Solanco pounds out perfect season, Section 3 title

QUARRYVILLE — Gavin Cox walked the sideline as a ball boy when Solanco was in this position seven years ago. He remembers the night vividly. It ended with him in tears.

That painful thought was impossible to escape in the days leading up to the Golden Mules’ second chance. Cox has grown into a 6-2, 250-pound center with a say in the outcome. He refused to let 10-0 slip away again.

“It was his time,” Solanco coach Tony Cox said. “I was thinking about it all week. I just hoped he got to feel what it was like.”

Section 3	League	Overall
Solanco	6-0	10-0
Garden Spot	4-2	7-3
Elizabethtown	4-2	8-2
Ephrata	3-3	6-4
Twin Valley	3-3	6-4
Daniel Boone	1-5	2-8
Fleetwood	0-6	2-8

The march to perfection is complete. Solanco knocked off Garden Spot 35-20 in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 game Friday night.

With the win, the Golden Mules captured their first outright section championship since 1990. They became the school’s first team to finish the regular season undefeated.

Ten games became 10 wins. That’s no small feat.

“Starting from the last snap of last season, all the hard work we put in,” Solanco guard John Sankus said. “It all paid off. If you put your heart and dedication into the sport, you’ll succeed. That’s what we did.”

Solanco imposed its will on these 48 minutes. It rushed the ball 55 times. It collected 21 first downs.

The Golden Mules exude toughness and that starts with the five men up front. There’s Cox and Sankus, the two biggest offensive linemen, joined by guard Logan Furches and tackles Nick DeFrancesco and Blaine Pastino.

Those guys opened holes on long, punishing drives. Solanco went 97 yards for one touchdown. It went 77 yards for another.

Elijah Cunningham, Brody Mellinger and Cole Harris each had TD runs. The other scores came on Mellinger’s 24-yard pass to Cunningham and Josiah Forren’s 87-yard kickoff return.

“It’s our senior group as a whole,” Tony Cox said. “They’re one of the most family-oriented teams I’ve ever been around and I’ve been coaching for 25 years.”

Solanco built a 28-10 lead on Forren’s return to start the second half. Garden Spot fought back to within 28-20 and forced a fourth down late in the third quarter. It looked like the Spartans were going to have the ball and a chance to tie.

Tony Cox went for it on fourth-and-4 from Garden Spot’s 48. Forren, running behind DeFrancesco, moved the chains. Solanco scored nine bruising plays later. It was the line’s shining moment.

“It’s fun to be the lead blocker for all our running backs,” Gavin Cox said. “I feel like I’m part of them getting those yards and touchdowns.”

Kye Harting rushed for 141 yards and two scores for Garden Spot (4-2, 7-3). The quarterback surpassed 1,000 yards rushing this season.

Sankus and DeFrancesco are two-way stalwarts. One glimpse of Sankus’ helmet traced him through each of those 10 wins. It’s covered in stickers from all the weekly goals achieved. It’s battered and scratched from all the blocks and tackles.

“It looks like this every year,” Sankus said, looking down and smiling. “I don’t even know what it’s from. Maybe clashing heads.”

Tony Cox, who turned 47 Friday, congratulated his players in an exuberant postgame huddle. They thanked him by singing happy birthday.

“This was my wish,” Tony Cox said. “Not a lot of coaches get a chance to go 10-0.”

Solanco knows how hard it is to achieve, The Golden Mules had their hopes for perfection dashed by Manheim Central in the final week of 2015.

Gavin Cox had different emotions after this game. There were no tears. There was joy and a place in history.