It’s a perfect ending for Exeter
MANHEIM — The situation was dire.
Manheim Central had the ball on the Exeter 2 with a minute-and-half left, down four.
Matt Bauer’s mind was racing. What, the Eagles head coach thought, if we intentionally let them score on the next play? We’ve got three timeouts left and time to drive the field for the game-winner.
Hey, they tried it in the Super Bowl. Why not in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 championship game?
Bauer offered his suggestion to Exeter defensive coordinator Jim Bauer. He was shot down. Emphatically.
So . . .
“We dug in,” Matt Bauer said.
| Section 2 | League | Overall |
| Exeter | 6-0 | 10-0 |
| Manheim Central | 5-1 | 9-1 |
| Warwick | 4-2 | 5-5 |
| Conestoga Valley | 3-3 | 5-5 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 2-4 | 3-7 |
| Muhlenberg | 1-5 | 2-8 |
| Lebanon | 0-7 | 0-10 |
What happened over the next minute — three plays no one will ever forget — will become the stuff of legend.
“It was a storybook ending,” Bauer said of the incredible defensive stand that turned back the highest-scoring team in the league and preserved Exeter’s 21-17 victory and first Section 2 title, in its first year in the league.
“We just needed to make a play,” said linebacker Lucas Palange, the Eagles’ sturdy senior leader. “Somebody needed to step up.”
Turns out a bunch of guys did.
First Kyle Lash, a senior tackle with a relentless motor, shot through the line and pulled down Jaden Weit for a 3-yard loss.
Next, junior linebacker Miles Brant got through on a blitz and flushed quarterback Zac Hahn out of the pocket — and right into Palange, good for a 10-yard loss.
Before the Barons (5-1, 9-1) got off their next play Bauer called timeout. He saw wide receiver Aaron Enterline — who had dominated the game in all three phases to that point — lined up alone wide left. He switched up his coverage and face-guarded the guy who had pulled in a 21-yard first-half touchdown, then a 40-yarder a minute earlier to put the Barons in winning position.
“If we hadn’t called that timeout, that’s exactly where the ball was going (to Enterline),” Bauer said.
On third down the pocket crumbled again. Hahn drifted left to escape danger, then lofted a pass toward the back of the end zone. Pashley, a junior defensive back, ended the threat with 17 seconds left.
And just like that the Eagles perfect season was complete.
“It was just a great series of events to end the game,” said Palange.
The Eagles didn’t stop just any team. They stopped one that had been averaging 55.7 points, second-most in the state. One averaging 464 total yards per game. The Eagles held the Barons to less than half that yardage total.
In fact, they didn’t allow a second-half point. They trailed 17-7 midway through the second quarter, after Enterline’s dazzling 72-yard punt return for a touchdown, then gave up nothing else.
In the second half the Barons managed just 30 rushing yards. Until that final drive they had just two first downs in the second half.
That final drive, by the way, should never have started. Enterline was hit a split-second after catching a punt and fumbled the ball away. The officials — who had a worse night than Justin Verlander — didn’t see it that way.
The Barons’ final drive started with yet another questionable call, a pass interference on Pashley.
No matter. The Eagles didn’t fold, not even after Enterline went high to pull down a pass at the 2 with around 90 seconds left.
Pashley, who had coverage, was upset about that big play. He thought he had let his teammates down. They picked him up and he paid them back.
“I made up for the big gain, that’s all it was,” he said of his interception.
At the outset it never looked like it would come down to the final seconds. The Eagles’ big line dominated on their opening possession, paving the way for a 13-play, 87-yard drive. Richie Karstien carried it nine times on the nearly six-minute drive for 71 yards, including the last 6.
Exeter’s defense came up with an early goal-line stand, forcing Manheim to settle for a field goal after Brycen Ermold’s 30-yard run to the 11. That stand looked bigger as the game got later.
Hahn, who was hounded by the Eagles’ relentless pass rush all night, showed his mettle on the next drive, rolling out, extending the play, until Enterline flashed open in the deep right corner of the end zone. He rifled a fourth-and-11 pass to him for a 21-yard touchdown and 10-7 lead.
It was the first time Exeter had trailed all season.
It got worse when Enterline took back that punt, making it 17-7 with 6:07 left in the half.
And then still worse when starting quarterback Mason Rotelli was knocked out of the game (briefly) on a sack.
Joey Schlaffer, who had battled Rotelli for that spot throughout the offseason, came in at quarterback. On his first snap the Penn State tight end recruit raced around left end and went 70 yards for a touchdown.
Just like that, momentum swung back to the Eagles.
“We put Joey in that situation, and he’s a difference-maker.,” Bauer said. “That was a tremendous run.
“He’s one of our leaders. He wanted the ball. The best players play their best in the big games and that’s what he did.”
Exeter regained the lead on the opening drive of the second half. Again it went to their ground-and-pound, and Palange, Lash and their big linemen delivered.
When Karstien slammed in from the 3 the Eagles had the lead for good, though it sure didn’t look like that in the final minute.
“I said to my other captains before the game: We’re gonna go through some adversity,” Palange said, “but we’ve gotta keep everybody together, and that’s what we did. We were down 17-7. At that point we knew we had to keep fighting, battle back, not let up any points for the rest of the game.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Exeter | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Manheim Central | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Exeter | Karstien, 6 run (Skipper kick) | 4:48 |
| 1 | Manheim Central | Neff, 20 FG | 0:44 |
| 2 | Manheim Central | Enterline, 21 pass from Hahn (Reed kick) | 9:22 |
| 2 | Manheim Central | Enterline, 72 punt return (Neff kick) | 6:07 |
| 2 | Exeter | Schlaffer, 70 run (Skipper kick) | 5:19 |
| 3 | Exeter | Karstien, 3 run (Skipper kick) | 7:25 |
Team statistics
| Exeter | Manheim Central | |
| First downs | 14 | 11 |
| Rushes-yards | 42-238 | 26-67 |
| Passing yards | 61 | 121 |
| Total yards | 299 | 198 |
| Passes | 4-11-2 | 10-19-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 4-0 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 4-33.7 | 4-39.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 11-86 | 4-35 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Exeter: Karstien 26-144, Schlaffer 3-75, Rotelli 12-20.
Manheim Central: Arnold 20-95, Weit 1-(-3), Hahn 5-(-25).
PASSING
Exeter: Rotelli 4-10-2–61, Schlaffer 0-1-0–0.
Manheim Central: Hahn 10-19-1–121.
RECEIVING
Exeter: Schlaffer 2-49, Z. Zandier 2-12.
Manheim Central: Enterline 5-85, Sipel 3-22, Callahan 1-8, Watson 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS
Exeter: Pashley.
Manheim Central: Enterline 2.
