary to be great.

Luckily for Zamperini and the Spartans, on a night when the offense struggled to find its rhythm, the defense showed that desire and focus in sparking a 30-0 victory [boxscore].

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It wasn't exactly the pre-game inspirational talk the Ephrata field hockey players were expecting.

"Coach (Rhoda Mountz) stopped the bus just after we got here and wanted to talk to us,'' said senior forward Stevie Morris. "That was unusual, because she doesn't normally talk to us on the bus.''

The talk, though, had to happen. "She just said that we had to win, or we might not make (league) playoffs,'' Morris continued. "If we lost, Garden Spot would get in and we wouldn't.''

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In the end, it came down to a couple of bullets.

The gigantic bullet Garden Spot dodged in the first 12 minutes of the game.

And the one Tyler Brubaker uncorked in the 14th.

Brubaker's goal off a point-blank blast in the box with 26:18 left in the first half turned out to be the difference for Spot, which fought its way to a key 1-0 Section Two victory over Ephrata Monday night at War Memorial Field.

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It was a rough and tumble first five weeks for Manheim Central.

The Barons got a bit of a reprieve Friday at winless Ephrata, coasting to a 61-14 win behind Jeremy Knosp's 226 yards through the air on 13-for-15 passing, and Dan Trafford's four touchdowns.

Central, which met the likes of Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One power Wilson, Section Two contender Cocalico and Section Three power Lancaster Catholic in the first five weeks, improved to 4-2 and remained unbeaten at 3-0 in Section Two. Ephrata fell to 0-6, 0-3.

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When the season is on the line, a coach asks her players to lay everything on the line.

Gabby Hopkins took that quite literally, diving for the ball in the circle, beating the goalie to the ball, and putting the ball into the cage to give Ephrata a dramatic 2-1 overtime win over Lampeter-Strasburg Thursday.

"I didn't know what was happening at first,'' said Hopkins, a junior forward. "I just fell in (the cage) with (the ball).''

It was the first varsity goal for Hopkins and it helped host Ephrata (7-4 L-L, 9-6 overall) stay in the hunt for the Section Two title while also clinching a league playoff berth.

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A bad wrist couldn't keep Ephrata sophomore Lauren Smith out of the L-L League tournament held Tuesday at the Lancaster Host.

Despite barely touching a club over the last three weeks, the 2007 runner-up gutted it out Tuesday and came away with her second medal in as many years. Smith turned in a round of 87 to finish fourth overall, behind champion and two-timw winner Alli Weaver of Warwick (82), as well as Samantha Peiffer (L-S) and Amber Rohrer (Solanco), who tied for second with rounds of 85.

"Considering she hasn't played, I though she was terrific," Ephrata Coach Ed Gambler said Tuesday night. "She toughed it out. She's really a true competitor and it showed today."

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Soccer is not about style points. It's simple: score one goal more than your opponent and advance. Manheim Township did just that, defeating Ephrata 1-0 Saturday at Hempfield.

The Blue Streaks advance to play Central Dauphin Wednesday. The Mounts saw their season come to an end.

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In Section 2 action Saturday afternoon, the Solanco Mules (5-1, 6-3) beat the host Ephrata Mountaineers, 28-14.

The game was a battle in the trenches, as both teams took advantage of soggy field conditions to run the ball effectively.

Solanco piled up 212 yards on 41 carries, and the Mounts (1-5, 1-8) racked up 143 yards on 32 carries. When they did go to the air, both the Mules and Mounts had similar success, each squad completing 10 of 14 passes for 117 yards and 107 yards respectively.

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The eighth-seeded Ephrata Mountaineers outlasted the visiting Exeter Eagles in a defensive battle and advanced to face top-seeded Manheim Township (20-2-1).

Ephrata's Tyler Phillips took a feed from Mike Hull and put a booming shot on net in the 24th minute that was initially stopped by Exeter goalkeeper Ross Ramaley (7 saves), but Phillips tapped in the rebound to give the Mounts (14-4-4) the gamewinner.

Exeter (13-6-1), the ninth seed, managed only four shots against the Mounts defense. Exeter is now 0-11 in the first round of District play.

The Mounts will have to defeat Manheim Township in order to have a chance to make the State Tournament. The Mounts lost earlier in the year (Sep. 20th) to the Streaks 1-0. 

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The good news is that the Ephrata Mounts field hockey team was in action in the opening round of District III playoff action on Tuesday evening for the 2nd straight year. Unfortunately, the bad news is, No. 6 Ephrata (14-3-1) dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 11 New Oxford (14-4-1) at Turkey Hill Field at Comet Field.

Despite having a 23-8 advantage on shots and a 24-2 lead in corners, the Mountaineers failed to lead in the only category that mattered -- the scoreboard.

"When I look at the books, I can't believe it," Ephrata coach Candy Rosenberry admitted. "All it takes is one goal and that's what happened."

New Oxford goalie Megan Goodman proved too much for Ephrata with 15 saves while Amber Swope and Jen Pabon's scores were the difference in the Colonials' 2-1 victory. Ephrata's Sam Wilt finished with 4 saves.

On New Oxford's first goal of the game, with nine minutes left in the first half, Tiffany Papon shot the ball from outside of the circle with Swope appearing to have gotten a stick on it before it went into the cage.

"I didn't see a tip," said Rosenberry. "But it's not my call, I'm not officiating today. I don't know that (the official) saw it, that's why she called a timeout to converse on the other side. You've got to call what you think you see."

Jen Pabon scored 3 minutes into the second half to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead. 

Ephrata cut the Colonial lead in half with 3:30 left in the game when Kelly Martin's shot found the back of the cage.

New Oxford will now face #14 Hershey (14-6-1) who upset #3 Central Dauphin (20-3) by the score of 2-1. 

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Jeff Polites deflected the notion as quickly as it was presented.

With his undefeated Elizabethtown football team facing arguably its biggest game in years next week against Manheim Central, are the Bears starting to feel a little pressure?

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After the fact, Manheim Central coach Matt Schwartz had little choice but to credit the Ephrata defense.

Unfortunately for Ephrata compliments don't punch your ticket to the next round.

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Joe Kline led all Mounts at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Cross Country Championships held yesterday at the Ephrata Middle School. Kline finished the course in 16:42.8. Due to a scoring system malfunction, team results were not listed as of this morning. Cedar Crest did win the championship.

On the girls side, the Mounts slipped to 8th overall, the Lady Mounts were led by Ashley Smith who finished with a time of 20:34.7.

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Riding a stingy defense that yielded only six Lancaster Catholic shots, Section Two co-champion Ephrata opened Tuesday's doubleheader with a 2-0 quarterfinal win over the Section Four runner-up Crusaders.

Ephrata (13-3-4) and Central (17-1) will meet in a 5:30 p.m. semifinal Thursday at Hempfield (directions), before Manheim Township (17-2-1) and Elizabethtown (11-5-1) square off at 7:30.

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Lauren Smith finished respectively in 15th place in the District 3 Golf Tournament held this past weekend. With only the top 9 reaching the regional tournament, Smith saw her productive freshman season come to an end.

Smith shot a 94 on Friday, good enough to advance to Saturday play where she shot a 91, her total of 185 was 32 strokes off the pace set by winner Liz Breed of Waynesboro, who shot a 153 (77-76).

On Friday Ryan Contres shot an 86 missing the cut by seven strokes.

Congratulations on both Mounts for reaching Districts!

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The Black Knights beat Ephrata 1-0 in overtime Saturday at Penn Manor.

Hempfield had been having some trouble staying focused, and head coach Lori O'Donnell is never quite sure which team she's going to get.

"We've been a tale of two teams, and the trick is just finding what it takes to get that winning team on the field for 60 minutes,'' O'Donnell said.

Hempfield had the right team on the turf against Ephrata (14-3-1) Saturday in Millersville, as Tina Malles scored her first goal of the year off an assist from Corey Brautigam 4:37 into overtime for the 1-0 decision.

"We lost the momentum at the beginning of the second half and just couldn't get it back,'' said Ephrata coach Candy Rosenberry.

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Ephrata, the section front-runner coming into Saturday, was upset by Cocalico (5-9-2) 2-0 Saturday afternoon, momentarily dropping the Mounts (9-3-4 L-L) into a possible three-way tie for first place with Conestoga Valley and Elizabethtown.

