Mounts grab Section 2 title

Before the 2019 season began, the Ephrata boys lacrosse team set some lofty goals, the first of which was capturing the regular season Section Two title and berth in the upcoming Lancaster- Lebanon League tournament.

Tuesday evening at Lampeter- Strasburg, the Mountaineers accomplished just that.

Buoyed by its quickstrike offense, Ephrata ran off nine straight goals in a convincing 14-2 victory.

“This was definitely near the top of the list,” Mountaineers coach Mike O’Donnell said of the championship. “We just tried to emphasize to the kids to take it one game at a time, but even one shot at a time, one pass at a time, one save at a time.

“They really did that tonight. They played a great game and I am proud of them.”

The Mountaineers improved to 9-1 in the league and 13-4 overall, and junior Kyle Raudenbush noted his team’s improvement in his three years.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “My freshman year, two years ago, we didn’t have a great year, but it was an improvement with five wins. Last year, we had another improvement, I think it was 10 wins. This year, another huge jump, a section title for us.”

After falling behind 1:27 into the contest, Ephrata scored three times in a 52-second span of the first period and added another less than two minutes later for a 4-1 lead.

Caden Keefer started the barrage and Raudenbush scored a mere nine seconds after Keefer’s marker.

Hunter Mortimer put home a great pass from Bryson Rhee, then, with 4:25 left in the quarter, Raudenbush notched his second of the game.

“We knew coming into the season that our offense was going to carry us for most of the year and they did that tonight,” O’Donnell said. “We were down 1-0 and we answered back quickly, kind of reset the tone and never gave L-S a chance to get back into it. It wasn’t just our offense. It was our defense, our goalie.”

Lampeter-Strasburg goalkeeper Dominic Reed was busy throughout the opening 12 minutes, making four of his eight saves during the period.

However, Raudenbush completed his hat trick a little more than two minutes into the second quarter, and nearly six minutes later, Mortimer scored his second of the day. Exactly 58 seconds elapsed before Rhee found the back of the net, helping the Mounts take a 7-1 lead at the half.

Brock Boyer opened the second half scoring. He and Raudenbush finished with four goals apiece. Keefer notched a pair of goals and two assists. Rhee scored twice.

O’Donnell called it a “coming out party” for the sophomore Boyer, who, in addition to his scoring, was dominating in the draw circle.

“Our ball movement was amazing, the best we have had all year in my opinion,” said Boyer. “We just executed when we had to. Confidence is everything.”

Conner Nolt opened the scoring for Lampeter- Strasburg 57 seconds later. However, the Pioneers’ 1-0 advantage lasted only a little more than three minutes.

The Mounts fired 22 shots on Reed, who made eight saves.

Nolt scored both goals for the Pioneers (5-5, 8-7), who remain in position for a District Three Class 2A playoff berth.

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