Mounts off to fresh start

After three nonleague contests, regardless of a team's record, coaches always tell their players that a new season starts with the beginning of league play.

Each team starts fresh, with an 0-0 record.

Coming into Friday night's matchup at Conestoga Valley, Ephrata was 0-3 and very much in need of a fresh start.

The Mountaineers capitalized on their new beginning with a 29-6 win over the defending Section Two champs in the Section Two opener for both schools.

"It was real important," Ephrata quarterback Blake Crowther said of the win. "We were 0-3 but nobody got down. We came out, a new season, and now we're 1-0. It's nice to get the win."

The Mounts (1-0 Section Two, 1-3 overall) set the tempo of the game on their very first play when Crowther (7-for-11, 114 yards) found Curt Kolp for a 45-yard strike that set up a three-yard run from Crowther to give Ephrata a 7-0 lead.

"We planned on running that play on the first play," Crowther said. "They probably thought that we would run the ball and we probably caught them off guard."

CV (0-1, 1-3) coughed up the ball on the next series when Brandon Helm fumbled and Crowther recovered, setting up a three-yard jaunt from Woody Miller (13 rushes, 67 yards) and a 13-0 lead for the Mounts.

"We just aren't getting it done," a frustrated Gerry Novak said of his Bucks' squad. "You can't keep shooting yourself in the foot -- dropping balls, fumbling balls, missing blocks. Right now we aren't a very good football team. We need to grow up in a hurry or we'll be in for a long year."

Just before the end of the half, an errant snap from center Bryce Stillman sailed over Helm's head and through the back of the end zone, giving Ephrata a 15-0 advantage at the break.

Despite the 15-point cushion, Grove stressed to his players that their was still a lot of football to be played.

"They (CV) scored 20 points in the second half against Hempfield and 19 against Warwick. So we knew 15 wasn't enough," he said.

The Buckskins used an eight-play, 63-yard drive highlighted by a Kevin Kelley (19-103) three-yard touchdown run to open the second half.

Ephrata answered with a 62-yard scoring run from Joel Yoder (12-97) in the third and a one-yard plunge by Crowther (22-75) to start the fourth that put the game out of reach.

CV tried to manufacture points, but dropped passes stalled crucial drives, much to the frustration of their head coach.

"You'd think that you'd be ready to play tonight, defending your Section Two title, and you get your butts handed to you because you didn't play like you were supposed to," said Novak.

With their first victory and the monkey now off their backs, the Mounts can breath a little easier and focus on playing football.

"It's nice because it's the section opener," Ephrata coach Ken Grove explained. "We look at it like a new season and take one game at a time, and hopefully we can build on this."

The schedule doesn't get any easier for either team as the Bucks host Elizabethtown (4-0 overall) while Ephrata travels to face back-yard rival Cocalico (2-1) next week.