Ephrata finishes with a flourish to beat Barons for first time since 1997
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
EPHRATA — The long wait is over.
For the first time since 1997, Ephrata has topped Manheim Central in a varsity football game.
And the Mountaineers did it with an outstanding finishing flourish, cashing in on a pair of fumble recoveries in the waning minutes to beat the Barons.
Brayden Brown scored three touchdowns — two in the final 4:51 to cap it — Brennan Frymoyer recovered a pair of fumbles, and the host Mounts, in front of a raucous, overflow crowd in venerable War Memorial Stadium in Ephrata, KO’d Central 31-14 in a non-league thriller on Friday night.
“This definitely lived up to the hype,” Brown said. “There were so many people here, and we haven’t beaten them in a really long time.”
It was the Mounts’ first victory over the Barons since a 9-7 triumph back in 1997. The teams were playing for the first time since 2017, and Ephrata snapped a 16-game losing streak against Central, which knotted the game up at 14-14 when Ray Lewis lobbed a 67-yard TD pass to Asher Cook with 7:46 to go in the third quarter.
But Ephrata finished fast. Evan Honberger’s 30-yard field goal gave the Mounts, coming off a must-have turnover on downs, a 17-14 edge with 5:04 to play. On the first play of Central’s ensuing drive, the ball popped out on a running play and Brown scooped it up and raced 20 yards for a TD and a 24-14 lead.
Needing an answer, once again Central fumbled, and Ephrata’s Chase Prange pounced on it deep in Barons territory. Brown iced it, reversing his field and scooting 13 yards for the back-breaking TD with 2:29 to go.
“You never know what it’s going to take to win a football game,” Ephrata coach Kris Miller said. “There are so many paths to winning a game, and we had to pick the right one. And our kids just kept going. Even when Manheim came back, we kept our heads about us and we kept going. That’s a great team win. Absolutely.”
Frymoyer’s fumble recovery set up Ephrata’s first score, when Brown slammed in from two yards out for a 7-0 lead with 1:28 to go in the first quarter.
“I was surprised I was there at the right time, so that’s big,” Frymoyer said. “The fumbles really changed the script of the whole game, and that was huge for us.”
Central (1-1) finally got on the board with 1:05 to go in the first half when Brodie Dougherty had a seven-yard TD run. Lewis had two clutch passes to Cody Hess on that drive. The Barons misfired on the PAT and it was 7-6 at the half.
Ephrata (2-0) grabbed a 14-6 lead when QB Caleb Grant called his own number and snuck in from four yards with 9:19 to go in the third quarter. A trick play set up that score; Nate Conover’s 32-yard halfback option bomb to Nick Keller gave the Mounts life.
Lewis’ bomb to Cook —who had an interception on defense earlier — and Dougherty’s two-point run tied it.
That set up the Mounts’ frantic finish.
Brown’s scoop and return was the highlight.
“I saw the ball being juggled in the air and it fell right at my feet,” he said. “I just picked it up and started running.”
All the way to pay dirt. And a win 27 years in the making.
“We lacked discipline and we lacked executing and finishing,” Central coach Dave Hahn said. “It’s disappointing because that’s not Baron football. We wanted to come out and be physical. At times we were, and when we would get some momentum going, we’d get stopped. Bottom line, we’re better than that.”