CV (9-6-1) was eliminated from the title hunt after a 2-1 loss to Garden Spot (4-11-1) Saturday night, then saw its playoff hopes evaporate as Elizabethtown (10-5-1) downed Solanco (2-13-1), 3-0.

Despite E-town having one more win, both E-town and Ephrata finished with 31 points (three points for a win, one for a tie) and will share the section title. CV finished third with 28 points.

The league playoffs open Tuesday night, Oct. 16, with quarterfinal doubleheaders at Penn Manor and Hempfield at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

By virtue of league tiebreakers, Ephrata will be the top seed from Section Two and will face Lancaster Catholic, the Section Four runner-up at 5:30 at Penn Manor. Manheim Central (14-1-0) and Section Two runner-up Hempfield meet at 7:30.

Lancaster Mennonite (10-1-2) takes on Section Two runner-up E-town at 5:30 at Hempfield. Manheim Township (13-2-1) and L-S (11-3-1) play at 7:30.

The semifinals will be Thursday, Oct. 18, at Hempfield, at 5:30 and 7:30 with the finals set for Saturday, Oct. 20, at Manheim Central, time to be determined.

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The Mounts hosted Manheim Central on Friday night. The game, played at Cocalico due to the light standard situation at Ephrata, was a near "must-win game" for the Mounts as they try to get back into the Section II race.

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The Ephrata Mounts boys soccer team inched closer to another section title as they turned back Conestoga Valley by the score of 2-1 last night.

Ephrata jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the half as Tyler Phillips and Tom Renko scored within minutes of each other.

The Buckskin's Josh Cody added a goal with 6 minutes left in the game to cut the lead to one, but that would be as close as the Buckskins could get.

The season standings now show Ephrata (9-2-4) in the section lead with 31 points, finishing the regular season with Cocalico (4-9-2) anything but a loss to the Eagles will guarantee the Mounts the Section Crown. The Mounts can still win the title outright with a loss if both CV and Elizabethtown lose. CV and E-town are tied for second place with 28 points. CV finishes with Garden Spot, while E-town plays Solanco.

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The girls volleyball team hosted Solanco Thursday night, looking to avenge an earlier season loss to the Mules. Chelsea Duty made sure it happened recording 7 aces as the Mounts turned back the Mules in three straight games 25-18, 25-20, and 25-23.

Lindsay Church recorded 6 kills, while Steph Goshert had 3 blocks to lead the Mounts.

You can see some great pictures of the Lady Mounts in action, by visiting the Ephrata Mounts Sports Pool at Flickr.com, thanks to Jeremy Bischoff for providing those pictures. 

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ETMCT...We ATC!

That was the text message, or something close to that, that Ephrata field hockey Coach Candy Rosenberry relayed to her team last Wednesday night as the girls waited anxiously for the news while attending a Mountaineer soccer game.

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The Ephrata girls cross country team continued its impressive showing, going 3-1 at Penn Manor Tuesday afternoon. With the victories, the Lady Mounts finished the regular season 17-4 earning them a share of third place.

The Mounts finished behind Manheim Township (21-0) and Warwick (20-1), while finishing even with Cedar Crest, Lampeter-Strasburg and Lancaster Mennonite.

The Lady Mounts defeated Penn Manor (23-32), CV (21-34) and Lancaster Mennonite (25-30) while losing only to Warwick (15-43).

Individually, Aslhey Smith (21:28) and Kate Anderson 921:33) both were top 10 finishers for Ephrata, finishing ninth and 10th respectively. Other top finishers for Ephrata included: Sam Fink (15th, 22:17); Brynn Lyons (15th, 22:19); and Caitlin Davies (17th, 22:23).

On the boys' side, Ephrata split on the day going 2-2. The Mounts defeated Penn Manor (16-51) and CV (20-43) but lost head-to-head versus Warwick (20-40) and Lancaster Mennonite (20-36). The split left the Mounts in 7th place in the league with an overall 15-6 record.

Individually, Joe Kline (16:58) was second behind winner Vince McNally (16:45) of CV. Givi Palagashvili was next for Ephrata in the 14th position (18:03) while Andrew Redcay (17th, 18:16) and Mickey Molchany (20th, 18:41) also were top 20 finishers for the Mounts.

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The Ephrata Mounts girls tennis team concluded their season in the league tournament.

Competing in Flight Three bracket played at Warwick High School, Lia Denlinger lost a straight set match to Warwick's own Calli Weidler 6-0, 6-2.

In Flight Four on Ephrata's courts, Greta Stemplinger fell to Elizabethtown's Kirsten Thompson by a 6-0, 6-4 score.

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The Mounts hosted the Lebanon Cedars on Friday, hoping to build on the tailgating event that preceded the game, as well as the "white-out" that was in effect for the game. And it would appear that there might have been a little magic in the air indeed for the Mounts.

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The Ephrata Mounts Golf team recently competed in the League Tournament. On the boys side, Ryan Contres shot a 78 which was good for 16th place overall, as well as a ticket to the District tournament. Dan Slotcavage (84), and Morgan Bartholomew (96) also competed, but failed to make the District cut.

On the girls side Lauren Smith shot an 81 and finished in 2nd place overall trailing League Champion Allison Weaver of Warwick by five strokes. She will join Contres as a District qualifier.

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The boys and girls cross country team competed in the Carlisle Invitational this past weekend. Both teams ran strong with very respectable finishes.

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A cold Saturday evening at Governor Mifflin was not where senior Dan Hagey wanted his season to end. With Ephrata down 2-1 late in the game, Hagey took over. With four minutes remaining, Hagey took a pass, beat two defenders and then the goalie to tie the game.

 Hagey wasted no time in the extra session, netting the golden goal only three minutes into overtime. His second goal, his 26th on the season gave Ephrata a 3-2 victory.

Ephrata took a 1-0 lead early on, when Tyler Phillips scored in the fourth minute. The Mounts held the lead until Cumberland Valley scored twice in two minutes, the first coming on a penalty kick in the 60th minute.

Ephrata will play Wilson in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hempfield (directions ). Following that game will be the other semifinal match between Manheim Township and Mechanicsburg.

The district bracket can be viewed here .

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Solanco head football coach Joe Pearson and his staff challenged the Golden Mules' offensive line during practice this week.

"We knew Monday that the weather would be bad tonight," said Pearson Friday night. "We needed to be able hold the line up front and run."

And run they did, piling up 247 yards on the ground in their 20-12 win (click here for boxscore ) over Ephrata Friday in Quarryville.

With driving rain falling, Ephrata (1-5 L-L, 1-8 overall) and Solanco (2-4, 3-6) combined to run the ball 89 times.

After a three-and-out by Solanco to start the game, Ephrata went to work on their 33. Quarterback Blake Crowther hooked up with junior running back Joel Yoder for a 15-yard strike to open the possesion. Crowther had runs of 14 and 11 yards on the next two plays and Yoder picked up two yards to reach the Solanco 25. Looking to keep running right at the Mules, Crowther turned to hand it off to Sam Weist but the ball popped out and was recovered by Solanco.

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Trailing 1-0 in the second half, the Mounts had two goals from Tyler Phillips to wrap up the win. Phillips tied the game off a sideline pass from David Wiegner at 67:25. With 16 seconds left in the game, Phillips bodied the winning goal off a cross from Dan Hagey.

 On the winning goal, Hagey weaved his way down the left sideline through four defenders before crossing the ball to a diving Phillips. 

Ephrata advances to the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Cumberland Valley. The game will be played at Governor Mifflin. Directions to the game can be found here .

Photos from last night's District opener can be found on the flickr website in the Ephrata Mounts Sports Photo Pool . 

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First-year Ephrata field hockey Coach Candy Rosenberry entered this season not knowing quite what to expect from such a young team that had just two senior starters.

Well, as darkness fell Tuesday night in Hummelstown, shortly after her Ephrata squad saw its season come to a close with a 6-0 loss in the first round of Districts to Mid-Penn power Lower Dauphin, Rosenberry said she considers this season a huge success.

"Playing (Lower Dauphin) in the first round was harsh for us, but again we were just happy to be here this year. (Playing in Districts) is not where we thought we'd be so we're just happy to be here."

