Cocalico claims second consecutive District 3, 5A Championship end Ephrata’s Cinderella Story

Tagged under: District 3, News, Playoffs, Scoreboard, Scores

Mike Livingston | November 25, 2023

DENVER PA. – Cocalico High School brought home their second consecutive PIAA-5A, District 3 championship in a 23-9 dispatching of Ephrata, Friday night in Denver. 

The Eagles are no stranger to the lights of district playoffs, bringing home District 3’s highest honor in 2022 and again back in 2019. However, for Ephrata, the stage was nothing but new. The Mounts’ earned their first playoff win in school history just a few weeks ago; a 14-13 thriller over Lower Dauphin in the first round of District playoffs. 

Cocalico won the toss and opted to receive the opening kickoff, marching downfield on the game’s first drive only to stall out inside the 10-yard-line. The Eagles settled with the points, as they kicked one in from ten yards out to gain the early 3-0 lead. 

Ephrata soon marched out, only to go three and out on their opening drive. Nonetheless, after punting it away, the Mounts forced a Cocalico fumble on the first play of the ensuing drive, though they’d go four and out this time after a dropped fourth-down pass by Jeremiah Knowles would’ve brought the Mounts into the red zone. 

The decision to go for it by Ephrata, while hard to turn down, may have cost them on the other end. Cocalico soon enough marched downfield at the forefront of the second quarter, as senior running back Aaryn Longenecker ran one in from just nine yards out to give the Eagles a 9-0 lead after the missed extra point. 

The Mounts soon followed up with a long, commanding drive down into the Cocalico red zone, where they’d be held up once again. After a couple of big sacks by the Eagles, Ephrata opted to kick the field goal from 20 yards out, though with hard winds coming north to south, the kick was shanked just left of the goal post, leaving Cocalico with a 9-0 advantage. 

It didn’t take nearly as long for the Eagles to make some noise on offense, as Cocalico took over at the 20-yard line and soon marched right downfield. Just five plays later the Eagles were in the endzone thanks to a beautiful connection between junior quarterback Josh Meyer and Longenecker, who brought in his second touchdown of the night and first one in the air. With the extra point, Cocalico brought their lead to 16-0 with just a minute left until halftime. 

Curiously, a botched kickoff out of bounds, brought the Mounts to the 50-yard line to begin their drive. Following a few big plays, and a huge 4th and 12 conversion, Ephrata was knocking on the door with only four seconds to go in the half. On the next play, Ephrata opted for a power run, directly up the middle but was pushed back by the Cocalico defense at the goal line as time expired in the first half. 

Not too much changed as the second half began for the Mounts, they’d be forced to punt it away on their first drive while going three and out. However, both clubs continued to trade defensive blows with three-and-outs coming from both sides. Soon enough, however, Longenecker was back in the picture, this time on defense, picking off Ephrata quarterback Sam McCracken and setting the Eagles up in prime field position to mount their lead. Only a few plays later it was Longenecker again who brought it in from 24 yards out for his third score of the day, bringing the Ephrata advantage to 23-0 heading into the fourth quarter. 

Ephrata finally got their measure as the fourth quarter trudged on, McCracken sent one over the middle for Knowles who brought it in for the Mount’s first points of the day, making it 23-6 Cocalico. Ephrata failed to score on the next drive but opted to kick a field goal and this time knocked it through, narrowing the margin to 23-9 with just five minutes to go.

As time began to tick down, the Eagles ran the clock out and just like that, are off to the 5A state playoffs as District Three champions.  

“They’re a special group of kids,” said head coach Bryan Strohl following his team’s emotional win. “They make coaching fun, tonight is not just about tonight, like I said to them it’s everything that goes into a season and the offseason. They’re just a tremendous group of hard-working kids and I’m so proud of them.”

Strohl’s team is now riding a twelve-game win streak following a tough week one defeat at the hands of Warwick, a streak they have rode all the way to the state playoffs. 

“We really had a fire lit inside us,” said senior running back Aaryn Longenecker. “After week one, we knew we could have won that game, and we knew we should have won that game. But we’re excited to be heading back to the state playoffs, and excited to play another high-caliber team and show what we can do.”

The Eagles will now move on to the 5A state championship bracket, and take on Peters Township next weekend as they look to punch their ticket to the 5A state championship game. Official dates and times will be set shortly this coming week. 

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