Turnover sparks Elco comeback against Annville-Cleona

(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)

By John Walk — LNP/Lancasteronline

Up two scores, Annville-Cleona seemed on the doorstep of another score that likely would have given it an insurmountable lead Thursday in a non-league game against visiting Elco.

But A-C fumbled the ball away, and Elco’s Elliot Krieder notched the recovery.

It was the turning point in the Raiders’ 22-19 comeback win.

Down 19-7 after the fumble recovery, seven plays later it was Kreider again, this time pulling in a throw from quarterback Dom Thornton, breaking two tackles, staying on his feet and rumbling for a 56-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 19-14 with 11:11 left.

Kreider’s efforts redeemed an earlier ball he had dropped while wide open at midfield, a play that likely would have yielded a 75-yard score.

“I just kept my head,” Kreider said. “I knew they were coming back to me at some point.”

After an A-C three-and-out, Elco (2-0) needed eight plays to go 50 yards, with a 10-yard TD run from Jake Williams (20 carries, 134 yards) and ensuing 2-point Williams run putting the Raiders back up 22-19 with 5:33 left

“We just kept faith the whole game that we would take over eventually,” Williams said. “We thought we were the stronger team. We gutted it out.”

The Dutchmen (1-1) marched to the Elco 18 for a potential game-winning scoring score but fumbled the ball away for the third time, essentially sealing the Elco victory with 2:03 left.

The Raiders also overcame eight second-half penalties, including a Williams TD run that was called back on a holding penalty on the second-to-last possession. Williams scored four plays later.

“That tells the story,” Elco coach Bob Miller. “There’s no quit in these guys. They’re not putting their heads down. Those are mistakes we’ll have to clean up. But there’s never an effort or heart mistake.”

The Elco second-half comeback came after a first half that was mostly controlled by A-C.

The Dutchmen struck first with an eight-play, 46-yard drive capped by a 1-yard plunge from quarterback Gavin Keller to go up 6-0.

Elco responded with a six-play, 57-yard drive highlighted by a 35-yard run by Williams and capped by a 10-yard pass from Thornton to Kreider, which gave the Raiders their first lead, 7-6, early in the second quarter.

A-C’s Dominic Funk returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards, which set up the Dutchmen with a short field, leading to an 11-yard TD run by Phoenix Music (20 carries, 70 yards), which capped a six-play, 38-yard drive to put A-C back up 12-7.

The Dutchmen extended their lead to 19-7 just before halftime when Cameron Connolly snagged a Pick-Six, going 15 yards for the defensive score.

Elco had 58 yards rushing at halftime. But take away a 35-yard gain from Williams, and it was 23 yards on 15 carries, an average of just 1.5 yards per carry. The Raiders tallied 115 rushing yards on 21 carries in the second half.

“We found a formation we really liked,” Miller said. “In the second quarter, Dom and Jake said, ‘Hey, I think we have this.’ They gave us a play we should be running to the outside. (The) coaches and I came up with a formation. They stuck with it.”