"Just to get a taste of this experience this year, just to show the girls where we can be... They know they definitely have the potential to be there next year. My expectations are going to be a lot higher next year."

Tuesday, it was all about the experience for the Lady Mounts as Lower Dauphin flexed its muscles from the opening flick.

LD (22-0) was led by Lauren Alwine, who scored three goals and added an assist while Addi Harder chipped in with two other scores.

Alwine, whose supreme speed and stick-work were extremely effective in this game, got the Falcons on the board seven minutes in when she came down the right side and moved out in front and around Ephrata keeper Katie Jo Rice (five saves) for the easy score.

Then at the 18:02 mark, Alwine was at it again, following solid execution on a corner. Alwine delivered the ball into the box and moved to the side of the cage, where she took a feed and redirected it past Rice for the 2-0 lead.

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Ephrata came to Saturday's L-L League soccer championship game with something to prove to Manheim Township, and to itself.

The Mountaineers lost the 2005 title game to Township, 5-3, and were handled 6-0 this year in a regular-season match.

Their urgent desire was to prove they were as good as, and maybe better than, their Township tormentors.

What was proven, in the end, was that Township -- this year -- is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

If there had ever been any doubt.

The Blue Streaks became the first L-L boys team to three-peat since Hempfield in 1987-89, and won their eighth overall title Saturday afternoon, besting Ephrata 3-0.

After sitting out the semifinal with an injury, midfielder Patrick Tell returned to the lineup scoring one goal and assisting on two others as the unbeaten Streaks extended their record to 21-0.

And if there was any doubt that the L-L's were an afterthought for Township in a much larger pursuit, the Streaks' play put that to rest.

"It definitely mattered," Tell said. "We wanted to win it."

"This was one of our goals from the beginning of the year," added Nick DeMasters, who scored Township's second goal, 28 seconds before halftime.

"That was huge!" said Streaks' coach Dave Ammon. "Because of the wind you didn't know what it was going to be like in the second half."

---

The Ephrata Mounts Field Hockey team ended Cumberland Valley's season on Friday, winning 3-2, in a play in game for the District 3 Field Hockey Championship, the loss finalized the Eagles' record at 9-8-1.

 Arielle Gordon scored twice and picked up an assist on Kilee Rosenberry's goal for the Mountaineers, who outshot Cumberland Valley 15-5 for the game.

Gordon's goals gave her 10 for the season, second best on the Mounts behind Rosenberry's 13.

The 17th-seeded Mounts (9-8-0), who'll play at top-seeded and undefeated Lower Dauphin (19-0-0) on Tuesday (10/24), did a good job of holding off Cumberland Valley's pressure.

You can view the entire District bracket here . 

---

For a while Friday night, it looked like Elizabethtown was still feeling the effects of last week's shocking 35-33 loss to Garden Spot.

"This week might have been my toughest week as a coach," said Bears head coach Jeff Polites. "It was tough on the players too."

In the end, the Bears rebounded and scored 26 unanswered second-half points to notch a 26-10 (boxscore ) victory over the Ephrata Mountaineers.

It was all Ephrata (1-4 Section Two, 1-7 overall) in the first half as junior quarterback Blake Crowther and his offense took advantage of poor E-town (3-2, 4-4) tackling.

On the Mounts' second possession of the game, Crowther scrambled for 36 yards to set up first-and-goal from the Bears' 5. Two plays later, junior running back Woody Miller snuck out of the backfield and Crowther hit him on a four-yard touchdown pass to give Ephrata the 7-0 lead with 5:20 to go in the first quarter.

---

The Ephrata Mounts boys and girls cross country team competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Meet on Thursday (10/19), the meet once again was hosted by Ephrata.

The girls team finished with a combined 187 time points which was good enough to place them fifth overall in the league.

Senior Alicia Harbold led the way for the Mounts finishing her home course in 20:44.7, Harbold's time placed her 18th overall.

Two underclassmen scored next for the Mounts, first junior Brynn Lyons (33rd, 21:09.7) and then sophomore Dana Hass (39th, 21:23.5).

Rounding out the team scoring for Ephrata was senior Jamie Singer (45th, 21:40.2) and junior Samantha Fink (56th, 22:06.1).

Also running for the Lady Mounts were Kate Anderson (57th, 22:07.1), Taylor Fletcher (96th, 23:20.3) and Emily Albright (107th, 23:44.10).

On the boys side, the Mounts finished with 285 points placing them 11th overall at the meet.

Ephrata's only 2 seniors led the way as Cordell Oberholtzer (28th, 17:42.6) and Brad Sweigart (34th, 17:55.6) both placed inside the top 35.

Junior Givi Palagashvili (39th, 18:00.3) was next, followed by freshman Mickey Molchany (91st, 18:58.4). Junior Andy Redcay (93rd, 19:02.9) finished the team scoring for Ephrata.

Also running in the meet were juniors Ryan Trella (114th, 19:39.1), David Dukeman (133rd, 20:05.6) and Fred Hubach (152nd, 21:11.1).

The teams will now prepare for the District 3 meet which will be held Saturday October 28th in Hershey at the Park View Golf Course , which is behind the Giant Center.

Good Luck Mounts!

---

Melissa Speros was playing in a Final Four Soccer Showcase game last fall at Texas A&M in College Station, Tex., when her coach suddenly yanked her off the field and handed her a cell phone.

Tennessee women's soccer coach Angela Kelly was on the other end of the line.

"She called me and said that she'd seen me play earlier in the day," said Speros, Ephrata's outstanding senior midfielder.

"And then she offered me a full scholarship right there on the spot. She said she needed me and that she really wanted me to come to Tennessee."

 

 

 Melissa Speros is ready for the move to Tenessee.
Photo courtesy of Andy Babin.

 

Speros, who plays club soccer for the Pennsylvania Strikers, made an official visit to Tennessee in late September, and she has accepted Kelly's full athletic scholarship offer.

After playing her senior season for the Mountaineers in the spring, she'll be off to Knoxville, Tenn., next fall to study premed or chemistry and to play soccer for the Volunteers in the Southeastern Conference.

---

Standing on the turf at Hempfield in a misty rain that had begun to fall Thursday night, the wear and tear on Ephrata soccer coach Rob Deininger's face was obvious.

"I have a headache," he said with a tired smile.

Chances are, he wasn't the only one by night's end.

Getting the break it needed on Jeremy Yoder's penalty-kick goal with 1:19 left before halftime, Ephrata earned a spot in the L-L boys' soccer final for the second straight year by outlasting Lancaster Mennonite for a 1-0 semifinal victory at Hempfield High School.

Despite a gritty effort from Manheim Central in the nightcap of Thursday's semifinal doubleheader, Manheim Township finally broke the game open with a pair of goals in the final 20:44 to emerge with a 2-0 victory over the Barons.

As a result, undefeated Township (20-0) -- the top-ranked Large School team in the state in the latest Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association poll -- will meet Ephrata (16-2-2) for the L-L title for the second straight year Saturday at 1 p.m. at Hempfield.

The two-time defending L-L champion Blue Streaks beat Ephrata 5-3 in last year's final, before dealing the Mountaineers a 6-0 L-L Section One-Two crossover drubbing Sept. 21.

"Our goal was to get back (to the title game)," Deininger said. "We'd like to play the No. 1 team in the state and see if we've improved since our last go-round with them."

---

The Ephrata girls Volleyball team won their last game of the season for the second straight year.

In a closely paired matchup against Warwick the Mounts came out on top by the scores of 25-27, 25-21, 35-33 and 25-21.

Christine Weaver recorded 9 kills for the Mounts while she and Courtney Nice also had 2 aces each.

Linsly Church had 12 blocks for the Lady Mounts. With the win Ephrata finished their season at 1-13, while Warwick dropped to 4-10.

---

No one gave Ephrata much of a chance coming into Saturday's L-L quarterfinal showdown with Warwick, a team that has won seven titles in nine years and is the odds-on favorite to repeat as champs.

Perhaps the only ones who did believe Ephrata ha a chance Saturday at Hempfield were the lady Mounts themselves. And as it turned out, that almost was enough.

For 60 minutes and change, the Lady Mounts played even with the Warriors, as both teams had opportunities to seize control but failed to do so.

