Cocalico opens defense of 5A crown with rout of CV
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
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(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
DENVER — Sam Steffey and Brayden Eppinette spent a good chunk of the second half of the regular season on the sideline while battling nagging injuries for Cocalico’s football team.
The Eagles persevered, won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 championship and earned a first-round bye in the District 3 Class 5A bracket.
Cocalico opened defense of that crown Friday night, Steffey and Eppinette were both back in uniform, and both came up big in the Eagles’ 42-10 quarterfinal win over old pal Conestoga Valley.
“This really felt like a playoff game,” Steffey said. “It really hits you: You lose this game and you’re going home. You have to play with a ton of intensity because you don’t want to go home. This was win, or you’re done.”
Cocalico opened defense of its 5A crown with a 32-point victory, holding CV to just 146 total yards.
Steffey rushed for 80 yards with a trio of touchdown runs, and Eppinette returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a game-changing TD as Cocalico, the No. 3 seed, won its 10th game in a row and set up next Friday’s 5A semifinal at No. 2 Cedar Cliff, which topped No. 7 South Western 31-7.
Cocalico beat Cedar Cliff in the 2019 Class 5A finale. The rematch will be for a spot in the championship game.
“When you have a bull’s-eye on your back, like we’ve kind of had all year, you still have to have a hunter mentality,” Cocalico coach Bryan Strohl said. “You have to be aggressive and you have to play to win and be a hunter as well.”
After taking the Buckskins’ early punch here Friday, that’s exactly what the Eagles did. CV, the Section 2 runner-up and No. 6 seed, finished 9-3 overall. The Bucks, who were back in districts for the first time since 2010, beat Dover 40-9 in a first-rounder last week. And CV had 7-0 and 10-7 leads Friday.
But Cocalico scored on six straight possessions, grabbed a 21-10 lead at the half, and Eppinette’s kick-return TD was the first of three third-quarter game-icing scores for the Eagles, who churned out 247 rushing yards and didn’t attempt a single pass.
“That certainly put a damper on things kind of quickly,” CV coach Jon Scepanski said about Eppinette’s electrifying return. “It’s not what you expect to start the second half.”
CV set the tone early on, getting a 20-yard TD flip from Liam Cheek to Jayden Johnson on fourth down for a quick 7-0 lead. Cocalico answered when Aaryn Longenecker darted in for a 6-yard score. But the Bucks punched right back, getting a 27-yard field goal from Nathan Showvaker for a 10-7 lead.
After that, it was pretty much all Cocalico. Steffey had a 3-yard TD run, and after a short punt by CV, the Eagles feasted on the field position, and QB Josh Myer had a 7-yard TD keeper to give Cocalico a 21-10 cushion at the half.
Eppinette bobbed and weaved through some traffic, then sprinted to the house for a kick-return TD to open the third quarter, and that opened the floodgates for Cocalico. Steffey helped ice it with a pair of short TD bursts; his 2-yard plunge capped the scoring late in the third quarter.
“We can’t look ahead and we can’t get overconfident,” Steffey said. “You have to play in the moment and not take any opponent lightly.”
That was certainly the case against CV, which saw its really solid season come to a halt.
“This is a special group,” Scepanski said about his squad. “They’ve done a lot for our program and for our school. We’re very proud of a lot of great moments and we’ve made a lot of great memories.”