Eagles Soar over Mounts

The lights went out for about 20 minutes in Eagle Stadium at Cocalico High School during the first quarter Friday night.

Unfortunately for the Ephrata Mountaineers, their power outage on both side sides of the ball continued for a second straight week, as the Eagles flew to a 65-0 victory [boxscore].

Cocalico overwhelmed the Mounts on both sides of the ball en route to a big victory.

The domination was such that Ephrata suffered 13 runs of negative yards in the first half while managing only five positive plays and no first downs.

Meanwhile, the Cocalico offense struck for touchdowns of 12, 1, 67, 51, 5, 55, and 71 yards, respectively.

Turning point: Ephrata fumbled deep in its own territory on its first two offensive possessions. Cocalico capitalized on a 12 yard touchdown pass from Dante Haines to Devon DelPiano followed by a one-yard scoring plunge from Haines. From there Cocalico piled it on while Ephrata struggled on both sides of the ball.

Star of the game: The Cocalico offensive and defensive line. Every time an Ephrata running back took a handoff, he was greeted in the backfield by a host of Eagle defenders.

Likewise, on the other side of the ball, the Cocalico offensive line opened up gaping holes all night, including two plays that sprung Delpiano for a 51-yard touchdown run and Trevor Fichthorn for a 71-yard score. Neither runner was touched.

Ephrata’s lone bright spot was punter Alex Rummel, who boomed big kicks all night, including a 57-yarder.

Key statistic: Haines, the Cocalico quarterback, completed only three passes in the first half, but he made them count with scoring strikes of 12, 67, and 55 yards, the last of which was a perfect bullet between two defenders, hitting Dominick "DJ" Fabiani in stride.

Quotable: Cocalico coach Dave Gingrich said: “Our kids came out ready to play, and did a nice job taking control from the beginning.”

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