Esbenshade connects for five TDs in Conestoga Valley win over Ephrata
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
EPHRATA — Just when you thought Conestoga Valley junior quarterback Sawyer Esbenshade couldn’t top his already snazzy start to the season, the rookie signal-caller one-upped himself Friday night.
Esbenshade fired five touchdown passes and had his first career 300-yard passing effort, helping CV topple Ephrata 42-7 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 football opener between the Bucks and the Mountaineers before a packed house in Ephrata.
Make that a 4-0 getaway for CV, which bolted to a 35-0 lead at the half, had four sacks on defense, and kept Ephrata off the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter.
Four games. Four lopsided wins. And some gnarly defense, too. A pretty good start overall for the Bucks, right?
“I’d be a knucklehead if I said no,” CV coach Jon Scepanski said with a smile. “I’m proud of them. But that’s only four games, and we have a long, long way to go.”
CV followed up blowout non-league wins over Penn Manor, McCaskey and Dover with a convincing victory in the league opener, handing the Mounts (2-2) their second straight setback — Ephrata dropped a gut-punch of a 21-17 decision at Garden Spot in the waning seconds last week.
The Bucks never really let the Mounts up for air Friday, as CV and Ephrata clashed for the first time since 2017.
CV set the tone with three first-quarter scores to seize control for good. Esbenshade hit Konnor Fisher for a 59-yard TD strike and a 7-0 lead, and he drilled a 26-yard TD pass to Jayden Johnson and CV quickly had a 13-0 cushion. Tegan Ruble’s 2-yard TD run beat the first-quarter horn, and his two-point catch gave the Bucks a 21-0 lead.
“We were all excited coming out of the locker room,” CV all-star two-way lineman Tal Stoltzfus said. “We worked together. That was the biggest thing. Everybody was putting in a little bit more energy. That got everyone juiced up.”
CV went for the jugular in the second quarter; Esbenshade, who clicked on 15-of-17 passes for 310 yards, flipped a 3-yard TD toss to Elijah Tlumach, and he zipped a back-shoulder, 16-yard TD dart to Cordell Bair on fourth down, giving the Bucks a commanding 35-0 lead with time running out in the first half.
CV cashed in on its opening drive of the second half, with Esbenshade hitting Josh Dennis on a perfectly placed 48-yard TD bomb to cap the Bucks’ scoring.
“He’s confident,” Stoltzfus said about Esbenshade. “And he keeps working to get better.”
“I’m super thrilled for him and I’m super proud of him,” Scepanski said about his prized QB. “He’s seeing things and now he’s learning his receivers. He’s been playing great.”
Ephrata punched in its lone score when Jayden Artis had a 3-yard plunge with 3:10 to play. The Mounts saw four drives short-circuited on downs, and CV picked off a pair of passes, one by Bair — which led to Johnson’s 26-yard TD grab — and one by Isaiah Sensenig, which set up Bair’s 16-yard TD catch.
“Hat’s off to them,” Ephrata coach Kris Miller said, giving a nod to CV. “They came in here with a nice game plan and they got after us. But we’re going to be OK. It’s a long season, and this is one loss. And now back-to-back, so we’re facing some adversity. Now we have to figure some things out.”
