Both the Ephrata and Cocalico wrestling teams lost a pair of tight decisions last Wednesday in Section Two action.

In Manheim, Ephrata’s Todd Dumas tied the match at 30-30 with a pin at 120 with three bouts to go. However, the Barons’ Ben Metzler (major) and Cody Bucher (pin) both picked up bonus points at 126 and 132 to put it out of reach. Ephrata’s Ethan Sipe’s 5-0 decision win over Austin King in the final bout of the night made it a 40-33 final in favor of the host Barons (1-0 section, 1-0 overall).

Joey Sarmento (113) picked up the lone other win on the mat for the Mounts (0-2 section, 3-4 overall). The team did get forfeit wins from Jeff Halligan (182), Eric Miller (195) and Cameron Eisenhauer (220).

Meanwhile at Lampeter-Strasburg, Cocalico built a 33-18 lead with three bouts to go but couldn’t hold it as the Pioneers rallied for a 36-33 victory.

Kam Mueller’s pin at 182 seemingly put the Eagles in good shape. However, a pin at 195 by L-S closed the gap to 33-24 before the Eagles forfeited the final two weight classes to clinch the win for the Pioneers.

The Cocalico swim team earned a boys/girls sweep last Wednesday in a non-league meet at McCaskey.

In boys’ action, Cocalico won all but one event on the day in cruising to a 116-53 team victory. Sawyer Martin, Collin Haines and Sean Worrall all won two events each to pace the Eagles in this one. Martin took both the 100 free (48.94) and 200 free (1:47.45) events, Haines was a winner in both the 200 IM (2:09.38) and 100 back (58.56) while Worrall copped both the 50 free (24.95) and 100 breast (1:14.69).

Jake Ilgenfritz also was victorious in the 100 fly (1:03.14). The Eagles wrapped up the day with wins in all three relays.

In girls’ action, Cocalico swimmers won every event on the day en route to an easy 114-56 victory.

Olivia Evans, Sidney Evans and Tara Rakewicz all were double winners to pace the Lad Eagles. Olivia Evans was victorious in both the 200 free (2:03.43) and 100 free (56.95), Sidney Evans was a winner in both the 200 I.M. (2:19.81) and 100 back (1:05.69), and Rakewicz captured both the 50 free (27.56) and 100 breast (1:12.66) events).

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

When you return just one player to a starting lineup that has no seniors, there are going to be some growing pains.

It is inevitable.

And the Ephrata girls experienced some Tuesday night vs. Lampeter-Strasburg in the opening round of the Ephrata Boosters Tournament.

Leading 18-15 at the break, the Lady Mounts struggled through a rough second half and let a winnable game slip away as the Pioneers advanced to Wednesday’s championship with a 35-27 victory.

L-S (4-2) will face Governor Mifflin– a 69-25 winner over McCaskey– Wednesday at 8 p.m. right after the consolation game between the Lady Mounts and Red Tornado clash at 6:30 p.m.

Ephrata (2-4) struggled at both ends down the stretch Tuesday. Offensively, the Lady Mounts gave away their three-point halftime lead with a 1-for-13 shooting performance from the field in the third. At the other end, Ephrata didn’t have an answer for the Pioneers’ 6-0 junior Lexie Lantz, who scored 15 of her game-high 22 points in the second half to push L-S ahead to stay.

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

For large stretches in games, Ephrata has shown it can be a very competitive team.

The Mounts just haven’t been able to do it for all four quarters.

That was the case again last Thursday in a Section One-Two crossover contest with visiting Manheim Township. Ephrata went toe-to-toe with a deeper and more talented Blue Streak team for the entire first half and trailed by just five (30-25) at the break.

Unfortunately for the home team, Township stepped up the defensive pressure and worked the transition game in the third quarter. The Mounts simply had no answer as the Streaks ballooned the lead to 23 points (53-29) by quarter’s end and cruised in with an eventual 69-41 victory.

"They just took it to us in the second half," Ephrata Coach Jason Coletti said. "I think the their size wore us down. I thought we played very well in the first half, but they just kind of beat us in transition a couple times and got some easy buckets, and then we just never recovered. They are a good team."

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

They say you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

And if that is indeed the case, the Ephrata boys and new Coach Jason Coletti succeeded in nearly every way Monday night in the season opener at home vs. Garden Spot.

The only thing they didn’t accomplish was win the game, but that seemed almost secondary as the Mounts, coming off an ugly 1-21 season, showed enough promise and heart in this one game against a senior-laden Spartan squad to quickly put the memory of last year in the rearview mirror.

Trailing 17-9 after one period and by 12 points early in the third quarter, the Mounts stormed all the way back to take their only lead of the game with 1:15 to go on a Brian Neff steal and lay-up.

But to their credit, the Spartans got a pair of buckets from 6-4 senior Jimmy Brackett to go back up by three with 22 seconds remaining. Still, the Mounts had a chance in the end. Trailing by two after a Matt Herbener free throw, a missed front end of a one-and-one gave Ephrata the ball with a chance to tie or win the game with 5.7 seconds to go.

