Warwick stops Mounts

For the 10th straight season, Warwick toppled rival Ephrata, scoring 30 unanswered points en route to a 30-7 victory on Friday night.

After falling behind 7-0 early, the Warwick defense toughened up and shut down the Ephrata offence, while the Warwick offense was sparked by big plays in the passing game.

Ephrata put together a nice opening drive, jump-started by the tough running of quarterback Jerrad Malmer and a key fourth-down pass for nine yards from Malmer to Evan Frees. Malmer finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. Warwick, however, answered with two first-half scoring drives, both capped off by short runs from quarterback Colin Gibble.

Running back Ryan Deibler powered the Warwick rushing attack, including a 54 yard gain that set up a 44-yard third-quarter field goal by Will Mobley.

Warwick tacked on another score in the fourth quarter when Tyler Trimarchi connected on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Carter Forney.

Turning point: Third-down conversions were crucial. Twice in the first half, Ephrata failed to stop Warwick in third-and-long situations.

With Ephrata leading 7-0 and gaining momentum, Gibble lofted a pass down the right sideline on third and 12 to Forney for 64 yards.

Later in the first half, Gibble connected again with Forney on third and 12, this time for 23 yards. Both conversions set up first-half touchdown runs by Gibble.

Star of the game: Gibble hooked up with Forney two times for 87 yards in the first half, propelling the Warriors to a 14-7 lead at the half.

For an encore in the second half, Gibble moved to receiver for the Warriors' opening drive, and he caught two short pass that he turned into 18 and 10-yard gains. And, as mentioned, he scored three touchdowns on the ground.

Key statistic: 4. The number of big drops on long pass plays by Ephrata receivers, one of which would have been a touchdown to cut the deficit to one score in the second half.

Quotable: "We made a lot of progress," said Warwick head coach Bob Locker. "We made some changes that worked, and needed something positive."

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