Local municipalities have announced that Trick or Treat Night throughout the area will take place Oct. 31 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Akron’s annual Halloween Parade is scheduled to take place Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. The parade will form at Broad Street Park, and refreshments will be available in the fire house.

The 61st annual Jack Frost Children’s Parade will begin at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 in front of the VFW, located on South State Street.

Food will be available for purchase, and the Pioneer Fire Company will hand out goody bags to all participants.

The Ephrata High School Marching Unit will once again lead the parade on South State Street, between Fulton and Franklin streets.

All participants receive a small prize, and the top costumes receive a $10 cash prize.

In case of rain, the event will be postponed to Oct. 25. More HALLOWEEN, page A6

The Ephrata Merchants had a beautiful day to hold its annual fall downtown celebration Saturday.

Over 50 scarecrows were made and now can be seen throughout the town of Ephrata, just in time for the fall holidays. Whoopie pies were devoured by both kids and adults, some faster than others.

Pumpkins were chucked with catapults using lacrosse sticks, and the final chunkoff had pumpkins flying as far as 80 feet. No cars were harmed. The three winners of the "punkin chunkin" and pie eating contests enjoyed their prizes of merchants dollars to start their downtown Ephrata shopping.

The local businesses that donated items and their time in order for the event to be such a success include: The Ephrata Review, Musselemans Lumber, Mennonite Resource Center, Rebecca’s Heavenly Goodies, Bemenn Wood Products, Ephrata Agway, Hilltop Produce, Hoovers Produce. Mountainside Acres, Evergreen Acres Produce, Douple Agency, Pike Wallpaper & Paint and Stauffers of Kissel Hill.

"At this point there is nothing suspicious," said Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman about the recent death of Ephrata resident Alice Werner. "But we are still investigating the facts surrounding the death," he said.

Werner was found dead in her home in the first block of North State Street Oct. 13 after police received a phone call concering her well being.

"There was no trauma to her body and there is no evidence of a forced entry or robbery," said Stedman. "We will await the final coroner’s report, of course, but for now there is nothing to indicate this was a homicide."

Attempts to reach Stedman for updates Tuesday and Wednesday morning were unsuccessful. More INVESTIGATION, page A6

By: GARY KLINGER Review Correspondent, Staff Writer

A new development may be coming to Ephrata Township, which would mean an additional 11 new homes.

Developers for the Copperwood Lane development are proposing converting a four-acre tract of land along Akron road into 11 single family residential lots. The property is located close to the township building on what was known as the Gerhart Farm.

Jim Henke from Pioneer Management was present at the Tuesday evening meeting of Ephrata Township Supervisors to review sketch plans for the plot being developed by Mike Garman.

The lot is zoned low-density residential which would allow Garman to propose 10,000- square-foot or larger lots. Ten of the lots will be of approximately equal size. One lot will be somewhat larger but will also include a storm water containment basin, which the eventual owner would be responsible to maintain.

"Water from the development would drain into the containment basin for storm water and then be released into the tributary adjoining the property," explained Henke. "The development would be also be served by a culdesac and adhere to the 34′ wide road space with curbs and sidewalks on both sides."

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

Nate Eberly was Johnny-On-The-Spot late Tuesday night as Ephrata was locked in a 1-1 draw with visiting Exeter in the opening round of the District Three boys soccer playoffs.

With just under 10 minutes left in regulation, Kyle Phillips carried down the left side and fed a cross that eluded teammate Andy Moore in front of the Exeter net.

Fortunately, Eberly was flanked on the right side, and the ball found his foot. The Ephrata senior calmly fired a shot under the crossbar to score what turned out to be the game winner in the exciting 2-1 Mount victory.

"At half-time we made a decision that we had to get the ball wide," Ephrata Coach Rob Deininger said. "They were just clogging up the middle, so we wanted to get the ball outside and things opened up. Kyle made a run, took it to the corner and crossed it over. It got a little behind Andy but Nate stayed home, in position, and put it in the back of the net."

A week ago, Cocalico bounced defending L-L champ CV out of the League playoffs with a decisive 3-1 victory in the quarterfinals.

