EPHRATA, Pa. — This week's FOX43 High School Football Frenzy Game of the Week is a showdown between two former Lancaster-Lebanon League division rivals who are meeting for the first time in seven years.
The last time Manheim Central and Ephrata squared off in 2017, the Barons rolled to a 79-7 victory. The Mountaineers were barely a speed bump on Central's road to a District 3 Class 5A title that year.
Ephrata's program has grown up a lot since then.
Last season was the most successful campaign ever for Ephrata, which won a share of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 title, made the District 3 playoffs for the first time since 1987, and collected the first three postseason wins in program history before falling to Cocalico 23-9 in the Class 5A title game.
Ephrata picked up right where it left off with a season-opening 35-14 victory over Red Lion last Saturday, and appears to be primed to contend for the Section 2 title after moving up due to leaguewide realignment in the offseason.
Whether they've closed the gap between themselves and Manheim Central remains to be seen, but Ephrata's players are a confident bunch who are looking for additional success after tasting it last year.
Against Red Lion, Ephrata rode a spectacular effort from dual threat quarterback Caleb Grant and a sold game from star RB Brayden Brown to rack up 443 yards and five scores in a rout of the Lions.
Grant, making his first start under center, threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns and added 117 yards on the ground, while Brown had 90 rushing yards, a pair of rushing TDs, and a 44-yard score on a swing pass from Grant.
“What’s nice now is that Caleb can run the ball and be very physical,” Ephrata coach Kris Miller told LNP | LancasterOnline after the game. “We’re not just gonna turn and hand the ball off to (Brayden) all the time. We’re gonna make teams stay honest.”
Meanwhile, the L-L League's realignment cycle dropped Manheim Central to Section 3 for the next two seasons, marking the first time in the 52-year history of the L-L League that the Barons won't be members of Section 2.
Graduation losses hit Central hard after last year's run to the District 3 Class 4A title game, but the new-look Barons rode their defense to a 24-8 victory at West Philadelphia in their season opener last Friday.
Central's defense allowed just 108 total yards, forced a pair of safeties, and generated five total turnovers while the Baron offense did just enough to erase an 8-4 deficit at halftime with three second-half touchdowns.
Brodie Daugherty rushed for 93 yards and a pair of scores for the Barons, who survived four lost fumbles themselves.
It was the kind of season-opening win coaches love; Central picked up the "W," but its players gave the coaching staff plenty of material to ride them about during the week.
No one in Manheim is getting too cocky.
“Our defense is pretty stout,” Manheim Central coach Dave Hahn told LNP | LancasterOnline after the game. “Offensively, we had some good things going but have a lot to work on."