Then after the game went to overtime scoreless, Ephrata keeper Katie Jo Rice pushed hte game on farther when she stopped a penalty stroke opportunity by Warwick's Steph Kratzer.

 

 

 Katie Jo Rice made nine saves for the Lady Mounts against Warwick.
Photo courtesy of Andy Babin.

Unfortunately for Ephrata, its dreams of a monumental upset ended less than a minute later when the Warriors' Becca Spengler one-timed a pass from Brynn Adams off a free hit and put it in the cage for the gamewiner and the 1-0 victory.

With the win, Warwick (17-1-2) advanced to Wednesday's semifinal round where they will face Hempfield a 2-1 victor over Lancaster Mennonite.

Ephrata (8-9) now will be idle until Friday when the Lady Mounts enter the District Three Tournament with a play-in game. The Lady Mounts, the 17th seed, travel to 15th seeded Cumberland Valley Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Despite the loss to Warwick, Ephrata Coach Candy Rosenberry said afterward that she was proud of the effort put forth by her young team Saturday.

---

Revenge is dish best served cold — and what better time to seek it than on a cold, rainy night with advancement in the L-L League soccer playoffs on the line?

In their quest to earn a return trip to L-L finals and avenge a 5-3 loss to Manheim Township last season, Ephrata dominated Lampeter-Strasburg with a 5-0 victory in Tuesday night’s L-L quarterfinal opener at Township.

In the second contest at Township, Lancaster Mennonite (13-2-2) got revenge on Warwick (13-5), which handed the Blazers a 3-0 defeat earlier this season, with a 1-0 victory.

With the win Mennonite will take on Ephrata Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. at Hempfield , followed by Manheim Central against Manheim Township.

Last year’s L-L League runners-up Ephrata (15-2-2) gave notice of intentions to score early and often when Alex Wilson scored on a pass from C.J. Wilson just 2:35 into the game.

The quick start was important for the Mounts to get settled in against an opponent they hadn’t played before.

“It’s always important to to start fast,” says Ephrata head coach Rob Deininger. “To put pressure on a team that you haven’t seen before.”

Senior Dan Hagey raised the pressure a bit more when he scored back-to-back goals to give his team an early 3-0 lead. His first goal was 7:07 into the game while his second was on a pass from sophomore Tyler Phillips, giving Hagey his 24th goal on the season.

“Dan’s a player,” Deininger said with a smile. “He has all the tools to play Divsion I soccer; speed, skills and intelligence.

He’s a force. I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Lampeter-Strasburg (13-5-1) managed just five shots on goal against junior Josh Peifer. The Pioneers’ closest scoring opportunity came when Zech Rowe’s shot missed by inches in the first half.

Making just their first trip to the playoffs since 1996, the Pioneers’ nerves might have gotten the best of them against a seasoned team like Ephrata.

“It helps a lot,” Hagey said of his team’s postseason experience.

“I think this was L-S’s second year here, you could tell they were a little nervous and we were comfortable.”

The Mounts started the second half the same way the began the first. Devon Williams scored only 4:51 into the half on a kick the just snuck by Dakota Palmer.

Jeremy Yoder’s 25-yard arching kick found the top right corner to give Ephrata its ninth straight victory and added to their confidence.

“We’ve won nine in a row now and I was hoping that we would just continue to do it,” Deininger said. “We were pretty confident that we would do our thing.”

---

In desperate need of a spark, Manheim Central finally found one late in the third quarter.

It came -- as it has many times before -- in the form of Nate Groff.

The senior running back ran for three second-half touchdowns, two in a span of 1:42, as the Barons broke open a close game and pulled away for a 36-7 win (boxscore ) over Ephrata Friday night in Manheim.

"All you need is one big play to get the momentum going," said Groff.

That big play was a 67-yard TD run with 3:03 left in the third that allowed a seemingly lifeless Baron squad to stretch their lead to 22-0.

"That's what we needed," Groff added. "Everybody did their assignment and the hole was there."

With the win, the Barons moved to 7-0 overall and their 4-0 league mark keeps them tied with Conestoga Valley atop Section Two.

Despite that, head Baron Mike Williams was left scratching his head after this one.

---

The Ephrata Boys (13-8) and girls (17-4) cross country teams were both in action on Tuesday night as the finished the regular season with a tough match in Manheim Township.

They Boys lost to Manheim Township (18-3) and Lancaster Mennonite (19-2), while scoring wins over Northern Lebanon (1-20) and Lampeter-Strasburg (12-9).

Cordell Oberholtzer led the way for the Mounts with a season best time of 16:46. Brad Sweigart missed his season best mark by only seconds as he finished in 17:05.

Rounding out the scoring for the Mounts was Givi Palagashvili (17:26), Mickey Molchaney (17:59) and Andy Redcay (18:11). All three boys managed their seasons' best times.

The girls came into the meet in third place but had few answers for Township (21-0) and Lancaster Mennonite's (20-1) tough top 5. After splitting the meet 2-2, with victories over Lampeter-Strasburg (13-8) and Norther Lebanon (6-15), the Mounts finished the regular season in a very respectable 5th place.

On Tuesday Brynn Lyons led the way finishing 13th overall with a season best time of 20:01. Right on her heels was Alicia Harbold (20:02), followed by Dana Haas (20:16).

Finishing the scoring for the Mounts was Jamie Singer (20:30), Sam Fink (20:53) and Kate Anderson (20:54). All six Lady Mounts ran season bests on the day.

Next up for the Mounts is the League Tournament scheduled for Thursday October 19th at Ephrata.

---

The Ephrata girls field hockey team is headed to the L-L Playoffs, thanks to a terrific performance in the second half of the season.

At one time, the Lady Mounts sat at 3-3 this season but since have reeled off four section wins in five tries.

Monday afternoon, their fourth win in that stretch, a convincing 2-0 victory at Garden Spot, cliched a berth in the L-L Playoffs, which begin Saturday evening at Hempfield.

The top three teams in Section Two advance to Saturday. Manheim Central (10-1) claimed the title, while Garden Spot (8-4) took second and Ephrata (7-5) claimed the last spot.

With the third place finish the Lady Mounts will square off against Section One Champion Warwick (11-0-2).

Back to Monday afternoon where Ephrata dominated from start to finish. The Lady Mounts got on the board at the seven-minute mark of the first when Kilee Rosenberry fed hannah Hess for the game's first score.

With the score remaining 1-0 at the half, Ephrata got all the insurance it would need at the 10:27 mark when Rosenberry notched her second assist on a goal by Arielle Gordon.

For the game, Ephrata out-shot Garden Spot 7-2 and held a 10-1 advantage in corners. Katie Jo Rice earned the shutout in goal as she registered a pair of saves.

"From the beginning of the year I really thought we could contend in the section," said first-year Ephrata Coach Candy Rosenberry on Tuesday. "It was a goal of mine and I made it the girls' goal. And over the last couple games we've really put things together. We've shown good improvement in the second half of the year."

In addition to Monday, Ephrata also was in action last Wednesday where the Lady Mounts earned a convincing 5-0 victory over Lampeter-Strasburg.

In that one, Kilee Rosenberry scored a pair of goals while Claire Wooley, Hess and Gordon also found the cage for Ephrata.

In addition to qualifying for the L-Ls, Ephrata also has clinched a District Three berth. The District playoffs get underway October 20th.

---

It's the middle of October and that usually means two things, the leaves are starting to change colors and Ephrata's boys soccer team is wrapping up another section title.

 Well, the leaves began to turn a few weeks ago and tuesday night (10/10) in New Holland, the Mounts put the finishing touches on their third-straight Section Two crown with a convincing 5-1 victory over host Garden Spot.

Some things never change.

Ephrata (10-2-2 section, 12-2-2 overall), which has not lost to a Section Two opponent in the three years it has competed there, certainly was determined not to let it happen Tuesday night.

Tyler Phillips scored a pair of goals, while Jeremy Yoder, Dan Hagey and Eli Saenz also found the back of the net in the big win.

"It was a team effort. Everyone contributed," first-year Ephrata Coach Rob Deininger said following Tuesday's victory.

"Everyone worked hard to accomplish this goal, and now we'll play our last two games and get ready for next week. We'd like to win those games to get a better seed for Districts."

