The Ephrata Mountaineers will venture away from home to take on the Garden Spot Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Ephrata strolled past Manheim Central with points to spare, taking the game 31-14. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Mountaineers.
Ephrata can attribute much of their success to Brayden Brown, who rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Brown's also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, forcing a fumble, making 11 total tackles (2.0 for loss), and defending a pass which he returned for a touchdown.
Ephrata wouldn't let Manheim Central keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Ephrata can thank Dominic Pugh and Brown for forcing both of them. Pugh also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, forcing a fumble and making eight total tackles.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Garden Spot, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Lebanon 56-6 at home. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football rankings (they are ranked 153rd, while the Cedars are ranked 531st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Andrew Pemberton had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. AJ Hurst was another key player, throwing for 129 yards and four touchdowns.
Ephrata's victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 2-0. As for Garden Spot, the win also got them back to even at 1-1.
Ephrata took their victory against Garden Spot when the teams last played back in November of 2023 by a conclusive 31-10. Will Ephrata repeat their success, or does Garden Spot have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
