By Greg Schneider
The Eastern football team still carried slim hopes of making the District Three playoffs when it made the road trip to Littlestown last week for the next to last game of the regular season, but saw those hopes pretty much evaporate when the Thunderbolts blitzed them 41-7 in a Division III contest.
The Golden Knights were never in this one as Littlestown took quick control of the game with a pair of unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter. Two more in the second sent the Knights into the break in a 27-0 hole and another pair in the third period made it 41-0 before they would finally get on the board in the fourth quarter to avert the shutout.
The Knights lone touchdown of the game came on a big play when quarterback Mark Holloway (9-22-1, 165 yards) hooked up with Levi Myers on a 52-yard catch and run midway through the final period. Eric Moore added the PAT kick to close out the game's scoring and set the final at 44-7 with 6:57 left in the game.
Before that, however, it was all Thunderbolts. They jumped on top, 14-0, on a 20 yard pass from quarterback Matt Zuber (12-24-1, 187 yards) to Matt Koontz and a one-yard keeper by Zuber with 55 seconds left in the first quarter.
In the second period, another Zuber-Koontz connection, this one for 27 yards put the Thunderbolts' third touchdown on the board and a nine-yard burst by Sean Doherty (16 carries, 104 yards) added the second with 6:25 left to make it 27-0 at halftime.
After the break Doherty scored again on a three-yard run and Kootz took an interception back 91 yards to cap Littlestown's scoring at 44 with 3:04 left in the third period.
The Golden Knights finished the night with 182 yards on 165 passing and just 17 rushing.
Myers led Eastern in receiving, taking five of Holloway's passes for 114 yards and the Knights' lone touchdown. Drake Dunlap (2-45) and Ryan Yohe (2-6) also hauled in a couple of Holloway aerials.
In the Knights' ground game, Andy Siple led the way with 50 yards on 16 carries and Yohe added 12 on a pair of runs, but Littlestown sacks and tackles for losses pared the Eastern total down to just 17 yards rushing.
The loss drops the Knights to 1-4 in Division II. They sit tied with Northestern for fifth behind West York (5-0, 9-0), Littlestown (4-1, 6-2), York Suburban (4-1, 6-2) and Kennard-Dale (2-2, 4-4) and ahead of Susquehannock (0-5, 0-9). Overall Eastern is 4-5 heading into this Friday's regular-season finale at Northeastern.
SOCCER
The Eastern soccer team saw the curtain drop on its 2009 campaign last Monday when it dropped a heartbreaking and very frustrating, 3-2, decision to Big Spring in a District Three Class AA play-in match in Newville.
The Golden Knights walked away from this one knowing they played well, but also probably thinking they let one get away. The Knights gave as good as they got - actually often gave better than they got as they finished the match with slim 13-11 advantage in shots on goal and a slight, 8-7, edge in corner kicks, but just came up one goal short in advancing into the District Three brackets.
The Knights' downfall came in a combination of a slow start and a good performance in goal by Big Spring's Dayne Conner, who had 11 saves to preserve the Bulldogs' victory.
Eastern had a few chances in the first half, but Conner was up to the challenge each time and the Bulldogs went into the intermission up by one, 1-0, thanks to Austin Stover's unassisted goal midway (23:54) through the half.
Stephen Flinchbaugh, who finished with eight saves, had a solid first half, despite the one Bulldog goal, to keep the Golden Knights in the match.
Things appeared to quickly turn desperate for Eastern after the break as Big Spring erupted for two goals to take what looked to be a commanding 3-0 lead with just 18:48 left in the match.
Ben Keiter, off a nice feed by Kyle Jumper, beat Flinchbaugh just 7:16 into the second half to make it 2-0 and then Garrett Feuchtenberger, off another precise assist from Jumper, looked to ice the victory with a goal with just 18:48 left.
To the Knights' credit, however, they never quit. Down by three with less than a half left, they could have just folded their tents and played out the string, content with their second-place finish in the YAIAA and their district play-in berth, but they did not do that. Instead they stepped up their effort and turned in a frantic 18 minutes of play that almost pulled them all the way out of their three-goal hole.
Things still looked bleak for the Knights as the clock wound down to the five-minute mark. Despite issuing Connor some serious challenges over the 13-minute stretch after Feuchtenberger's goal, they still had not managed to get a ball behind him, but finally with just 5:03 left they finally found a crack in his armor.
Adam Beck did the damage for the Knights, putting an unassisted ball past the Bulldog keeper to finally get Eastern on the board.
Still down by two the Knights were still fighting an uphill battle, but fight they did. They kept scrambling and four minutes later, Travis Grove redirected a Beck assist past Connor and suddenly it was a one-goal, 3-2, match, but with only 1:10 left. And the relieved Bulldogs held the Knights off for those final 70 seconds to hang on to the win and earn a berth against Schuylkill Valley, the District Three third seed.
And the Knights, who finish the season with a 12-5-1 record, go home, but go home knowing they left everything they had in Newville.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Eastern cross country team competed in the District Three Championships at Hershey's Parkview Course last Wednesday.
The Eastern boys had six runners compete and finished 16th in the 17-team Class AA field.
Hunter Koeberle led the Knights, turning in a time of 20:18 to finish 70th overall in the field of 137 runners. Stephen Welsh of Kutztown won the event with a time of 16:50.
Raleigh Koeberle (86th, 20:38), Ben Dannels (112th, 21:59), Aaron Hock (113th, 22:01), Dylan Donaghy (125th, 22:47) and Jack Gotwalt (135th, 23:37) also ran for the Golden Knights.
Eastern had only four girls in the Class AAA race and did not score in the team competition.
Megan Leiphart had the best time for the Golden Knights, running a 25:48 to place 295th among the 312 runners to finish the race. Leigha Anderson of Cumberland Valley turned in a time of 19:35 to win the race.
Krissy Pennell (303rd, 26:09), Megan Borigo (307th, 26:27) and Megan Smith (308th, 26:28) rounded out the Eastern contingent.
