By Eric Pyles
The E-town football enjoyed all treats and no tricks in knocking off Section Two rival Ephrata 35-34 in triple overtime last Friday.
Jared Danneker blocked what would have been a game-tying extra point attempt in the third extra frame to seal the one-point victory for the Bears. Danneker also scored two touchdowns in the extra sessions to keep the home team alive and set up the game-winning play.
As you might expect with such a close final the contest featured four ties as neither team could gain an advantage long enough to put the game away.
The Bears (3-3, 4-5) started the scoring with a Brendan Kain 33-yard scamper in the opening frame. Elizabethtown held that 7-0 lead until the second quarter when Jeremy Frank hit Andrew Burkholder for a 15-yard strike and a 7-7 halftime tie.
Kain broke the tie by breaking free for a 69-yard score in the third quarter that made it 14-7 with just one frame left to play.
The Mountaineers (1-5, 1-8) sent the game to overtime when Burkholder plowed in from five yards out with just 2:47 left in regulation.
Danneker picked up the first of his two scores in the opening overtime frame, this one from six yards to make it 21-14.
Frank knotted the game back up and brought on a second overtime when he found Stephen Hendrickson for a ten-yard score. Frank continued his overtime brilliance in the second overtime, scoring on a one-yard plunge to put his Mountaineers up 28-21.
The Bears' air attack knotted the game up at 28-28 when Andy Breault hit Mitch Bright for a six-yard score. Danneker gave the lead back to E-town in the third overtime, this time scoring from one yard out.
Danneker then closed out the contest with the play of the game, blocking the extra-point attempt after Frank tossed his third score of the night, this one a nine-yard score to Lance Kopp.
Kain accounted for 139 of the 300 rushing yards the Bears totaled, while both he and Danneker found the end zone twice.
The Elizabethtown cross country team enjoyed its trip to Hershey for the District 3-AAA Championships so much that three of the Bears will be making a return trip on November 7 for the PIAA Championships.
Nate Kreider led the boy's team to a tenth-place finish, while Olivia Esbenshade and Elisabeth Schlicher paced the Lady Bears to a 17th-place finish.
Kreider finished the 3.1 mile course in 28th place with a time of 17:44, just making the PIAA cut. Micaiah Schlicher nearly broke the 18-minute barrier, posting a time of 18:05 to finish in 48th place. Zach McCurdy finished his day three seconds later to post a 54th place finish. Corey Landis was the last Bear to finish in the top 100, crossing in 81st place with a time of 18:31.
Derrick Anderson missed the 19-minute mark by a mere eight seconds, finishing 144th as the fifth and final scorer for E-town. Elliot Clark gave the Bears six runners inside the top 200 with his 183rd place time of 19:28. Alex Faus just made the 20-minute mark with his 19:52 putting him as the 230th runner in the field of 343 runners.
Esbenshade led the Lady Bears with her 22nd place time of 20:59, while Schlicher punched her ticket back to Hershey with a 26th place time of 21:04. Julia Spittal was the only other Lady Bear to crack the top 100, finishing 90th with a time of 22:18.
Angela Vertucci was the next E-town runner to cross the line, doing so with a time of 23:29 to finish 163rd. Shea Mascia closed out her high school cross country career with a 218th finish in 24:19, while fellow senior, Sarah Kauffman crossed the line with a time 24:41 to finish 254th. Kristi Frye rounded out the E-town runners, posting a 25:04 to cross 268th.
The Elizabethtown field hockey team saw its 2009 season come to an abrupt end last Tuesday with a 3-2 loss to Lower Dauphin in the opening round of the District 3-AAA playoffs.
The Lady Bears actually struck first with Caryn Bailey finding Cassie Rawa 11:40 into the contest for a 1-0 lead.
Shauni Brinser sent the teams into the locker room with the game knotted at 1-1 with her score at 23:06 of the first half.
Bre White gave the defending district champions a 2-1 lead early in the second half, while Jessi Stuart added an insurance goal at 19:43 to give the Lady Falcons a 3-1 lead.
Lisa Shaffer, who got the win with just three saves, allowed E-town to close the gap to 3-2 with Erin van Horn's goal at 21:49 of the second half. Brittany Walker was hit with the loss despite turning away 13 Falcon shots.
The Lady Bears finish the season with a 9-9 record.
The District 3 playoffs were not kind to any of the Elizabethtown sports teams as the boy's soccer team dropped a 3-1 final to Chambersburg in an AAA play-in game last Monday.
The loss ends the Bears season with a 7-7-3 mark, while breaking a six-game losing streak for the Trojans.
All the action took place in a 25-minute stretch late in the second half, starting with Alex Rosenbaum's score at 50:52 for a 1-0 Chambersburg lead. Andrew Collier made it 2-0 with his score ten minutes later and Jorge Elvira capped the Trojan scoring at 65:27.
E-town's Jason Good broke up the shutout by finding the back of the net at 74:13.
Gio Pugliese turned away four shots and was hit with the loss while T. Walton needed just two saves to get the win.
