Ephrata and Manheim Township entered Thursday's L-L League boys' lacrosse contest as the only undefeated teams in league play.

 

The Mountaineers were the preseason favorite to win the league title while the Blue Streaks were the defending L-L champs.

 

It was also a rematch of last season's L-L championship game.

 

The hype was there.

 

The game lived up to it.

 

Township broke an 8-8 tie in the fourth quarter, with a pair of goals 12 seconds apart, and hung on for a 10-9 win at Ephrata.

 

"As under the radar as we may have been our goal is still to defend our league title," MT coach Kyle Wimer said. "We play with that in mind every game."

 

The Streaks (10-0 L-L, 12-4 overall) jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter. Dillon O'Dell gave Township an early 1-0 edge before Tucker Keefer found Evan Hornberger to even the game at 1-1. The Streaks answered with two man-up goals from Seth Harris and O'Dell with 4:54 left in the first.

 

"We sat in the box too much," Ephrata coach Kevin Pletz said of his team's 10 penalties (four of which led to Township scores). "We were a man-down too many times and they took advantage of it."

 

The Mounts (8-1, 10-2) scored consecutive goals by Hornberger and Keefer to even the game at 3-3 at the end of the first.

 

Township regained the lead early in the second when O'Dell found Tyler Karpinski. Keefer matched Karpinski three minutes later to even the game again before Ryan Morgan put the Streaks back in front with 6:17 left before the half.

 

Ephrata tied the game for the third time when Mason Quickel fired a pass from midfield to Hornberger, who beat Township goalie Alex Ready (6 saves) one-on-one, to make it 5-5. Karpinski's pass to Morgan with 1:56 left in the half gave the Streaks a 6-5 lead.

 

"It's always good to take a lead at the end of a quarter," Wimer explained. "It puts you in a better position to win."

 

Prior to the end of the first half, Quickel's stick was deemed illegal during a random stick check and he had to serve a three-minute, non-releasable penalty.

 

The Streaks took advantage of the extra-man opportunity with two scores 14 seconds apart early in the third. Chris Augeri netted the first for MT and Karpinski added the other to give Township an 8-5 lead.

 

"That penalty to start the third helped," said Wimer. "It gave us an opportunity to take a three-goal lead."

 

Ephrata answered with a 3-0 scoring run to tie the game for the final time at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Hornberger, Keefer and Joey Sellers all found the back of the net during that spurt.

 

"That helped us stay strong in the fourth quarter and give us a chance," Pletz recalled. "But then we found ourselves in a two-goal deficit."

 

O'Dell gave the Streaks the lead for good with a bull-dodge before firing the ball past Brian Neff (9 saves) and Augeri followed 12 seconds later with another Township goal to put the Streaks ahead 10-8 with 9:59 left.

 

Dakota Keefer found Tucker Keefer for an Ephrata score with 46 seconds left, but the Streaks won the ensuing faceoff and eventually ran out the clock.