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FOOTBALL: Friday Night Leftovers from Week 4


Tyler Gallagher used to be a wide receiver. Zack Yingst used to be a quarterback.

Friday night, Gallagher and Yingst went back to their old roles to help the Palmyra football team improve to 4-0.

Yingst, who still sees some action under center in Palmyra's Wildcat formations, fired a 79-yard touchdown pass to Gallagher, the Cougars' current starting QB, in the second quarter to highlight Palmyra's 49-23 romp over Trinity at Buck Swank Stadium.

The connection, which came in the second quarter of the lopsided win, provided some of the most notable evidence of Palmyra's offensive versatility, as well as its wealth of skill position talent.

Plus, it was just plain fun.

"I gotta say throwing it," Yingst, a senior wide receiver/defensive back, said with a smile of which part of the quarterback-wide receiver relationship he enjoys most. "Tyler was a wide receiver back in the day, so it was good for him to get a TD. And it was fun to throw it, too. It's been forever since I did that."

Yingst and Gallagher are too valuable to the Cougars at their current positions to spend too much time at their old positions, so Friday's connection may not be duplicated anytime soon.

On Friday, Yingst rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown out of the Wildcat, while Gallagher fired a pair of touchdown passes to Mason Cooper in the win.

ELCO TURNS A CORNER>> Not only did the Raiders play some of their best football of the season Friday, they also played their cleanest. And that fact, according to Elco coach Bob Miller, is what granted his team its first win of the season, a 28-14 victory over Pequea Valley. Post-game, Braves coach Mike Choi gave the sense he could almost see it coming.

"They're a really good team," Choi said. "Tonight may be the catalyst where they put it together, and if they do, they can certainly play with anybody in our section.

"We knew they were a senior-heavy team. When you have teams like that, normally they figure it out at some point in the season and when they do they become dangerous. I think they're going to go on and do some nice things the rest of the year."

THE BEAT GOES ON FOR THE VIKINGS >> Northern Lebanon obviously hasn't won anything of significance yet this season, but the Vikings continued to establish themselves as the team to beat in Section Three with another lopsided win on Friday night.

This time, Ephrata was the victim in a 57-26 beatdown that gave NL a staggering 196 points to show for its first four weeks of work. Yep, the Vikes are averaging almost 50 points a game during their 4-0 start. Yikes.

Challenges await, though, particularly in mid to late October when Northern Lebanon faces fellow section title contenders Elco, Annville-Cleona and Donegal in succession.

It won't be easy, but neither will the Vikings' opponents be enjoying a walk in the park when facing the boys from Fredericksburg. That much has been proven beyond a shadow during the first month of the season.