Aaryn Longenecker carries Cocalico to 2nd straight district title
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
DENVER — Aaryn Longenecker has been Cocalico’s home-run hitter all season.
Friday night, in the District 3 Class 5A championship game, before an overflow crowd in Denver, he smashed a grand slam.
Longenecker had two touchdown runs, a TD catch and his interception to set up a TD as the Eagles eased past next door neighbor Ephrata 23-9 to win their second straight 5A crown and fifth overall.
“Back-to-back district champs,” Longenecker said. “The first one felt amazing. The second one feels even better. We’re the first class in school history to win it back-to-back, so it’s a pretty crazy thing.”
One of Friday’s craziest stats: Cocalico’s defense registered seven sacks and held Ephrata to 27 rushing yards on 25 attempts. The Eagles also stuffed the Mountaineers at the 1 on the final play of the first half.
“Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge,” Cocalico coach Bryan Strohl said. “That could have been a big momentum shift if they score there. Instead, it gave us momentum going in (at half). If you want to find one play in the game that was the game-changer, that was it.”
Cocalico, the No. 3 seed, will make a return trip to the state semifinals next week to take on undefeated WPIAL champ Peters Township, which topped Erie Cathedral Prep 33-14.
The Eagles lost to eventual state champ Pine-Richland in last year’s final four. This year Cocalico will take a 12-game winning streak into states.
“Great story lines for sure,” Strohl said. “Last year we were the 12 seed and we were the last team in. This year, we played against our crosstown rival. This one is pretty special for sure.”
The Eagles (12-1) scored all the points they would need in the first half. Todd Brubaker got the scoring started when he drilled a 25-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 5:37 to go in the first quarter.
Then Longenecker got cooking. His 8-yard TD run gave the Eagles a 9-0 lead. Longenecker caught a fourth-down pass from Josh Myer to keep that drive alive.
Later, Myer heaved a 24-yard TD strike to Longenecker, who went up in traffic to pluck the pass and give Cocalico a 16-0 cushion at the half.
The Eagles went for the jugular in the third. After Longenecker picked off Sam McCracken, Cocalico zoomed to a 23-0 edge when Longenecker, who rushed for 111 yards and caught three passes for 47 yards, ripped off a 24-yard run with 2:27 to go in the third.
Cocalico, the outright Section 4 champ, survived three fumbles.
Ephrata, the No. 5 seed, finally got some offensive momentum going in the fourth quarter. McCracken zipped a 16-yard TD pass to Jeremiah Knowles with 10:15 to play. And Evan Honberger’s 29-yard field goal made it 23-9 with 6:07 to go.
On a potential game-icing drive later in the fourth Cocalico lost its third fumble, this time into the end zone for a touchback. But the Mounts (12-2) ran out of time and saw their sensational season come to a close.
Ephrata shared the Section 3 championship, made the playoffs for the first time in 36 years and won three postseason games.
“If you would have told me 16 weeks ago that we’d see these guys in the district championship, I would have been ecstatic,” said Ephrata coach Kris Miller, who took the job in the midst of the Mounts’ 52-game losing streak. “This was huge for us.
“We fell short, yes. But our kids never quit, all the way to the end. I love these kids to death. We changed the culture here. You’re never satisfied losing a football game, but it was a heck of a ride to even get here.”