Cocalico picked up its first win of the young season Tuesday night at home vs. Manheim Central. And the Eagles did so in dramatic fashion, coming back from an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to nip the Barons, 42-40.

Trailing 32-24 heading to the fourth, the Eagles out scored MC 18-8 in the final period to capture the win and avenge their upset loss to the Barons in last year’s L-L Quarterfinals.

Joe Becker led the way for the Eagles (1-2) with a game-high 15 points while Christian Graybill added 13 in the victory. Jordan Mellinger paced the Barons (2-1) with 12 points.

Cocalico opened the season this past weekend at the highly-competitive Hershey Tip-Off Tournament.

Friday night in the opener vs. host Hershey, the Trojans sped out to a 34-19 halftime lead and led 53-30 after three quarters of play. The Eagles did respond with a 27-point fourth quarter but it was not enough as the Trojans held on for a 67-57 victory.

Tournament MVP Harold Brantley erupted for a game-high 27 points to pace Hershey while Matt Banas dropped in 15 for the winners.

Becker led Cocalico with 17 while Mitch Denlinger added 13 in the loss.

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

They say you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

And if that is indeed the case, the Ephrata boys and new Coach Jason Coletti succeeded in nearly every way Monday night in the season opener at home vs. Garden Spot.

The only thing they didn’t accomplish was win the game, but that seemed almost secondary as the Mounts, coming off an ugly 1-21 season, showed enough promise and heart in this one game against a senior-laden Spartan squad to quickly put the memory of last year in the rearview mirror.

Trailing 17-9 after one period and by 12 points early in the third quarter, the Mounts stormed all the way back to take their only lead of the game with 1:15 to go on a Brian Neff steal and lay-up.

But to their credit, the Spartans got a pair of buckets from 6-4 senior Jimmy Brackett to go back up by three with 22 seconds remaining. Still, the Mounts had a chance in the end. Trailing by two after a Matt Herbener free throw, a missed front end of a one-and-one gave Ephrata the ball with a chance to tie or win the game with 5.7 seconds to go.

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

The Cocalico girls built quite a tradition on the basketball court in the decade of the 90s, wracking up several section championships while making frequent runs in the District and State Tournaments.

As an assistant at the time, Tony DiMatteo was a part of that whole experience. But somewhere along the line, after DiMatteo left, the program began to struggle. And last season, it was close to rock bottom as the Lady Eagles went winless in Section Two play and finished with a dismal 2-19 mark.

Now, DiMatteo makes his return to the Nest, this time as the new head coach. And one of his main focuses this first season is finding a way to restore the tradition Cocalico had established two decades ago.

The team split in its first two games over the weekend but already DiMatteo is seeing some positive steps in the process.

""I think it was important for the girls to win and get some confidence," DiMatteo said Monday. "I think it was important for the program. They’ve had a tough couple years. We are trying to rebuild the tradition. When I coached here last, that was when we were going to Districts, winning a couple section titles and the program was really solid all the way through.

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

It was a tough off-season for Coach Mike Garman and the Ephrata girls basketball program.

Garman was suppose to have four key members back from a team that went 9-13 a season ago, including a potential 1,000-point scorer in junior Sarah Shearer. Had that group all returned, the Lady Mounts would have been considered at the very least a darkhorse in Section Two.

However, that is not the case anymore. Shearer transferred to West York while senior returning guards Rachel Stauffer and Abby Binkley elected not to come out.

Suddenly, junior forward Sarah Haddon, who averaged three points a game, is the lone returnee with substantial varsity experience on the roster.

But despite losing the type of talent he did, Garman is excited about the team he does have and the season ahead. Reached last week, the 11-year head coach talked about the progress his squad has been making.

"I don’t think there is anyone who expects these kids to do much of anything," Garman said recently. "Everybody has pretty much written us off because of losing Sarah, and rightly so. Sarah Shearer, from a coaching standpoint, is one of those players in your coaching career you just don’t get very often.

Host Manheim Central pulled out a tough 41-33 victory over Cocalico Tuesday night in Manheim.

The Barons, who trailed 17-14 at the half, took control in the third, outscoring the Lady Eagles 16-11 to grab the lead for good.

Breanna Barber led Manheim Central with a game-high 16 point effort. Marissa Gingrich paced Cocalico (1-2) with 12 points.

Cocalico opened the season this past weekend, earning a split and third place at the Hamburg Tip-Off Tournament.

Friday night in the opener vs. Tri-Valley, 6-4 Seton Hall-bound center Tara Nahodil scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 58-34 victory over the Lady Eagles.

Juli Weber added 10 points for the winners, who led 32-10 at the half before cruising to the win.

Cocalico was led by Kristen Boyer, who scored 13 points in the loss. Lauren Waskowicz added nine for the Lady Eagles.

In Saturday’s consolation game vs. Wyomissing, the Lady Eagles got their first victory of the season with a 40-26 triumph.

Cocalico led 29-21 heading to the fourth before outscoring the Spartans, 11-5 in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory.