Ephrata extinguishes long drought with win over Warwick

(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)

By Bruce Morgan — LNP/Lancasteronline

Ephrata ended a 15-game losing streak to Warwick Friday, rallying from a halftime defici by limiting the Warriors to 81 second-half yard for a 29-21 non-league football victory at War Memorial Field.

“It’s such a big win for the community and the kids,” said Ephrata coach Kris Miller, shortly after getting warm, congratulatory hugs from his daughters, Breana and Reagan. “We talked about closing the gap and closing the gap, and I thought last year, despite what the score was (42-14), I think it allowed our kids to believe that this night was going to be possible. We realized how close we were despite the score.”

Well, it certainly didn’t hurt to have an Angel on their side this night.

Angel Collazo, that is.

With Warwick trailing 22-21 after the Mounts’ Brayden Brown blocked a punt through the end zone for a safety and Sam McCracken ran for a two-yard TD with 11:18 left, quarterbck Jack Reed drove the Warriors into Ephrata territory.

But Collazo’s interception — the Mounts’ third — at the 10 halted the Warriors’ charge.

“I saw the ball and I had to grab it,” Collazo said. “I messed up in the beginning, and I had to get my get-backs.”

Collazo wasn’t done. Three plays later, he caught a bubble screen pass from McCracken (14-of-19, 234 yards), broke a tackle or two, and sprinted 92 yards down the left sideline for a back-breaking score to put the Mounts up 29-21 with 6:42 to go.

“I grabbed the ball, I saw the (Warwick defender) coming out, I got a little scared,” Collazo recalled, “and I just busted out of there. I was out.”

From there, the Mounts’ defense made their second fourth-down stop of the half, and then it was Andre Weidman time for Ephrata. The 6-foot-1, 216-pound running back (27 carries, 127 rushing yards, two TDs) carried the ball nine times on the final drive, gutting out hard yardage for three first downs to help Ephrata run out the clock.

“The kids made so many plays,” Miller said. “They bought into what we were doing and, man, it’s so good. To not give up a point in the second half, our defense played lights-out and those kids found a way.

“It was a huge team win across the board. How many first downs did we pick up on that final drive? That was a huge gut check time for our kids and they kept answering the bell.”

Earlier, the Warriors and Mounts traded scores in the first half, with Warwick quarterbck Jack Reed running for scores of 2 and 6 yards, then Ephrata twice responded with Weidman TD runs of 4 and 6 yards.

Warwick’s blocked PAT allowed it to maintain a 14-13 lead, and then Andrew McClune’s 1-yard TD dive — going airborne over a pile of players with 2:54 left in the half — sent the Warriors into the half with a 21-13 lead. Overall, they had an excellent average starting position of their own 43-yard line in the opening 16 minutes.

But that set up a second half in which Ephrata made several big plays and reclaimed the George Male Trophy for its showcase.