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FOOTBALL: Solanco claims Milk Jug Trophy with 42-14 win over Lampeter-Strasburg


QUARRYVILLE - With the Golden Mules football team going full tilt, the field itself practically tilted as well.

Buoyed by 211 second-half rushing yards, including three of quarterback Noah McCardell's five touchdown runs, Solanco (1-0, 4-0) pulled away from the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers (0-1, 2-2) for a 42-14 victory Friday night in each teams' Section Two opener.

"I want our kids to go as hard as they possibly can," said Solanco head coach Tony Cox. "That's how we play, that's how we practice. We practice how we play. We go full tilt, even during practice. We have kids flying around hitting each other and they love it."

While McCardell (22 carries, 144 yards) is the linchpin of the Mules' triple-option rushing attack, backs Robbie Hassel (29-126) and Prosper Eguzouwa (7-69) also did some heavy lifting, particularly in the first half when the two teams were trading touchdowns.

"Our offensive line, they do a great job making it so much easier to read (the play)," McCardell said. "Having extra weapons behind me, receivers, it's great."

One possession following the Mules 18-play, 72-yard touchdown drive - ending with McCardell's one-yard keeper - a Solanco fumble at their own 7-yard line allowed the Pioneers a quick response to begin the second quarter.

A 3-yard run by Pioneers' quarterback Collin "Bear" Shank knotted the score at 7-all. But not for long.

On the ensuing kickoff, wideout and return specialist Troy Miller raced 95-yards through the Pioneers special teams for the 14-7 lead.

"It was a great momentum shift. They were all yelling 'Troy, take this to the house, take it to the house,' " Miller recalled. "So I was like alright, I got you. I got the ball and I just ran, ended up in the endzone."

The Pioneers responded with an 11-play, 86-yard drive to again tie the score, Shank (7-for-19, 69 yards; 8 rushes, 31 yards) completing two balls to Andrew Hay and in the process surpass 6,000 passing yards in his career, one of just seven quarterbacks in the history of the league to do so.

But after McCardell's 22-yard scamper brought the halftime score to 21-14, the second half was all Mules as Shank was just 3-of-11 for 15 yards after intermission.

"We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot," said Miller, who nearly intercepted a pass in the first half. "Once the ball was in the air we just had to get to it and stop it as quick as we could."

McCardell finished off the Mules first drive of both the third and fourth quarters with a 1-yard plunge, capping the scoring with a 53-yard burst up the middle to close out the win against a Pioneers' squad that last year scored two touchdowns in the final 1:06 to steal a victory from Solanco and eventually go on to claim the Section Two title.

"They were section champs for a reason, great offense, great players. It means a lot to beat them, to win that (Milk Jug) trophy," said McCardell, who admitted he wasn't ready to call it a victory until post-game handshakes.

"After last year, that was a tough loss," said the senior quarterback. "They battled all the way back and we had to make sure we shook hands before we jumped to any conclusions."

Even though the field, and perhaps the section, had already tilted in the Mules' favor.

L-S SOL

FIRST DOWNS 7 22

RUSHES / YARDS 21-75 65-358

PASSING YARDS 69 10

TOTAL YARDS 132 363

COMP / ATT / INT 7-20-0 1-4-0

SACKED / YDS LOST 2-12 1-5

FUMBLES / LOST 2-0 1-1

PUNTS / AVG 5-37.4 2-40.5

PENALTIES / YARDS 4-35 6-52

SCORE BY QUARTER:

|Q1| |Q2| |Q3| |Q4| --- FINAL

LS 00 14 00 00 --- 14

SOL 07 14 07 14 --- 42

SCORING SUMMARY:

Q1 - SOL - 1:06 N. McCardell 1-yd run (C. Bleacher kick) 0-7

Q2 - LS - 11:18 C. Shank 3-yd run (P. Denlinger kick) 7-7

Q2 - SOL - 11:04 T. Miller 95-yd return (C. Bleacher kick) 7-14

Q2 - LS - 5:36 S. Lawler 2-yd run (P. Denlinger kick) 14-14

Q2 - SOL - 1:17 N. McCardell 22-yd run (C. Bleacher kick) 14-21

Q3 - SOL - 6:37 N. McCardell 1-yd run (C. Bleacher kick) 14-28

Q4 - SOL - 4:30 N. McCardell 1-yd run (C. Bleacher kick) 14-35

Q4 - SOL - 2:50 N. McCardell 53-yd run (C. Bleacher kick) 14-42

PASSING: LS - C. Shank 7-19-0-69

SOL - N. McCardell 1-4-0-10

RECEIVING: LS - A. Hay 2-39, C. Gaudino 2-10, K. Metz 1-11, C. Lopez 1-5, S. Lawler 1-4

SOL - T. Miller 1-10

RUSHING: LS - C. Shank 8-31, S. Lawler 7-31, G. Groshong 4-13, C. Gaudino 2-0

SOL - D. Hassel 29-126, N. McCardell 22-144, P. Eguzouwa 7-69, D. Whearry 6-20, T. Miller 1(-1)