Conestoga Valley rolls on with rout of rival Ephrata
2025 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
| Final | |
| Con. Valley | 31 |
| Ephrata | 7 |
WITMER — Conestoga Valley kept on keeping on Friday night, as the Buckskins flexed their football muscles once again this season.
CV took a couple of uppercuts from Ephrata, but won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 opener between the longtime rivals by a 31-7 count.
Ephrata suffered its first loss this season. CV, which picked up its 16th regular season victory in a row, stormed to 4-0, piling up 483 yards while opening defense of its section title in fine fashion.
“We never felt like we were in control of the game,” CV coach Jon Scepanski said. “But we stayed focused. This was a night of distractions. There was a lot of media here. The (white-out) crowd was pretty intense. But I thought our kids did a great job just staying focused.”
Particularly QB Sawyer Esbenshade, who was his usual efficient self behind behind center for the Bucks.
Esbenshade rushed for 94 yards and he passed for 319 yards with three touchdown strikes, and despite its league-leading defense being nicked up for 254 yards, CV intercepted two passes scooped up a fumble, vaulting to the top of the section race along with Exeter and Muhlenberg, who also won Friday.
“The whole offense was really going,” Esbenshade said. “If the run game wasn’t there, we were able to pass the ball. If the passing game wasn’t there, we were able to run it. Everybody was on the same page.”
Ephrata was minus three key players — QB Carson Martin, one of his favorite targets, Josiah Grant, and two-way threat Aaron Young — who were in street clothes on the sideline, nursing injuries.
“We had some pretty physical games in the first three weeks, so we got some bad luck there,” Ephrata coach Kris Miller said. “It is what it is. You still have to play with 11, and you have to keep moving forward. I’m extremely proud of how our kids competed here, and how they kept playing.”
Both teams did all of their damage in the first half. CV had a 31-7 lead at the break, when Colson Erb drilled a 30-yard field goal at the second-quarter horn to extend the Bucks’ lead.
CV put together a pair of excellent first-quarter scoring drives. The Bucks scored on their first possession, with Josiah Garcia bolting in for a 3-yard run and a 7-0 lead. Esbenshade’s 38-yard pass to Teagan Ruble set up that score.
Later, Esbenshade zipped an 89-yard TD pass to Cordell Bair and it was 14-0 with 3:09 to go in the first quarter.
The Bucks’ lead bulged to 21-0 when Parker Book picked off a pass to thwart an Ephrata drive. A couple of plays later, Esbenshade tossed a 10-yard TD pass to Konnor Fisher with 8:52 to go in the first half.
Ephrata finally answered, getting a 3-yard TD bolt from Bentley Rearich, who had a heck of a night carrying the ball for the Mounts.
Ephrata looked to be in business again when Chase Prange picked off a pass. But CV held, and took a 28-7 lead when Esbenshade flipped a 6-yard TD toss to Garcia to cap a 93-yard drive.
Garcia’s interception with 20 seconds to go in the second quarter set up Erb’s 30-yard field goal at the buzzer, and that was it for the scoring.
CV gave up more points in the first half (7) than the Bucks had yielded in their first three games combined (6) so far this season. CV came in giving up just 90 yards a game; Ephrata had 221 stripes on the ground — 184 by Rearich, a freshman who had his varsity breakout game for the Mounts.
CV passed its first section test against Ephrata in a battle of unbeatens. Exeter and Muhlenberg, both 4-0, are at the tail end of the Bucks’ schedule.
“We’ve said it from the start,” Scepanski said. “Week 9 means nothing if we don’t take care of 1 through 8Now we’re on to Five, and we have to take care of Five (a nonleague game at home against Spring Grove). One at a time. If you look ahead, that’s when you get caught.”
