Ephrata cruises into 5A championship with romp over Hershey
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 Joel Schreiner — LNP/Lancasteronline
EPHRATA — The magical season rolls on for the Ephrata football team.
Already having the most wins in school history and enjoying the deepest run in their postseason history, the Mounts emphatically made it clear Friday night they don’t want this ride to end anytime soon.
After spotting Hershey an early seven-point lead the Mountaineers rolled off seven straight touchdowns and stomped the Trojans 47-7 in a District 3 Class 5A semifinal at War Memorial Field.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to come out and be a head coach,” Ephrata head coach Kris Miller said after Friday’s win. “Never in a million years did I think that this was even possible, and all I get to do is have the best seat in the house.”
The reward is a spot in the championship game next Friday, and the Mounts (12-1) won’t use up too much gas getting there.
That’s because their opponent will be a familiar one — neighboring Cocalico. The Mounts scrimmaged the Eagles, a winner over Cedar Cliff in Friday’s other semifinal, to start the season.
“There’s a lot of friends at Cocalico,” Ephrata running back Brayden Brown said. “But there can’t be any friends this week.”
If Miller said it once, he said it a hundred times after the game ended as he was greeted by fans: “This is unbelievable.”
“I’m speechless,” he said. “It’s absolutely amazing to go down 7-0, get punched in the mouth and then rattle off 47 points in a row and play physical football is just so surreal.”
Brown stole the show, scoring three touchdowns on the ground (98 yards on 16 carries) and returning an interception 55 yards for a touchdown.
“We were in man coverage,” said Brown, who has three interceptions this season — all of which have gone for touchdowns. “They were throwing the short curls the whole time, so I just played a little farther inside, made it look like I was going to blitz and then jumped on the ball and it was right there in my hands.”
It was one of two Pick-Six plays for the Mounts. Quintin Pfautz returned another 51 yards.
Hershey workhorse running back Angel Cabrera, who had 414 yards rushing and seven touchdowns in the Trojans’ first two playoff wins, was held to 69 yards in the first half and just 3 more in the second before he left with an injury early in the third quarter and didn’t return.
It was still a 13-7 Ephrata lead when Cabrera got hurt.
After he left, the momentum turned heavily in the Ephrata direction. Three touchdowns in the third quarter pushed the lead to 34-7 heading into the fourth.
“All the momentum just went our way and our kids felt it,” Miller said. “This place was packed. We played off that energy the entire game. It was the whole Ephrata community against 11 Hershey kids tonight and it was awesome.”
