Solanco Wins Fifth Straight, Tops Conestoga Valley 41-21

Tagged under: District 3, Gameday Hub, News

Phil Myers | September 24, 2022

A mule is a valued work animal, strong muscled, and tough. A Golden Mule is a rare breed. They are mentally tough, hard-working, physically strong, and can only be found in and around Quarryville, PA. On a cool and breezy Friday night before an almost packed house, the Solanco Golden Mules methodically took charge of their football game with Conestoga Valley’s Buckskins to come away with the 41-21 victory. That win increased their record to 5-0 and solidified Solanco’s state honorable mention status in the 5A classification. Conestoga Valley, who has played some quality opposition, fell to 2-3.

Solanco’s dominance of play is shown by time of possession, number of offensive plays that were run, and total yardage. The Golden Mules had the ball for almost 32 minutes, while the Buckskins only had the ball for a little over 16 minutes. Solanco ran 67 plays for 417 yards to Conestoga Valley’s 37 plays and 219 yards. But with that said, Conestoga Valley had its chances to give the Mules a real scare. Solanco head coach, Anthony Cox stated, “I thought on defense we did a great job and on offense I think Elijah Cunningham had a phenomenal game. The offensive line did their job blocking and Brody (Mellinger) managed the game like he usually does. All in all it was a good win for us.”

Solanco came out strong, scoring on their first two drives. They put together a 10-play 71-yard drive to open the game, scoring on a Cole Harris 6-yard plunge up the gut. After Elijah Cunningham’s interception to thwart the Buckskins’ initial drive, the Mules marched 65 yards in 11 plays to score. This time it was quarterback Brody Mellinger who ended up in the end zone at the 10:51 mark of the second with a 1-yard run, his first of three.

Mellinger with the Golden Mule TD. 13-0 Solanco leads Conestoga Valley. @PaFootballNews @golden_mules @mulesfootball @CVathletics pic.twitter.com/Rs82lvpVG8

— Phil Myers Sr. (@Protime_PFN) September 23, 2022

Twelve seconds later the Buckskins got on the board when Ish Camacho took the hand off from QB Macoy Kneisley and went 50 yards to the house to cut the home team’s lead to 13-7. Forcing a three and out, Conestoga Valley mounted another drive into Mule territory but had to punt the ball away when Solanco’s defense stuffed a third and five run for a 4-yard loss. Little did anyone know that key defensive play may have turned the game around for Solanco.

Camacho (#2 in white) is in motion and will get the handoff. He then races 50 yards for the Conestoga Valley touchdown.

Responding to the defense doing their job, the Golden Mule offense went to work scoring on a 21 second 2-play drive that covered 82 yards. A 37-yard run by Cunningham set up the 45-yard Mellinger to Baber TD pass with three minutes left till intermission. Solanco’s Josiah Forren snuffed out the Buckskins’ next drive with a pick with 1:12 left in the second quarter. Using the clock wisely, Solanco drove 67 yards and scored with 18 seconds on the clock when Cunningham hauled in Mellinger’s pass that came close to being intercepted. Going from being down 13-7 with 3 minutes before the half to trailing 28-7 at the half was a tough pill to swallow for Conestoga Valley.

Mellinger’s (#12 in black on right side of picture) 45-yard TD pass to Cunningham.

Jeff Fisher gave the Buckskins a spark of hope when he returned the second half kickoff to the Mule 9-yard line. Again, the Solanco ‘D’ came up big only allowing the Conestoga eleven to make it to the two-yard line. But momentum switched one more time as Conestoga Valley’s Wyatt Wolgemuth stole the ball on a run and returned it 8 yards for a touchdown. Now the Buckskins only trailed 28-14 with plenty of time left in the game.

Camacho comes up tipped pass for Conestoga Valley just short of goal line on 4th down. Solanco takes over leading 28-7. @PaFootballNews @CVathletics @CVBuckskins @mulesfootball @golden_mules pic.twitter.com/hkpMTK0wKB

— Phil Myers Sr. (@Protime_PFN) September 24, 2022

This is where the Golden Mule offense stepped in and said, “we got this.” Mellinger scored on another 1-yard run near the end of the third quarter to cap off a 12-play 65-yard drive that ate up over 6 minutes of time. After Solanco successfully recovered to what amounted to an onsides kick, Mellinger got the trifecta by scoring one more time from the one making the score 41-14.

Conestoga Valley’s last score came with 4 minutes left in the game. Nick Tran ran the ball in for the game’s last touchdown. Tran ended up with 66 yards on 14 carries. Camacho had himself a nice game albeit in a losing effort. He toted the ball six times for 91 yards, scoring once, and caught 4 passes for 26 yards.

The Golden Mules ran the ball pretty much by committee. Four players all had at least 8 carries and over 50 yards rushing individually. Forren had 69 yards on 11 tries, Harris 53 on 15 attempts, Mellinger 88 on 14 totes, and Cunningham 92 on 8 carries. Mellinger’s only two completions went for TDs. “We have a great group of seniors, 24 of them. They all work together, play hard and play together,” said Coach Cox.

Next week the Golden Mules take their unblemished record on the road as they visit the 3-2 Twin Valley Raiders. Conestoga Valley will play host to the Lebanon Cedars who are 0-5. Both bands did a fantastic job. The Solanco marching band did a show entitled “Here There, and Everywhere” which was a 5 song tribute to the Beatles.