With Tuesday's victory, Ephrata will now face CV at home Thursday (7:00 pm) before closing the regular season out Saturday afternoon at the Middle School (1:30 pm) vs. Cocalico.

The L-L Playoffs are scheduled to begin next tuesday at a site and time to be determined. The Mounts are scheduled to face the Section Three runnersup which at this time appears to be Lampeter-Strasburg (8-3-1).

---

On the heels of a successful campaign that saw the Ephrata Mounts Golf team finish 29-12-1 in third place in Section Two, the Mounts will be sending three golfer's to the District Tournament.

OnTuesday afternoon junior Steve Tretter shot an 84 finishing in 26th place overall and secured one of the final qualifying spots.

Matt Wooley (86), Ryan Contres (90), Logan Mauer (94) and Eric Beamesderfer (97) all helped Ephrata to a 9th place finish in the League nudging past Cocalico who finished in 10th.
 

Amy Nicholas returns to Districts for the second straight year.
Photo courtesy of Andy Babin.

 

On Wednesday afternoon the girls hit the links and two Mounts, Morgan Hosler, who shot a 104, and Amy Nicholas (110) both qualified for Districts.

Morgan finished 11th while Nicholas finished 17th, securing the last District spot awarded.

The District meet is scheduled for October 14th.

Junior Alicia Harbold sprinted to a 30th place finish overall, qualifying for States in the process, as she led the Lady Mounts to a 10th place finish overall this weekend in Hershey, PA. Harbold finished the course in 20:23.73, almost 30 seconds faster than her time last season. Manheim Township was the top L-L finisher as they earned 5th place, they were followed by Hempfield (8th) and Ephrata. Chambersburg, who placed all 5 runners in the top 31, easily finished first.

If defense is your cup of tea, the football game at Ephrata's War Memorial Field on Friday night was a big gulp-sized serving of black coffee.

The Section Two tussle between Ephrata and Solanco was all offense, an eye opening 908 total yards of offense, but it was the Mounts serving up big plays all game long.

"This one was probably fun for people to watch," Ephrata coach Ken Grove said.

Led by sophomore quarterback Blake Crowther, who had a hand in six touchdowns, five passing and one on the ground, Ephrata shellacked Solanco, 56-28 in Section Two play.

The Mounts had six scoring drives (the term being used loosely) that lasted three plays or less, three that required only one play to find the end zone.

"We didn't make too many mistakes tonight," Grove said. "The line did a nice job, we threw the ball well, and kids made some big plays."

Ephrata (2-4 Section Two, 3-6 overall) had six plays from scrimmage that topped 40 yards, five of which were touchdowns, with tight end Chris Hull on the receiving end of three.

"To Blake's credit, our execution with the line, and the overall execution on offense I was really pleased with," Grove said.

Crowther was 8-for-11 for 214 yards in only his second start at QB, while his brother Ryan Crowther, a senior running back, had 98 yards on the ground and caught a 43-yard touchdown pass. Click here for complete boxscore.

"It's really exciting. It was a lot of fun tonight and everyone did well, especially the (offensive) line did well for us," Blake Crowther said.

It's a Wrap!
The 2nd annual Dodgeball Tournament has concluded another high energy filled weekend. And for Anthony Rinaldi, Kurt Sensenig, Steve Tretter, Morgan Bartholomew, Matt Wooley, Ben Vavreck, Mark Lowrie and Scott Liebl the "trifecta" is still within reach. The "trifecta"? you ask... Well... it's obviously winning the Wiffleball tournament, the Dodgeball tournament and the Three-on-three basketball tournament held this weekend in Ephrata! All players mentioned have been part of championship teams for the first two legs of the trifecta!

You can view the final results here.

Click here or on the link at the left to go to the Dodgeball home page.

Andrew Clemens' penalty-kick goal with 17:27 remaining was the difference for the Cedar Crest Falcons (11-9-1), who upset the top-seeded Mountaineers (17-2-1) at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.

The Falcons, the 16th seed, were awarded the penalty kick when officials decided Falcons sophomore forward Greg Shertzer was pulled down just inside Ephrata's penalty box.

Clemens, a senior defender, eventually made good on the freebie by punching a shot into the upper left corner.

Ephrata took a 1-0 lead 20:29 into the game when junior striker Dan Hagey headed in a 30-yard pass from Fernando Buitrago.

Crest, which matched Ephrata's shot total (seven) for the game and finished with a 6-5 advantage in corners, answered 10:38 into the second half on a goal from midfielder Stephen Melnick.

After failing behind on Clemens penalty kick, the Mounts eventually had a chance to tie it with 5:50 left, but Hagey's shot from the right wing trickled just wide of the far post.

Ephrata, the two-time defending L-L League Section Two champion, was undefeated in its first 18 games this season, before losing to Manheim Township, 5-3, in Saturday's L-L championship game.

The Falcons will face Wilson in Saturday's semis at a site and time to be determined.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

BOOM!

Another day, another three-goal explosion for the Manheim Township soccer team.

Another Lancaster-Lebanon League championship.

The Blue Streaks (16-2-1) successfully defended their L-L title with a 5-3 verdict over Ephrata, dealing the Mounts their first loss of the year.

It was Township's seventh league title overall and third in the last six years.

Playing in an occasional downpour and persistent shower Saturday afternoon at Pequea Valley, Township exploded for three goals in the first eight minutes of the second half to open a 4-1 lead.

It was the second game in a row where Township took command of a game with a sudden, three-goal flurry, having buried Elizabethtown in Thursday's league semifinals.

Saturday, Ephrata (17-1-1) got off the deck and made a game of it, pulling to 4-3 with 22 minutes to play.

With momentum on their side, the Mounts attacked and, with 15:00 to play, nearly had the equalizer when Dan Hagey got behind keeper David Flynn and sent a loose ball rolling toward the line.

A line guarded by Cameron Bertel, who kicked the ball out of danger.

Good parking, good seating, less complaining in your ear. As it turns out, losing streaks aren't all bad after all.

The Ephrata Mounts football team snapped a 5 game losing streak Friday night in front of 57 damp Ephrata supporters. The Mounts (2-6) stopped the Wildcats (1-7) by the score of 27-7. No one was talking red rose vs white rose, but in the end it was the Mounts that came out smelling like roses causing 6 turnovers, while only turning the ball over 1 time themselves.

The Wildcats fumbled the ball 5 times (losing two of them) and threw 4 interceptions, while the Mounts only had one interception, and no fumbles (some credit to Ephrata's ball boy for keeping the ball dry perhaps?).

This was not a game about long sustained drives. After 8 minutes of scoreless action Dallastown's Kyle O'Donnell (23 rushes-113 yards) rumbled in from 2 yards out to give Dallastown the early lead. That drive consumed 37 seconds, and it would be the 2nd longest of the evening.

After the extra point, the Mounts returned the kick to their own 30. Blake Crowther (11 rushes-132 yards) took the snap and sloshed 70 yards for the Mount score, the extra point by Eric Petters would tie the game at 7-7. Drive time: 22 seconds.

Following a Wildcat turnover on downs, Blake Crowther found Kyle Sensenig along the Ephrata sideline for a 47 yard touchdown pass, the kick looked good, but was wide left, and the Mounts led 13-7. Drive time: 15 seconds.

The Mounts defense stopped the Wildcats again and the Mounts took over with 5:34 left in the half. From here the Mounts went on their longest drive encompassing 8 plays and 72 yards. Blake Crowther rushed for 53 yards and passed for another 10 on the drive, but it was senior brother Ryan Crowther that punched it in from the 3 yard line to give the Mounts the lead 20-7. Drive time: 230 seconds.

The third quarter featured 4 first downs, two by Ephrata and two by Dallastown.

Will Rabuck recovered a Zach Shue's fumble with 8:18 left in the fourth quarter, setting up a 1st and 10 for Ephrata at the Dallastown 30. From there Blake Crowther (4-11 94 yds) found Kyle Sensenig (3-87 2 TDs) again to give the Mounts a 27-7 lead. Drive time: 10 seconds.

All together the Mounts scored 4 times, consuming a total of 4 minutes and 37 seconds. Click here for the complete box score.

The Mounts now turn their attention to the Solanco Mules, who they host on home coming night October 28th.

