Skip to main content

Friday Night Leftovers: Confidence boost for Elco


Recapping Week 8 Lebanon County football action in this week's edition of Friday Night Leftovers.

Elco gets confidence boost after senior night win 

There's no question what a hard few weeks its been for the Raiders.

But after grinding out one of its biggest wins of the year against the Vikings, Elco can look to build momentum for the rest of the season and into next year, having won two straight after that disheartening three-game skid.

Raiders coach Bob Miller says his team has just kept grinding despite all the adversity.

"We've had confidence the whole way through. These guys have never backed down. They never lost it after some of those loses to Donegal and Annville-Cleona. That's a testament to their strength and ability to be a tribe," he said.

And once the season ends in a matter of weeks, Miller wants his returning players to remember Friday's win, especially during any off-season or early morning workout.

"I told them there's going to be two feelings they'd come out of this game with. We said in the locker room people are going to forget who had the first carry, or how many yards you had. But two things you'll never forget are the regret of losing or the feeling of victory. And they'll never forget what they felt Friday night," he said.

Northern Lebanon's three-peat hopes back in jeopardy 

After what’s been a challenging season dealing with injuries and tough losses, the two-time defending Section 3 champions found themselves in a much-win situation last week against an intra-county rival to keep its hopes of a three-peat alive.

Northern Lebanon did just that in a big way with a 32-14 win at Annville-Cleona, seeing its defense leading the way in stepping up and making big plays, and its offense cashing in.

But this week, a back-breaking 0-for-4 night in the red zone, along with three turnovers, doomed the Vikings in Friday's 14-7 loss at Elco.

Along with a Michigan Daub fumble out of the back of the end zone late in the half, NL squandered other chances in the fourth, including turning it over on downs at the Elco 10 with 8:09 left, then again on fourth and 11 from the Elco 13 after taking over at the Raiders 17 on a blocked punt.

Now the Vikings find themselves all but out of the Section race, two games behind Donegal with two to go, and having lost the head-to-head.

One positive for NL however, was seeing the return of Luke Funck from an injury suffered in the week two loss at Cedar Crest. Funck played limited defensive snaps Friday. According to the Vikings coaching staff, Funck's work load will increase as he continues to feel better.

Palmyra offense a bright spot in loss

It was kind of a weird night for Palmyra in its 34-24 loss at East Pennsboro on Friday. Its normally smothering defense was scorched for 224 rushing yards and four touchdowns by East Pennsboro's talented tailback Onasis Neely, but a sometimes inconsistent offense had one of its more productive performances of the season.

How productive? Well, running backs Alon Rhette and Carl Reigle, and quarterback Peter Robertson each rushed for more than 100 yards as Palmyra actually outgained the Panthers 450-366 in the contest.

It's a funny game sometimes. Normally, such an offensive performance would have been more than enough for the Cougars to notch the victory. On this night, good as it was, it wasn't nearly enough.

Lebanon puts up big numbers in loss to McCaskey

It was another setback for Lebanon on Friday night, one that dropped it to 1-7 after an early 13-0 lead evaporated into a 42-21 loss to McCaskey.

But if nothing else, the loss feature some huge statistical efforts from the Cedars, including sophomore quarterback Zakee Sailsman,

Continuing his development,  the playmaking Sailsman completed 30 of 53 pass attempts for 356 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for another score.

Sailsman's big night was helped along by receivers Phillip Hillesheim and Jeremiah Beckley. Hillesheim hauled in 9 passes for 109 yards, while Beckley snared 7 passes for 120 yards.

Another loss, yes, but in many ways it was still a productive night for the Cedars.