Coming off a short week thanks to last week's rain, Manheim Central stuck with what they do well-running the ball. The Barons (5-0, 8-0) rushed for 428 yards and scored six touchdowns on the ground on their way to a 65-0 [box score] whitewashing of Ephrata (0-5, 0-8) at War Memorial Field Friday night.

 

From the outset, the Barons decided to rotate quarterbacks Colin Fry and Tony Staffieri. With Fry taking the start, he handed off to running back Marc Royer six straight plays on the Barons' first possession. After runs for 17 and 13 yards, the Mounts turned back Royer three times from their 4 before Royer converted on fourth-and-goal with 7:10 left in the first quarter.

 

"Give Ephrata credit, they came to play," Barons' head coach Mike Williams said. "We were determined-no field goal, if they stopped us, they stopped us. We were going to go our strength against what they were trying to do."

 

The strength is a running game that averages more than 330 yards per game. With Staffieri taking over for Fry on the Barons' next drive, he handed off to Ian Hanselman five times for 25 yards but also put the ball in the air, going 3 for 3 for 31 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown to Andrew Seiverling at the 11:54 mark of the second quarter.

 

It would be the first of four touchdowns in the second quarter as Royer (10 carries, 168 yards) added a 77-yard touchdown run and Hanselman (10-157) scored twice to give the Barons a 35-0 halftime lead.

 

Manheim did experience a bit of a hiccup in the second quarter, faced with 3rd-and-10 from their own 25, Williams was forced to call consecutive timeouts as the offense and coaches struggled to get on the same page.

 

"I was frustrated and upset. We were going to do one thing, but the quarterback (Staffieri) didn't come over to get the play. We set our new personnel in and he's still running the old play," Williams said. "We weren't on the same page, it was a good learning lesson."

 

Hanselman would get the call after the second time out, taking the ball for nine yards. On the next play, he broke a 66-yard touchdown run and had a 50-yard touchdown run on his next carry.

 

The Barons would continue to roll after halftime, with Royer opening the scoring on the second play from scrimmage with a 58-yard touchdown. The Barons would add touchdown passes of 5 and 56 yards to Taylor Geib and Dan Wiederrecht, respectively. Wiederrecht's catch came with the Barons already up 49-0 in the fourth quarter.

 

"We're always worried about the score," Williams said. "We did throw a pass there at the end but when defenses start to load up eight or 9 in the box — we had some younger guys in there and we felt like we didn't want to get them pounded. So we threw the ball and they backed off."

 

Tyler Hoag had six carries for 46 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

 

After the game, Ephrata head coach Scott Shelley spoke to the Barons huddle.

 

"I wanted to thank their team — they could've basically done whatever they wanted out there," Shelley said. "We did the best we could with the talent and inexperience that we have."