Despite running well, the Ephrata Mount Girls found themselves at the end of the league meet, where they were at the end of the regular season, in third place. But the Lady Mounts distanced themselves from fourth place by finishing 62 points ahead of Hempfield.

Lancaster Mennonite went 1-2, as Lindsey Shertzler and Lisa Wingard finished ahead of Ruthie Rosenberger (MT). Lancaster Mennonite won the meet with an impressive score of 68. Manheim Township finished second with 83, and the Mounts followed with a total of 90 (though I came up with 94?).

Alicia Harbold cracked the top 10, while Ephrata placed 5 girls in the top 24. Harbold, nearly cracked the 20 minute mark with her 10th place time of 20:04.

From there the Mounts packed it in like they have all year with Jamie Singer (18th; 20:28), Kelly Holst (20th; 20:32), Brynn Lyons (22nd; 20:34) and Dana Haas (24th; 20:39) all finihing within 11 seconds of each other.

On the Boys' side, Craig Miller (MT) won his fourth straight league title finishing almost 30 seconds ahead of Vince McNally of Conestoga Valley, who finished 10 seconds ahead of Brad Miller (MT). Manheim Township easily won the league title coming in with a jaw-dropping 27 points (1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th & 10th), Conestoga Valley was second with 95 points. The Ephrata Mounts boys finished in 13th place with 372 points.

Determined to earn a spot in Saturday's Lancaster-Lebanon League boys' soccer final for the first time, Ephrata never gave Cedar Crest a chance to continue their upset run.

Getting the eventual game-winner from Derek Sipe 8:58 into the first half, Ephrata reached the title game with a 2-0 semifinal victory over Cedar Crest Thursday night at Hempfield.

The win for the Mounts (17-0-1), coupled with Manheim Township's (15-2-1) drubbing of Elizabethtown (by the score of six-nil), propels the two school's into Saturday's Championship game at Pequea Valley scheduled for 2:00.

The Mounts not only remained undefeated, but notched their school-record 13th shutout of the season. Josh Peifer and Paul McHenry each recorded four saves enroute to the shutout.

Cedar Crest came in looking to build on their wins over Cocalico and Section one Champion Warwick. But Sipe's blast into the bottom left corner of the net early in the game turned the momentum the Mounts' way.

Then less then 13 minutes later, Dan Szabo picked a header out of the air and tucked it under the crossbar to give the Mounts a 2-0 lead. The Mounts went on to out-shoot the Falcon 15-12.

A collision with a Falcon player and Peifer left Ephrata's sensational sophomore goalie on the ground, with 3 minutes left in the half. Peifer finished the half but was replaced to start the second half, and if you weren't from Ephrata you might consider it a good thing that Ephrata had to resort to their second string goalie.

But Paul's been between the pipes before, as many know, and proved once again that he can still get the job done. As a testament to that fact, McHenry made a dazzling kick save early in the second half, which thwarted a Falcon attack.

It's uncertain at this time if Peifer's injury is serious enough to keep him out of the title game. He seemed confident and relaxed talking along the sidelines during the second half, which may mean the removal was only precautionary. But, if Peifer can't go, Ephrata will surely miss McHenry's offensive contributions (13 goals, 8 assists) at the striker position.

Good Luck Saturday Mounts!

The Ephrata Middle School will once again play host to the Lancaster-Lebanon League cross country meet to be held this afternoon (10/20/05).

The girls' run will begin at 4:15 PM with the boys to follow at 5 PM.

The Ephrata girls are expected to challenge for a top five spot in the team standings, but Lancaster Mennonite (21-0) would have to be the favorite for the girls team title going into today's race. The Blazers are led by sophomore sensation and defending league champion Katie Ruth, junior Lindsey Shertzer and sophomore Lisa Wingard, with sophomore Alyssa Groff and freshmen Katelyn Rittenhouse, Ali Brown, Becca Yoder and Izzy Hoffer providing an excellent pack behind the top three runners.

Ruth will be looking to duplicate her victory from a year ago. The last female to win back-to-back individual league championships also came from Mennonite, with Greta Hertzler performing the feat in 1997 and 1998. In addition, perhaps the stars are aligned for the Blazers.

After going 20-1 last season and finishing third at leagues (only 16 points behind first-place Solanco), Lancaster Mennonite is the team to beat this time around. The Blazers will get some tough competition from Manheim Township (20-1), Ephrata (19-2) and Hempfield (18-3).

The Blue Streaks are led by freshman Ruthie Rosenberger and senior Katie Calhoun.

Ephrata relies on a strong pack since the Mountaineers do not have anyone who can run up front with Ruth, Shertzer and Rosenberger. Juniors Alicia Harbold and Jaime Singer, sophomores Brynn Lyons and Samantha Fink and freshman Dana Haas consistently run within 45 seconds of each other.

A plan of attack for these teams against LM would be to have their top runners try to position themselves near Ruth, Shertzer and Wingard and then pack in their third, fourth and fifth runners ahead of Mennonite's fourth and fifth spots.

The big story will be on the boys' side where Manheim Township's Craig Miller will be going for his fourth-straight individual championship. Manheim Township (21-0) is the county's powerhouse and is led by the senior twin brothers Craig and Brad Miller. Along with Craig Miller seeking his fourth straight L-L title, the Blue Streaks will also be looking to achieve their third team championship in four years.

Miller may be facing his toughest challenge up to now, with his brother Brad and Conestoga Valley sophomore Vince McNally lurking right behind him.

After bursting onto the scene as a freshman last year and finishing third at the league meet, McNally has been improving steadily and has the potential to upset Miller in the last mile of today's race.

McNally only lost to Miller by six seconds at the Gettysburg Invitational on Sept. 10 with their respective times of 14:56 and 15:02 being two of the fastest high school 5,000-meter times in Pennsylvania in the past five years.

All qualifiers from Thursday's race will enter the District Three Meet which will be held October 29.

After watching Section One Champ Warwick blow a 2-0 lead in the game before theirs, Ephrata's soccer team was not about to do the same thing.

Standing on the runway the Mounts watched as Warwick lost their game on penalty kicks, sending the section champs home and advancing Cedar Crest.

The Mounts came out and applied pressure early, but were not rewarded a goal in the first half. However less then 5 minutes into the second half Dan Hagey found the back of the net to give the Mounts a 1-0 lead. That score would remain until Derek Sipe led Jordan Agudelo with a perfect entry pass with 21:50 left to play. That score turned out to be the final score as Ephrata won 2-0.

Although Pequea had their chances, Ephrata ultimately outshot the Braves 13-8. Josh Peifer recorded 2 saves enroute to his 12th shutout of the season.

The Mounts (16-0-1) will now travel to Hempfield to play Cedar Crest (10-8-1) on Thursday at 5:30.

The regular season now behind them, the Ephrata Mounts soccer team left a wake behind that many small boats felt. The Mounts (15-0-1) rolled through the regular season scoring 68 goals, while allowing only 7.

Dan Hagey led the goal scoring with 17 followed by Derek Sipe (16) and Paul McHenry (13). McHenry and Tom Renko (6 goals) led the team with 8 assists each, while Hagey added 7 and Dan Szabo (6) and Fernando Buitrago (5) also finished in the top 5.

The Mounts now turn their attention to playoffs, looking to turn around their previous playoff luck. The Mounts first face Pequea Valley, an up and down team this year. Pequea comes in with a record of 13-4-2, they own the distinction of both tying and beating Lancaster Mennonite (11-1-1), but losing to Elco (7-4-2) Donegal (5-6-2), Penn Manor (3-8) and Conrad Weiser. The Braves also tied Garden Spot this year.

The match is scheduled for 7:30 Tuesday at Conestoga Valley. The winner of tonight's contest will play the winner of the 5:30 game at Conestoga Valley which features Warwick and Cedar Crest. That match is scheduled for Thursday at 5:30 at Hempfield.

Amy and Katie Nicholas recently competed in the District Golf Tournament. Although they missed the cut to advance to the second round, they finished the wet course in the top 40.

Amy who shot a 128 and finished in 38th place, and Katie (130) finished in 39th place. Those two marks were the highest finishes ever for girls' golfers at EHS.

The top 15 golfers qualified for state play.

"I want to commend the girls for setting a goal (qualifying for districts) and achieving it", commented Ed Gambler, the EHS golf coach.

