Lebanon rallied for nine unanswered points to come from behind and defeat host Ephrata 30-24 [boxscore] in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three contest Friday.
Turning point: After leading most of the night, Lebanon (4-3 L-L, 4-4 overall) found itself trailing 24-21 in the fourth quarter. But the Cedars drove to the Ephrata 4-yard line and kicked a 22-yard field goal to tie the game.
Lampeter-Strasburg’s Derek Eckman shielded the ball from a pair of Ephrata defenders in the corner to the left of the Mountaineers’ goal in the 74th minute of the teams’ L-L Section Two boys soccer finale in Ephrata Wednesday. Eckman curled around the defenders, into space, and unloaded a shot that Ephrata goalkeeper Cole Hummel punched away from the lower-left corner of the goal with a lunge to his right to protect the Mountaineers’ 1-0 lead.
Hummel finished with nine saves, and the Ephrata defense withstood a Lampeter-Strasburg second-half push to protect the 1-0 lead until the final whistle.
As Manheim Central and Ephrata traded flashes of offense midway through the second half of their Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two clash in Manheim Tuesday, flashes of lightning led to a weather delay. As the lightning continued, officials deemed the game final and the host Barons, who led 1-0, moved into first place in the section.
"There were two good teams going at it," said Rod Brenize, Manheim Central's coach. "I don't like that it was a weather-shortened event, but I don't make those rules. It is what it is."
If not for gaining significant ground in a quest for a District Three playoff berth, then Ephrata had another reason to celebrate its dramatic, come-from-behind 28-26 victory [boxscore] at Columbia Friday night.
The Mounts now have three wins on the season. That hasn’t happened since the George W. Bush administration.
Four games from the end of the regular season, Ephrata and Manheim Central girls battled Tuesday night like it was a championship soccer game.
For all intents and purposes, it might have been.
Carrying much of the play in the Mounts’ end, the Barons scored two second-half goals a minute apart — one off the right food and one off the head of senior Elizabeth Levy — to record a dramatic 3-1 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two win and end Ephrata’s unbeaten stretch at 12 games.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.