MT blanks Ephrata for L-L three-peat
- 22 October 2006
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 entire game was played with a stiff, 12-15 mph wind blowing from west to east, goal-to-goal, across the Hempfield turf.
Township had the wind to its back in the first half, which was neither advantage nor disadvantage as the Streaks' game is played on the floor.
And their game was in high gear Saturday.
Ephrata actually had the first dangerous chance of the afternoon, coming in the fifth minute, as Streaks' keeper David Flynn punched Jeremy Yoder's 12-yard blast over the goal.
Township began connecting passes like plots on a graph and, during an extended possession in their offensive third, Tell turned and dropped a pretty pass to Jared Harris filling from the midfield.
Harris sent a low, 25-yard rocket past Ephrata keeper Josh Peifer, who appeared to be screened, and into the right corner of the net, drawing first blood at the 8:19 mark.
The teams then settled in. Township totaled five corners and six shots. Ephrata (16-3-2) had a corner and two shots, including Dan Hagey's direct kick from 26 yards, with 6:13 to play, a shot that Flynn smothered after it knifed through the wall.
Tell was out in front of another Township attack as time slipped away when, without turning, he heel-flicked to DeMasters, behind him and to his left.
"I started to come across the goal and I was going to take my shot," he said. "Then I heard Nick in the back, so I back-heeled it to him."
It was the soccer equivalent of a basketball no-look pass and DeMasters drilled it into the left corner of the goal.
"He could've taken (the shot)," DeMasters said. "I was just happy P.J. saw me."
Not as happy as Ammon, whose meteorological concerns never panned out.
"People think when the wind's coming at you it helps the other team," said Ammon. "And it does, unless, you're playing the way they were playing.
"They were trying to find Dan [Hagey] all game, trying to go over the top. He's fast, but he's not going to be that fast unless they drop [the ball] right in the right spot."
The wind gave every Ephrata pass extra oomph, resulting in balls rolling over the endline or easily to Flynn.
"We could've passed a little better," said Mount's coach Rob Deininger. "We couldn't get close. We had a couple opportunities, but nothing we could string together."
After his stint in distribution, Tell took a shot at production, settling a cross from Max Kinderwater from the right side and punching it past Peifer with 33:15 to play.
Both teams will continue their seasons later this week as the District III Class AAA tournament gets under way.
Township, the top-seeded AAA team, hosts the winner of a play-in between Central York and Lower Dauphin on Thursday, time TBA.
Ephrata, the third seed, hosts the winner of the Twin Valley-Chambersburg play-in, also TBA. You can view the district bracket here .
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.