The District match concluded the season for the Ephrata Golf team.

Elizabethtown was due — way overdue. For the last three seasons, Ephrata has beaten up pretty badly (a combined 110-53) on the Bears.

That all changed Friday night when Elizabethtown got some revenge by taking out three years of frustration on the Mounts.

Cole Barnes rushed for a game-high 152 yards and A.J. Shippling scored four touchdowns to lead the Bears to a convincing 42-7 triumph on Homecoming Night in E-town. Click here for the complete boxscore.

The Bears improved to 4-1 in Section Two, which keeps them tied with Cocalico for second place. Manheim Central, which played a non-league game Friday night, is 4-0 and atop the standings.

The second-place tie will be broken next week when the Bears travel to Denver to take on Cocalico. E-town and Cocalico have each already lost to Central.

"We're all playing together right now," said Shippling, of the Bears. "The chemistry is there."

Shippling, a rock-solid senior fullback, rushed for 92 yards and scored on four of his 15 carries, including three in the second half.

"Everything comes from the line," said Shippling. "They work hard for us. They have been blowing people off the ball. The holes were huge. Anybody could have run through those holes."

At the girl’s Lancaster-Lebanon League Golf Championships, the Nicholas sisters punched their ticket to districts.  Katie and Amy Nicholas both extended their seasons by qualifying for the District 3 tournament.

This is the second straight year that Katie will attend, after becoming the first Ephrata girl ever to make Districts last year.  This will be Amy's first trip, but it was also her first attempt, since she is in her first season as an Ephrata golfer. For their efforts, Katie and Amy are the Athletes of the Week for the week of 9/28/05 through 10/5/05.

A classic tale of too little, too late.

With losses earlier in the week to Garden Spot and Conestoga Valley, the Ephrata Mounts Field Hockey team were already eliminated from post season play.

But that wasn't going to stop the Lady Mounts from beating first place Cocalico. The Lady Mounts jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on Cocalico and held on to win on Hannah Hess' overtime goal 4-3. The win proved that the Mounts can certainly play with the best.

After jumping out to the 2-0 lead on two goals by Marcy Dull, the Mounts gave up goal to Kaitlin Mitchell and Savannah Graybill to knot the score at 2-2 at the break.

Ephrata struck first in the second half on a goal by Jenna Garber (2 assists), but that goal was quickly answered when Graybill scored her 2nd goal of the game tying the score at 3-3.

The score stayed that way until the overtime period. In the overtime period, Hess spent little time finding wood, as she scored in 1:37 to seal the victory for the Mounts.

Katelyn Shelley also had an assist for the Mounts.

Ephrata’s Lily Sears and Megan Royer came within an eyelash of advancing to the L-L Tennis Finals Tuesday afternoon at Conestoga Valley.

The top-seeded tandem in Flight Two from Ephrata went to a third set supertiebreaker in their semifinals match vs. Hempfield’s Rose Conwell and Andrea Konas. Unfortunately, the Black Knights team, which eventually captured the Flight Two crown, prevailed in that third and decisive set, winning by a 10-8 decision.

“I’m still so proud of Lily and Megan,” Ephrata Coach Allison Ohline said Tuesday night. “They played their hearts out but to lose the way they did is such a heartbreaker. It’s so sad to see it end that way but (that match) was the best tennis they played.”

The Ephrata Mounts girls team were finished before the fourth runner ever crossed the finish line on Tuesday. Their bid to upset a slightly favored Township team ended in a close 25-30 loss. Manheim Township finished 1-2-3 sealing the victory over the Mounts. Alicia Harbold led the Mounts with a fifth place time of 20:49. Following her was Jamie Singer (6th; 20:59), Brynn Lyons (7th; 21:02), Dana Haas (9th; 21:24) and Sam Fink (11th; 21:34).

The Mounts top five all finished ahead of Township's fourth place runner, but as stated earlier the Mounts were already mathematically eliminated.

The Girls were clearly strong enough to dispose of Elco 17-50, and gathered forfeit wins from both Elizabethtown and Lebanon.

That's right, Elizabethtown forfeited the last match of the year to Ephrata. Don't expect any type of turmoil over this.

The Mounts finished the season in third place at 19-2 behind Township (20-1) and Lancaster Mennonite (21-0).

The boys team split their match, losing to a dominate Township team 15-55. The Township boys outdid their girls team, as they sent the first 6 boys across the finish line.

The boys lost a close one to Elizabethtown 26-34, but defeated Lebanon 19-39.

The Mounts were led by Givi Palagashvili (11th; 18:00) and Brad Sweigart (12th; 18:12) and crowd favorite Niraj Amin (14th; 18:46).

The Mounts who ran most of the season without their number one runner finished the regular season 6-15.

Apparently, Manheim's Maroon Machine also runs on Monday nights.

Just ask Ephrata's football team, which hosted Central in a rescheduled L-L League Section Two game at War Memorial Field.

The Barons manhandled Ephrata in the trenches, treading for 375 rushing yards while allowing only 47 total yards in a 61-0 thrashing of the host Mounts. Click here for the complete boxscore.

Consider it a tuneup for the mighty Barons. That's how coach Mike Williams viewed it, anyway.

"We are headed for that final phase of the season," said Williams, who won his 250th career game two weeks ago at Cocalico. "We have got to improve in some areas."

Nothing about the Barons (4-0 L-L, 5-1 overall) appeared to be in need of repair Monday night in Ephrata.

Central scored nine touchdowns in four different methods — five on the ground, a pair through the air, one on defense and one via special teams.

"That's what you need to be a championship team," Williams said of the scoring variety.

Senior quarterback Brandon Miller had one of his finest games of the season, rushing for 165 yards on 11 carries and a pair of first-quarter touchdowns.

He also threw for two scores, and completed 4-of-7 passes overall, with no turnovers, for 108 yards (27 yards per completion).

"He's just a first-year starter. He's basically in his sixth game of experience," Williams said of his 5-11, 175-pound signal-caller. "He has gotten better each week."

Central's defense also continued to show improvement since a 31-20 season-opening loss to Central Dauphin. The Mounts' (1-3 L-L, 1-5) only trek onto Central's half of the field came four minutes into the final quarter.

Central has allowed 27 points over the past five games, with three shutouts during that span.

"I was most pleased with the defense. We shut (Ephrata) down completely," Williams said.

The Ephrata Mounts tennis team gracefully bowed out of the singles competition yesterday, but stayed alive in the Flight 2 doubles.

In Flight 2 second seeded Lily Sears defeated Pequea Valley's Eliza Martin in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 10-6). Things looked good for Sears as Rose Conwell (seeded 4th) knocked off the number one seeded Stephanie Milliken (MT). But Conwell stayed hot and defeated Sears in the finals 6-4, 6-1.

At Flight 4 un-seeded Amy Sherman played well but was defeated by the number one seeded Anna Meyers (Warwick) 6-2, 6-2. The loss brought Sherman's season to an end.

In the Flight 2 doubles, top seeded Sears and Megan Royer breezed through their only match of the day defeating Maunette Watson and Cinnomin Uhler (Elco) 6-0, 6-2.

Sears hopes to gain revenge as Sears and Royer now play Conwell and Andrea Konas (Hempfield) who won their match over CV's Julie Wiker and Kirsten Gregg in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 10-4. Conwell and Konas are the 4th seed.

This weekend's rainfall altered the schedules of several Mounts schedules, below you'll find a recap of what I currently know about:

The Mounts football game with Manheim Central is now scheduled for Monday night at 7:00 at the War Memorial Field, this game is still being televised by Cable 11 and the PCN network.

The Mounts JV game scheduled for Monday night at Manheim Central has been cancelled.

The Mounts midget teams were postponed this weekend and will be made up on Wednesday night.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Mounts game scheduled with Cocalico Monday night has been moved to Thursday.

What started out as a big week for the field hockey team got even bigger. Quite simply if the Mounts can manage to win out this week, they make the playoffs. But to win out now... the Mounts (5-4; fourth place) will have to defeat Garden Spot (3-4-2; fifth place)(rained out from Saturday) on Tuesday, Conestoga Valley (5-1-3; 3rd place) on Wednesday, and Cocalico (7-2; 1st place) on Thursday (rescheduled from Monday).