Monday afternoon in Witmer, CV returned the favor in the first round of the District Three AAA playoffs.

Jocelyn Yurchak’s arching shot from the right wing found its way into the left side of the net with 11 minutes gone in overtime to lift the Buckskins to a 2-1 victory over Cocalico. The CV win not only avenged its earlier loss to Cocalico but ended the Lady Eagles’ season.

CV (15-4) will now advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals to face Governor Mifflin, a 3-0 winner over Dallastown in Monday’s first round.

Cocalico, which advanced all the way to the L-L title game Saturday before falling on penalty kicks, ended the year at 16-6.

CV drew first blood Monday after Samara Yurchak was awarded a penalty kick in the game’s 24th minute. Yurchak delivered a shot inside the left post to give her team a 1-0 advantage.

Cocalico then got the equalizer 10 minutes into the second half when Shannon Hoeveler scored off a nice pass from Kat Lawver to draw even at 1-1.

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

The Cocalico defense gang tackles L-S running back Ryan Lawler (35) during Friday's game in Denver. The Eagles earned a 34-18 win to inch closer toward a possible section title. (Photo by Stan Hall)

Cocalico Coach Dave Gingrich is never one to look ahead. However, after watching his team take care of business Friday night in monsoon-like conditions in Denver, knocking off Lampeter-Strasburg, 34-18, the path to the Section Two title is pretty clear.

The Eagles (5-0 Section Two, 7-1 overall) need wins over E-town (3-2, 3-5) at home this Friday and Ephrata (1-4, 1-7) next week to clinch the championship. Manheim Central (4-1) is one game behind while L-S (3-2, 4-4), CV (3-2, 3-5) and E-town all are two games back with two to play.

"I like the position we are in but we are still two games away from accomplishing one of our goals," Gingrich said following the win. "We’ll prepare this week for E-town, to get their best and they got a couple really nice players and a good coaching staff so I think they’ll give us a good, competitive game."

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

Many times, games do not live up to the hype. However, Saturday’s L-L Girls Soccer Final between Cedar Crest and Cocalico at Manheim Central certainly was not one of those.

The Lady Eagles and Cedar Crest battled for the ultimate prize, and 110 minutes of exhausting, yet scintillating soccer wasn’t enough as this one went to penalty kicks.

Unfortunately for Cocalico, the Lady Falcons out-lasted the Lady Eagles, 5-4 in the PK round to emerge as the champion.

Cedar Crest sophomore Delaney Cole completed a perfect round of kicks for her squad, burying her shot into the upper right-hand corner of the net to seal the Lady Falcon victory and set off their wild celebration.

It was a great feeling to win for Crest, but a horrible way to lose if you are Cocalico.

"There are a lot of people who don’t like it, and I might agree with them right now," Cocalico Coach Dan Hogan said following the painful loss. "But you have to decide the game some way. The game itself was a great effort on both sides, and they just got one more penalty kick than us."

By: Staff Reports, Staff Writer

Photo by Preston WhitcraftManheim Central catcher Katie VanBlargan shows the ball to the umpire after tagging Donegal base runner Hayley Bollinger in the first inning, but Bollinger was ruled safe on the play to put the Lady Indians up 1-0.Photo by Preston WhitcraftManheim Central catcher Katie VanBlargan shows the ball to the umpire after tagging Donegal base runner Hayley Bollinger in the first inning, but Bollinger was ruled safe on the play to put the Lady Indians up 1-0.

Both Cocalico and Ephrata saw their respective field hockey seasons come to a close Tuesday afternoon in the first round of Districts.

At Governor Mifflin High School Tuesday night, ninth-seeded Cumberland Valley overcame an early 1-0 Cocalico lead with a pair of second-half goals to nip the eighth-seeded Lady Eagles by a 2-1 score.

Cumberland Valley (14-4) scored goals one minute apart early in the second half and held on for the victory. They will now advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round and take on Penn Manor, 1 p.m. at Hershey High School.

Ephrata, which in recent week knocked off the likes of L-L power Warwick and District AA stud Oley Valley, couldn’t find the winning formula Tuesday afternoon vs. Central Dauphin in the first round at Hempfield.