QB change helps Cocalico rally past Warwick

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

By John Walk — LNP/Lancasteronline

The Cocalico offense sputtered in its first five possessions of Friday’s season-opener against visiting Warwick.

The Eagles’ triple-option rushing attack mustered 35 yards on its first 15 carries, an average of just 2.3 yards per attempt.

Down two scores to the Warriors, Cocalico third-year coach Bryan Strohl inserted junior Bryce Nash at quarterback. On his first play, Nash handed off to junior Sam Steffy, who went 36 yards for Cocalico’s first score of the season.

The Eagles essentially controlled the game from there en route to a 42-27 season-opening victory.

“Bryce takes control of the offense,” Strohl said. “He exudes confidence. Our guys fed off that. Warwick did a great job stopping what we tend to do best. We had to take their punch and find a counter punch.”

Cocalico tallied 290 rushing yards on its final 33 attempts of the game, led by a total of 198 yards on 19 carries, two of them for touchdowns, from Steffy.

“The first 20 minutes of the game, I thought we were there mentally,” Steffy said of the slow start. “We just needed to fix some stuff. Everyone is young this year. We’re just trying to figure stuff out.”

First half: Cocalico (1-0) fumbled the ball away on its first possession. Two plays later, Warwick (0-1) notched the game’s first score on Jack Reed’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Evans to go up 7-0.

Three drives later, Warwick went up 14-0 in the second quarter on a 55-yard bomb from Reed (15-for-31, 262 yards, three TDs) to Brendon Snyder.

After Steffy’s score to make it 14-7, Cocalico’s next drive went five plays, back-ended by a 33-yard heave from Nash to Aaryn Longenecker and a 5-yard TD run from Steffy to tie it at 14-14.

Second half: Cocalico’s second drive of the second half went 50 yards on six plays, aided by a 15-yard Warwick facemask penalty and capped by a Longenecker 8-yard TD run to the left side to give the Eagles their first lead of the season, 21-14.

The Warriors answered on their next drive, which was highlighted by a 55-yard pass from Reed to Snyder and finished off by an Andrew McClune 1-yard TD plunge. But the ensuing snap was bad on the extra-point kick, resulting in a failed two-point pass attempt that was intercepted by Dane Bollinger, keeping Cocalico in front 21-20.

The Eagles answered four plays later when Longenecker went 54 yards down the left side, pushing the lead to 28-20 at the end of the third quarter.

After a Warwick three-and-out, a Steffy 62-yard rumble was followed four plays later by a Nash 2-yard keeper for a score to push the Eagles’ lead to 35-20 with 7:22 left.

The ensuing kickoff near the Cocalico sideline went off a Warwick player and was recovered by Eagles’ Tyler Angstadt. Three plays later, Longenecker took a handoff and scampered 14 yards up the middle for his second score, pushing the lead to 42-20.

Up next: Cocalico travels to Solanco (1-0), while Warwick travels to Ephrata (0-1).