The Mounts soccer team hung onto the number 2 ranking in the state, however they lost a game from their schedule as the game with Section One Hempfield was taken off the schedule.

The Mounts will finish up their regular season this week with a match Tuesday against Lampeter-Strasburg (3-6) and a trip to Cocalico Thursday night to play the Eagles (6-3-1).

The Mounts tennis team had their playoff schedule pushed back as well, the remaining Mounts will now play matches today. Flight two Lily Sears (14-2) faces Eliza Martin (PV), Flight 4 Amy Sherman (12-4) faces Anna Meyers (War) and the doubles team of Sears and Megan Royer (13-1) faces Munett Watson an Uhler (Elco). All these matches will be played on Monday at Conestoga Valley starting at 8 AM.

The finals scheduled for Monday have been moved to Tuesday starting at noon at Conestoga Valley.

The writing had long since been on the wall.

After all, it was no secret back in August that Ephrata was returning the bulk of its Section Two championship team from last year.

And when the Mountaineers went out and started winning by football scores over the next few weeks, speculation quickly grew that Ephrata was on the verge of a second straight section crown.

Thursday night in Manheim, the Mounts made it official.

Using its wealth of speed, pinpoint passing and a few defensive mistakes from Manheim Central, Ephrata got a pair of goals in the game's first 8:08 and eventually rolled to a 5-0 victory over the Barons at Elden Rettew Field.



The result was the Mounts' second Section Two title in as many years. Perhaps even more impressive was that Thursday's victory enabled Ephrata (11-0-1 Section Two, 13-0-1 overall) to keep its 26-game, regular-season unbeaten streak alive.

Since moving from Section One prior to the 2004 season, the Mounts are now 24-0-2 against Section Two opponents.

"This team is very good," Ephrata coach Chris Jahnke conceded of his players. "They're smart, they're solid and, as you saw here, they just don't stop moving."

Ephrata sent five tennis players to Leagues and from that group three remain alive in either singles or doubles matches.

In Flight one Lauren Donmoyer defeated Chelsea Bollinger (Warwick) 7-6, 6-3 to move to the second round. Unfortunately it was there that she faced the number one seed from Manheim Township Leah DeMasters who defeated Donmoyer 6-0, 6-0. The loss eliminated Donmoyer (6-10) from the bracket.

In Flight Two Lily Sears defended her number two seeding by breezing through the first two rounds. She dropped Rebekah Shanaman (Elco) in the first round 6-0, 6-0. Then defeated Sami Souders (Lancaster Catholic) in the second round 6-2, 6-2.

Sears (14-2) will now face Eliza Martin, who is the third seed from Pequea Valley. Number 1 Stephanie Milliken (MT), and number 4 seed Rose Conwell (Hempfield) are also still alive.

In Flight 3 heavily favored Megan Royer (2nd seed overall) was upset by Kim Vo from Elco. This match was a tight one as Royer (11-4) lost 6-7, 6-4, 9-11.

In Flight 4 Amy Sherman lost the first set 6-0 to Janelle Krantz (Solanco), but stormed back to take the second set 6-2 and the third 10-5. In the second round she breezed by Kelly Smith (Lancaster Catholic) 6-2, 6-1.

With the win in the first round, Sherman (12-4) eliminated the fourth seed. She must now face Anna Meyers (Warwick) who is the number one seed.

At Flight 5 Lindsay Miller (5-10) was eliminated from the tournament by Dani Klim (E-town) in straight sets 2-6, 2-6.

In number one Doubles Donmoyer and Sherman (6-9) lost to Lindy Beamesderfer and Nicole Meckley (Cocalico) in straight sets 3-6, 1-6. The loss dropped Donmoyer from the competition.

At number two Doubles, the number one seeded Sears and Royer (13-1) won easily 6-0, 6-1 to move to the second round where they will face Munett Watson and Uhler from Elco.

The Ephrata Mounts golf team will be sending two players on to District Level competition. On Wednesday afternoon Katie Nicholas and Amy Nicholas finished in the top 15 and thus qualified for Districts. Unfortunately Morgan Hossler did not as her score or 118 left her in 16th place.

Katie, who was the first girl ever to qualify from Ephrata last year, qualified again. Her sister, Amy is playing on the golf team for the first time. Katie (112) and Amy (113) had respectible scores, but the winner Sara Bejgrowicz of Manheim Township was in another league with her score of 75. A score which would have placed her only two strokes back when compared to her team mate and Boys Champion Josh Shoffstall's 73.

As a whole the Mounts "had a season during which our younger players improved tremendously" remarked head coach Ed Gambler.  This season the Mounts were led by Alan Kliewer who was incredibly steady throughout the season, posting a 77.5 scoring average, the lowest of any Ephrata golfer in well over a decade.  He finished second in section II scoring, less than a stroke (.6) behind the winner.  "Unfortunately, he did have a bad day at the League Tournament, failing to qualify for Districts." added Gambler.

The bad day he was referring to was Tuesday's 89 Kliewer left on the course, his worst score of the season. Steve Tretter and Kyle Morgan also competed each scoring a 91. With the cut line for District's set at 81, it left the Mount boys on the outside looking in.

But the future appears bright for the young Mounts as Gambler explains, "We have a number of young players on the team who show the potential and desire to improve their game in the future.  Hopefully, this will lead to success for them and the team."

For now though, we have the Nicholas's and we wish them the best of luck in Districts!

After finishing an outstanding 10-4 regular season campaign, the Ephrata girls' tennis team will look to carry that success into the Lancaster-Lebanon League Tournament, which begins Thursday at various sites throughout the county.

The Lady Mounts enter the tourney, which continues Saturday before finishing up next Monday (at CV both days), with some lofty expectations.

In addition to being represented in all five singles flights and both doubles, Lily Sears and Megan Royer each have garnered #2 seeds in their respective singles flights, while that tandem is the top seed (12-1 record) in Flight Two doubles.

Sears, 12-2 at number two this year, sports the top singles record on the team while Royer was 11-3 in the third spot.

The last two years, Royer, a senior co-captain has bowed out in the semifinals at leagues. This year, her goal is to take that next step.

"I just want to get farther than I did the last two year," she said Tuesday. "I feel comfortable since I've been there before so I hope to use that experience to my advantage this time around."

Another player with high expectations this week is Flight 4 player Amy Sherman (10-4), a senior co-captain who made the finals a year ago at number five.

"I just want to have fun, take it game by game and just go as far as I can," Sherman said.

The other two team members who will be competing are Lauren Donmoyer (5-9) in flight One and Lindsay Miller (5-9) in Flight 5.

The top-seeded doubles team of Sears and Royer will be joined by Ephrata's #1 team of Donmoyer and Sherman, who earned a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 victory over Lancaster Country Day in preliminary action Monday.

The Ephrata Mounts Girls cross country team (16-1) completed a sweep yesterday, setting themselves up for a showdown for 2nd place next week when they host Manheim Township (15-1). The Lady Mounts easily handled a Garden Spot team that came in with a record of 12-2, as they won handily 21-40.

The Lady Mounts also beat Penn Manor 20-47 and Manheim Central 15-55. The Mounts placed six runners in the top 10, and 10 in the top 24.

Once again Alicia Harbold paced the Mounts with a 2nd place finish tackling the course in 21:33. Jaime Singer (4th; 21:52), Brynn Lyons (5th; 22:03), Kelly Holst (6th; 22:10), Dana Haas (9th; 22:25) and Amber Davies (10th; 22:35) were the other Mounts cracking the top ten.

Since recovering from an early season injury Leah Sipe (11th; 22:41) has been turning in some nice times as well. On this afternoon Samantha Fink (12th; 23:00) was right behind her.

Kate Anderson (17th; 23:39) and Taylor Fletcher (24th; 25:01) also figured into the scoring to help the Mounts.

Garden Spot also defeated Penn Manor and Manheim Central to lift their record to 14-3.

Things didn't turn out so well for the boys (4-13), although they did place three runners in the top ten. Givi Palagashivili finished the course in 18:32 which was good enough for third place, while Brad Sweigart (5th; 18:44) and Niraj Amin (10th; 19:35) also placed in the top 10.

The Mounts lost to Garden Spot on the sixth-man rule 29-29, and also lost 23-36 to Penn Manor and 26-33 to Manheim Central.