Cocalico rebounds with shutout of Garden Spot
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Brian Rippey — LNP/Lancasteronline
DENVER — There was nothing fancy about the way Cocalico handled Garden Spot Friday night in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 football opener for both teams.
Cocalico, coming off two straight losses, put together a pair of long drives in a dominant second half to defeat Garden Spot 21-0 in Denver.
The Eagles (2-2) opened the second half with a drive of nearly eight minutes, then started the fourth quarter with a march of 98 yards to put the game away and down the Spartans (2-2).
Cocalico quarterback Josh Myer put the ball in the air just three times in the second half and only five times for the entire game.
“That’s pretty much the definition of Cocalico football right there,” Myer said. “Teams know that we’re not going to throw the ball too much. We completed some passes today. But teams know we’re going to try to run the ball and we do it anyway.”
Cocalico ran the ball to the tune of 49 times for 254 yards. They had drives of 16 plays for 77 yards and 18 plays for 98 yards in the second half. Only 11 of the yards in the second half came through the air.
Instead, Myer did his damage on the ground. Running behind a young, improving offensive line, the 6-1, 190-pound quarterback pushed his way for 127 yards on 21 carries. He capped the Eagles’ third quarter drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak.
“I felt like this was the first game where we were able to consistently get a flow to our offense,” said Cocalico coach Bryan Strohl.
The flow continued after Brendan Zimmerman intercepted an Austin Hurst pass on the final play of the fourth quarter. It was originally called a touchback but was instead marked at the 2-yard line to start play in the fourth quarter.
No matter. The Eagles chewed up yardage and the clock to ice the victory on a 1-yard run by Dane Horning with 2:09 left.
“The passion was much better tonight and obviously some good things happened,” Strohl said.
The desire showed on defense in the first half against a Garden Spot team that averaged just under 50 points through its first three games.
The Spartans had a couple of scoring opportunities in the first half but dropped a potential touchdown pass in the first quarter and missed a 30-yard field-goal attempt in the second.
Cocalico scored the only points of the first half on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Myer to Brayden Eppinette with 5:14 left in the first half.
Cocalico also had an apparent interception return for a touchdown called back because of a penalty in the final seconds of the first half.
But the defense never buckled. Hurst threw for 151 yards but had two passes picked off. Jake Conrad had seven catches for 55 yards.
But the Cocalico defense, with Myer at safety, prevented the Spartans from coming up with big plays they relied on in their first three games.
“We knew we were going to play a very good passing team this week,” Myer said. “The DBs had to step up and they did that. We had to keep everything in front of us and we were able to do that.”
