Suburban's rapid improvement leads to blowout victory over Ephrata

As the weeks have progressed in the football season, so has York Suburban's offense.

In Week 1, the Trojans scored seven points in a loss to Red Land. Fast forward to Friday night and Week 5 of the YAIAA season.

York Suburban played host to Ephrata and scored a season high in points as the Trojans scored a 38-6 rainy homecoming victory over the Mountaineers.

The Trojans (3-2) led just 8-0 after the first quarter, but a 28-point second quarter gave the home team a 36-0 advantage at halftime.

"We played well in the first half," Trojans head coach Andy Loucks said. "I cant say that I'm happy with the way we played in the second half, but when you start subbing kids in, they have to do their job, too. We still have to get better."

In the first half, the Trojans' Dajour Henderson scored two touchdowns and Teague Hoffman found the end zone once. Quarterback Thomas Merkle also found Collin Mailman twice for scores.

Henderson scored twice from 23 yards out and finished with 82 yards.

"I was really happy with the way Dajour ran the ball," Loucks said. "He's getting back to the Dajour of old. He had a little bit of an ankle injury early in the season and wasnt really running anywhere near 100 percent. He's back to the way he was in the preseason."

Merkle, who came into the game needing just 244 passing yards to become the school's all-time leading passer threw for 146 yards on a 8 of 14 showing.

"We dont really talk about it," Loucks said of the record. "What's most important to him and everybody else is that we just keep winning games. Everything else will come."

Mailman finished with 102 receiving yards on four receptions, including a beautiful 63-yard touchdown strike that made it 29-0 with 4:49 remaining in the first half.

The Trojans defense also surrendered the fewest points of their season. The Mountaineers (0-5) went the second and third quarters without posting a first down and didnt score until 1:35 remained in the game.

Ephrata quarterback Jerrad Malmer scored from four yards out to end the shutout. The Mountaineers had just 130 yards of total offense.

York Suburban 38, Ephrata 6

Ephrata0006—6York Suburban82802—38

First Quarter

YS — Collin Mailman 13-pass from Thomas Merkle (Mailman rush), 6:40.

Second Quarter

YS — Dajour Henderson 23-rush (Jonas Atkinson kikc), 10:44.

YS — Henderson 23-rush (Atkinson kick), 7:21.

YS — Mailman 63-pass from Merkle (Atkinson kick), 4:49.

YS — Teague Hoffman 1-rush (Atkinson kick), 1:41.

Fourth Quarter

YS — Safety, 9:23.

Eph — Jerrad Malmer 4-rush (kick failed), 1:35.

EphYSFirst downs713Rushes-yards33-11030-196Passing3-7-09-18-0Passing Yards20152Total yards130348Punts4-23.750-0Fumbles-lost4-22-1Penalties-yards1-84-25

Individual statistics

Rushing — E, Jerrad Malmer 17-43, Evan Frees 6-25, Randy Barrett 6-31, Charles Warden 4-11. YS, Dajour Henderson 6-82, Teague Hoffman 8-49, Travis Edwards 2-9, Jadon Haynes 4-38, Adrian Sanchez 1-0, Ben Igo 4-(-1), Justice Gettle 2-7, Jake Taylor 2-10, Ben Salazar 1-2.

Passing — E, Malmer 3-7-0-20. YS, Thomas Merkle 8-14-0-146, Igo 1-4-0-6.

Receiving — E, Warden 1-7, Frees 2-13. YS, Collin Mailman 4-102, Brad Smith 3-29, Haynes 1-15, Hoffman 1-6.