Fall is finally here and the weather did not disappoint for late September Lancaster-Lebanon football. A chilly Friday night in Lampeter-Strasburg set the stage for the 2-2 Cocalico Eagles and the 3-1 Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers.
Despite the great football weather, not everything can be perfect. Lampeter-Strasburg’s scoreboard was not working, so the officials had to keep the game clock on the field for the entirety of the game.
The Eagles won the toss and elected to receive. The very first play from scrimmage went for a touchdown as Tyler Angstadt exploded through the outside and took it 79 yards to the end zone to get the Eagles up early. The PAT from Cole Roos made it 7-0 Eagles.
After a series of punts from both sides, the Pioneers started their second drive with great field position across the 50-yard line. Trent Wagner connected with Hunter Hildenbrand for a 37-yard reception to put Strasburg in the red zone. This set up a ten-yard touchdown pass from Wagner to Carson Coleman. The Peter Fiorello PAT tied the game up at 7-7.
After another Cocalico punt from the back of their own end zone, the Pioneers started their next drive with the ball at Cocalico’s 37-yard line. Coleman got his second touchdown of the night off a one-yard rushing touchdown to put the Pioneers up 14-7.
After a failed fourth down attempt from Strasburg in the red zone, the Eagles marched 90 yards to tie the game before halftime. However, the Pioneers had different plans. The Strasburg defense forced a fumble in the end zone and the Pioneers recovered it for safety. This put the Pioneers up 16-7 midway through the second quarter.
Cocalico had a shot to get back on the board right before halftime as they were down inside Strasburg’s 10-yard line but they failed the fourth down attempt and came away with no points, leaving them down two possessions at half still.
After an eventful first half, Cocalico struck first in the second half converting a 21-yard touchdown reception from Josh Myer to Aaryn Longenecker. This put the Eagles within two points making it 16-14.
Cocalico then blocked a Pioneer punt, setting them up inside the Strasburg 40-yard line on offense. Later that drive, however, the Eagles coughed up the ball. Drexton Frank jumped on it for the Pioneers to give them the ball.
The Eagles and Pioneers kept turning the ball over on downs until the Pioneers finally broke loose on a 79-yard touchdown reception from Wagner to Hildenbrand. This put Strasburg up 23-14 midway through the fourth quarter. From there, Cocalico failed on two fourth-down attempts to try to keep the game alive.
The first fall football game between these two teams did not disappoint as both teams battled neck and neck the whole way. However, the Pioneers held on to win 23-14.
Hunter Hildenbrand had a monster game posting up 142 receiving yards with a touchdown. Carson Coleman also had over 100 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns tonight for the Pioneers as well.
Cocalico falls to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in LL Section play. They will host ELCO next week.
Lampeter-Strasburg advances to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in section play. They will travel to Octorara next.
