BY JEFF FALK

MYERSTOWN – Elco has flashed signs of excellence this season. But the Raiders have struggled to put 48 minutes of football together, and of course, to finish.

Funny how defense possesses the ability to complete an effort.

On Friday night at Elco Stadium, the Raiders parlayed its best defensive effort of the campaign into one its most complete victories of the season, a 14-7 triumph over Northern Lebanon. That the win came on Elco’s senior night, that it came over its rival and that it ended Northern Lebanon’s run of two straight Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three championships, well that was simply icing on the cake.

The opportunistic Raider defense limited Northern Lebanon to 167 yards on the ground and 244 yards overall. Elco also came up with three turnovers and turned away three deep Viking penetrations to protect the 14-0 lead it had built at halftime.

The outcome evened Elco’s overall mark to 4-4 and upped its Section Three record to 2-3. The once-proud Vikings fell for the third time in their last four outings and slipped to 3-5 on the year and 2-2 in the circuit.

Over the last two seasons, Northern Lebanon had gone undefeated in the section, on its way to the District Three postseason.

“The defense was phenomenal. Unbelievable,” said Elco head coach Bob Miller. “Our game plan was awesome and the kids stuck to it. That’s a testament to their preparation, their hard work and their execution.

“It was our best game this week,” continued Miller. “One week at a time. We’re not looking back.”

“We played well enough to win,” said Northern Lebanon head coach Roy Wall. “But we made enough mistakes to lose.

“We didn’t take it (the Section Three championship) for granted,” added Wall. “We had a lot of adversity this year.”

Elco scored all of its points in the second quarter.

Its first touchdown resulted from a short field created by stopping a fourth-down Viking pass attempt out of punt formation.  The Raiders needed nine plays to go the 51 yards, as quarterback Kyle Knight took it over from four yards away, 2:04 into the period.

“I don’t care about that,” said Miller of dethroning the Vikings. “It’s not about them. I don’t care who we’re playing on senior night, we want to win.

“Those (seniors) guys are warriors on both sides of the ball,” Miller continued. “Those guys don’t come out for a play. That’s awesome. They’ve been waiting for this.”

“They played hard,” said Wall of the Raiders. “They had a nice game plan. We had a lot of opportunities and didn’t capitalize.”

The Raiders extended their lead to 14-0, 2:17 before intermission, when Knight collaborated with Ryan Eshleman on a four-yard touchdown completion. Elco used the running of Tyler Horst and Knight to cash in on some more good field position.

“We certainly played well throughout,” said Miller. “That’s our best defensive effort all year, against a good team.

“They’re (the Vikings) a hard-nosed football team,” Miller added. “They play tough. Their wrestling kids are strong kids.”

“It’s one of ten,” said Wall of the rivalry with Elco.

After the Raiders repelled a pair of fourth-quarter Northern Lebanon possessions that reached their 12-yard line, the Vikings broke through with 2:53 to play and put the outcome in further doubt. It was a 30-yard touchdown run from scat back Stevie Herb that did the trick for Northern Lebanon, and made it a one-possession game.

But Elco recovered the ensuing on-side kick and picked up a pair of first downs to run out the clock.

“This senior class has been incredibly disciplined,” said Miller. “They’ve gone through a lot. They’ve been a pleasure to coach. They never gave up. To get a win on senior night is so special to them.

“We’ve had confidence throughout,” Miller added. “They (his players) didn’t lose their confidence.”

“We have two games to win,” said Wall of the rest of the season. “At the beginning of the year the goal was to win them all, but it didn’t work out. Now we want to win the last two.”

With 30 carries and 152 yards, Horst fronted a Raider attack that compiled a total of 260 yards. Knight contributed 15 rushing attempts and 83 yards.

Herb collected 130 rushing yards on ten carries.

Another key for Elco was a first-half fumble it forced at the goal line, just before Daub was about to score late in the second period.

“We’re a little less balanced than we were at the beginning of the season,” said Miller of his offense. “But we’re taking what teams are giving us.

“We were very worried about the conditions,” continued Miller. “But these guys showed they could handle them. That was the game plan pretty much.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to www.

2016 Elco Football Results