BY JEFF FALK

ANNVILLE – The Elco and Annville-Cleona football teams created an instant memory last night.

It’s one that the Raiders will always remember. And one the Little Dutchmen won’t ever be able to forget.

Quarterback Jeff Martin’s 14-yard strike to Andrew Olson, just inside the right pylon of the end zone – on a fourth-down and 14, and on the final play of the first overtime session – lifted the Raiders to a heart-stopping 40-39 victory over the Little Dutchmen, in a rare Thursday night Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three clash, at A-C High School. But the margin of victory was provided by Elco kicker Dane Miller, as his extra point attempt split the uprights, after Annville-Cleona had misfired on the PAT following the touchdown it scored in the extra session.

The Little Dutchmen had assumed a 39-33 advantage when Cameron Hoch raced around right end for a six-yard touchdown on the initial possession of overtime. But Elco executed perfectly on the final play from scrimmage, as Olson created separation from his defender by curling back to the pylon, and Martin, rolling right, hit him between the numbers with a perfect pitch.

“I am so proud of our kids, for fighting the whole game,” said Elco head coach Bob Miller. “And for just playing hard and for never stop believing. I told Matt (A-C head coach Gingrich) when he got the job that he was going to lead a contender. What a battle. We couldn’t stop them, and they couldn’t stop us. It was back and forth.”

“We’ve got to get better,” said Gingrich, the Little Dutchmen’s first-year head coach. “Right now we’re a team which inflicts its own wounds. We have a group of kids who dwell on the past, and don’t focus on the next play. That’s on us. We’ve got to coach them better.”

In light of the result, it now appears that Elco and Annville-Cleona are two teams headed in opposite directions.

After going 0-3 over the non-league portion of its schedule, the Raiders improved to 2-0 in Section Three of the L-L. After going 3-0 over the non-league portion of its schedule, the Little Dutchmen slipped to 0-2 in Section Three.

“It was one-on-one coverage,” said Miller of Martin’s toss to Olson. “We were hoping to draw attention to Tyler (Horst) in the flat. The other thing is that’s a ball Jeff has not completed all season. That was delivered. Did you hear it hit Andrew? Oh yeah, it was executed perfectly. Jeff has been over throwing that all year long. But there was some smoke on that.

“He (Dane Miller) has been kicking well,” Miller continued. “But it’s not just the kicking. It’s been snaps and its been blocking. It’s a lack of trust for the kids.”

“I couldn’t see much from where I was standing,” said Gingrich of the dagger delivered to his sideline. “I saw a strike. And I saw their (the Raiders’) hands go up. And I didn’t see our hands go up.

“(Little Dutchmen senior) Matt Light is the best kicker in the league,” Gingrich continued. “I will take him every day of the week. I would take him a hundred times out of a hundred. He just didn’t have a good night.”

It was an appropriately wild finish, considering the frantic fourth quarter that caused the overtime period. The two teams combined for four touchdowns in a span of 5:35 late in the fourth quarter.

The touchdown that forged the 33-all deadlock came with 3:08 left in the fourth quarter, in the form of Martin’s 58-yard scoring hook-up with Olson down that same right sideline. A minute and 32 seconds earlier, Will Langan had given Annville-Cleona a 33-26 margin with a five-yard finish of a six-play, 67-yard march.

It was Horst’s four touchdown run with 6:34 left which knotted the score at 26. Little Dutchmen signal-caller Adam Fox set off the fourth-quarter fireworks with his one-yard plunge 3:17 into the period.

“No comment,” said Miller, when asked if the Raiders could win the section championship. “We have a game against Donegal next Friday night. One of the kids I have in history class asked me what our record was, and I  said ‘1-0’. Now we’re 2-0.

“That 0-3 was a lack of character,” Miller added. “It was a case of not being men off the field and not being football players on it. They’re coming together.”

“For me, the biggest thing was I wanted to get the taste of last week out of my mouth,” said Gingrich of a 39-13 setback at Donegal. “We wanted to show what type of athletes we are. Did we make mistakes? Yes. But I did think they (the Raiders) out physical-ed us.

“I’m disappointed,” added Gingrich. “But I’m a heck of a lot happier than I was last week at Donegal. I’m not happy with some of our kids’ actions and attitudes. They’re not reflective of how we want to build this program. We have to learn discipline. It’s hurting us in games. Things have to change, but I think we’re trying our best. I just hope the light bulb goes on.”

Down 19-7, Annville-Cleona regrouped at halftime and it manifested itself in two Alec Barr touchdowns in the third period.

First, Barr took a hand-off 16 yards to the promised land. Then off a bit of trickery, Barr hauled in a 69-yard strike from fellow running back Cameron Hoch, who had accepted a behind-the-line of scrimmage pass from Fox.

