Eastern York shuts door on Dover with long scoring drive

Eastern York and Dover both had epic drives Friday night, but only one team knew how to finish.

Already ahead in the third quarter, Eastern milked the clock with an 18-play, 89-yard drive, ending the stanza with Logan Kline's 11-yard touchdown run. That cushion was enough to boost Eastern to a 19-14 home victory, and kept the Golden Knights undefeated in YAIAA Division II action.

"We challenged our kids at halftime that we had to control the second half," Eastern York coach Jeff Mesich said. "Honestly, I thought that was the difference in the football game. We controlled it up front."

Eastern led 12-7 at the start of the drive, which started at the Golden Knights' own 11-yard line. Quarterback Seth Bernstein's own number was called on the ground four consecutive times at one point, and the sophomore picked up 23 yards, including a 2-yard gain on a third-and-1.

A Dover sack pushed Eastern (2-3, 2-0) back into a third-and-16, but Eastern drew a pass interference penalty to set up a fourth-and-1 at the Dover 34. Bernstein once again converted, pushing forward for 6 yards.

Keegan Corwell had a 9-yard run on third-and-2 to get Eastern into the red zone, with Kline finding the end zone three plays later for the 19-7 lead.

"Our backs and our quaterback and our receivers played great running-the-ball blocking and that was the story of the second half," Mesich said.

The Eagles (1-4. 0-2) had their own epic drive, a 14-play, 70-yard second-quarter march, but holding and delay-of-game penalties in the red zone forced a 26-yard field goal attempt, which sailed wide left.

Dover's Cole Jesmer recovered a fumbled punt snap in the end zone to narrow it to 19-14 with 1:23 left in the game, but Jesmer and the offense would not get the ball back again. 

"We made it a little tighter than we needed to at the end, and it gave me some more gray hairs, but it was nice to get out of here with a win," Mesich said.

Jesmer had 112 yards on six catches, but the Eagles plagued themselves with six turnovers. Eastern parlayed two fumbles into short-field touchdowns, including Bernstein's 31-yarder for a 12-7 lead one play after Corwell recovered a Dover fumble to start the third quarter.

Dover quarterback Alan Hansel threw three interceptions, including two in the fourth quarter.

Next up for Eastern is a trip to Gettysburg on Friday. Dover hosts Kennard-Dale that night.

Dover_0_7_0_7_—14

Eastern_6_0_13_0_—19

First Quarter 

EY -- Jimmy Kurnik 23 pass from Seth Bernstein (run failed), 8:17

Second Quarter

D -- Alan Hansel 3 run (Zach Noll kick), 5:17

Third Quarter

EY -- Bernstein 31 run (run failed), 11:28

EY -- Logan Kline 11 run (Brennen Shenk kick), :00

Fourth Quarter

D -- Cole Jesmer fumble recovery in end zone (Noll kick), 1:23

Team Statistics

 _Do_ EY

First downs_8_10

Rushes-Yards_33-58_39-126

Passing_10-21-3_5-12-2

Passing Yards_171_48

Total Yards_229_174

Punts_2-36.0_4-37.0

Fumbles-Lost_4-3_2-1

Penalties-Yards_8-76_5-65

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Dover, Brandon Lawyer 10-46, Derek Arevalo 13-27, Cole Jesmer 1-11, Alan Hansel 9-(-26). Eastern York, Seth Bernstein 26-123, Keegan Corwell 4-16, Logan Kline 8-8, Tyler Winters 1-(-21).

Passing — Dover, Hansel 10-21-171-3. Eastern York, Bernstein 5-12-48-2

Receiving — Dover, Jesmer 6-112, Brady Bowman 1-34, Amari Peterson 1-9, Derek Arevalo 2-16. Eastern York, Kurnik 3-40, Cole Whitman 1-5, Jahshim Snyder 1-3.