It took all of five minutes for Ephrata to dramatically introduce the wealth of speed it possesses.
And it took 9:42 for Elizabethtown to realize just how dangerous that speed can be.
Locked in a 1-1 tie in its Section Two opener with E-town Tuesday night, Ephrata exploded for three goals in the final 9:46 of the first half, before rolling to a 7-3 drubbing of the Bears at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.
The catalyst of the Mountaineers' offensive onslaught was senior striker Dan Hagey, who scored two goals and assisted on three others, as two-time defending Section Two champ Ephrata (2-0 overall) kept its section unbeaten streak going into a third season.
"We ran up against one of the league's quality teams," shrugged E-town coach James Sostack, whose team was playing its first game of the season after dropping down from Section One last year. "(Ephrata's) speed is unmatched. I haven't seen anybody that quick."
Apparently, neither had E-town's clan of young defenders, who had trouble keeping up with an Ephrata offense that held a 22-7 advantage in shots, an 8-4 edge in corners and created 18 quality scoring chances to the Bears' five by game's end.
In fact, had it not been for last-second clears off the goal line by E-town senior defender Patrick Klinger in the first half and freshman midfielder Jason Good in the second, it actually could have been worse.
"We were pumped," said Hagey, who now has five goals and three assists in Ephrata's first two games. "(E-town) came down from Section One and they might have thought Section Two was going to be a cakewalk.
"We wanted to show them that it's our section to lose."
Message delivered.
Despite answering a game-opening goal from Ephrata's Tom Renko 17:19 into the match with a blast from junior midfielder Tyler Aldinger 1:02 later, E-town finally began to succumb to Ephrata's barrage of pressure in the final 10:00 of the first half.
First to strike for the Mounts was sophomore forward Tyler Phillips, who squirted a centering pass from Matt Hubbard past diving E-town goalie Keith Frey to give Ephrata a 2-1 lead 9:46 before the break.
"I think we just had so much pressure on them that eventually (E-town) was going to have a mental lapse," Ephrata coach Rob Deininger said. "And it finally happened."
Again and again, it seemed.
In fact, after Hagey dribbled through two defenders down the left side and beat Frey to make it 3-1 with 2:16 left in the half, Ephrata notched what turned out to be the game-winner a mere 1:32 later -- this one compliments of Devon Goodman, who took a pass from Hagey and smoothly pushed the ball past the diving Frey's hands that made it 4-1.
And when Hagey used another burst of speed to get behind the defense and send a perfectly-placed rocket into the top right corner 1:02 into the second half, the Mounts' message had officially been delivered.
"It was just one of those games," Deininger said with a smile.
With speed like Ephrata's, there could be a lot more.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.