“They’re a good team,” said Miller of the Little Dutchmen. “They’re a really good team. Depending on how their kids finish out the season, there’s no telling how far they can go. They have to keep fighting and believing. They’re well-coached.”

“They were exactly what we saw on film,” said Gingrich of the Raiders. “Instead of throwing the ball all over the place, they decided to run it down our throats, which they did. They’re a big, physical team, and they’re well-coached. They play football. They don’t talk. They’re really neat to watch.”

Elco enjoyed its locker room cushion thanks to two touchdowns in a 1:15 span late in the second quarter.

Travis ‘T.Z.’ Zimmerman returned a punt 80 yards just 1:26 before the intermission. And Horst capped a seven-play, 47-yard ‘wildcat’ possession with a surprise, 11-yard jump pass to Nate Boehmer.

“The line and Tyler have really carried the offense,” said Miller. “Tyler had a pretty good game. What those two (Martin and Olson) have created, it’s a great chemistry. Jeff’s really stepped up. It’s so neat to cement those skill positions.”

“We weren’t playing very good at the beginning of the season,” said Gingrich. “Tonight was probably our best offensive game of the season. We are not consistent, and it’s the way we practice. We get too high. We get too low. If they (his players) trust in each other, we’re going to win. It’s more about character traits.

“I think concern is a very good word,” Gingrich continued. “We’re losing games we should win. We don’t have the attitude and the mental focus to win games. I’m not sure the kids are totally buying in.”

Elco drove the opening kickoff 66 yards in 13 plays to get Horst’s one-yard burst and a 7-0 lead. But Annville-Cleona responded by marching the ensuing possession 60 yards in 11 snaps for a two-yard Fox run, and a seven-all deadlock.

“I knew it would be close,” said Miller. “But I had no idea it would be overtime. It goes back to that idea of trust carrying over to the football field.”

“There are some things I’m dealing with off the field, that doesn’t have to do with the kids,” said Gingrich of his first five games as a head coach. “Besides that, it is what I expected. People who coach 30 years should get a government retirement. I don’t know if it can be done by today’s generation. But I always knew it was going to be tough.”

Elco out gained Annville-Cleona 394 total yards to 345. Horst posted rushing 145 yards on 24 carries, while Langan ran 25 times for 117 Little Dutchmen yards.

Martin, who is quickly approaching the Lebanon County record for passing yards in a career, completed 11 of 23 pass attempts for 201 yards. Olson caught nine of those balls for 147 receiving yards.

 To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to see more go to www.http://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/gallery-nine/.

 

Elco 40, Annville-Cleona 39 (OT)

Elco	7	12	0	14	7	—
40 Annville-Cleona	7	0	13	13	6	—

First Quarter

E — Horst 1 run (Hackman kick)

AC — Fox 2 run (Light kick

Second Quarter

E — Boehmer 11 pass from Horst (kick failed)

E — Zimmerman 80 punt return (2-pt conversion failed)

Third Quarter

AC — Barr 16 run (kick failed)

AC — Barr 69 pass from Hoch (Light kick)

Fourth Quarter

AC — Fox 1 run (2-point conversion failed)

E — Horst 4 run (Miller kick)

AC — Langan 5 run (Light kick)

E — Olson 58 pass from Martin (Miller kick)

Overtime

AC — Hoch 4 run (kick failed)

E — Olson 14 pass from Martin (Miller kick)

	E	AC
First downs	19	17
Rushes-yards	32-182	51-276
Passing	12-24-0	1-4-0
Passing yards	212	69
Total yards	394	345
Punts	2-31.5	4-37.3
Fumbles-lost	0-0	1-0
Penalties-yards	7-62	4-10

Individual statistics

Rushing — E: Horst 24-145, R. Rolon 3-22, Olson 2-16, Zimmerman 2-12, Martin 4-(-5). AC: Langan 25-117, Fox 15-79, Hoch 5-59, Barr 4-40, Wagner 3-6.

Passing — E: Martin 11-23-0-2041 Horst 1-1-0-11, AC: Hoch 1-1-0-69, Fox 0-3-0-0

Receiving — E: Olson 9-150, L. Rolon 1-49, Beamer 1-10, Zimmerman 1-5, AC: Barr 1-69

Lancaster-Lebanon League

 Section Three Standings

TEAM	LEAGUE	OVERALL
Elco	2-0	2-3
Northern Lebanon	1-0	4-0
Donegal	1-0	2-2
Annville-Cleona	0-2	3-2
Pequea Valley	0-1	2-2
Columbia	0-0	0-4
Ephrata	0-1	0-4

2015 Elco Schedule