By Bud Hart At the half, most Solanco Homecoming fans were feeling rather content Friday night, September 28. The Mules were going to win their fifth game of the season after leaving the field at the break with a 37-19 lead over the Elizabethtown Bears. Wrong. The Bears came back with a vengeance in the second half, throttling the Mule running game, while exploiting the Solanco secondary with three TD’s through the air and a 65-yard Cole Livingston break-away on the ground, outscoring the home team 26-6 for a come from behind 45-44 win. For Mule fans, it was a gut wrenching loss to say the least. The Bears' senior quarterback, Cole Patrick, threw for 338 yards, completing 19 of 32 passes.
The Mules relied on their one-dimensional offense rushing for 389 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. The home team was zero for six through the air. Solanco lost running back Nick Yannutz prior to the half, but sophomore Shaneef Carter did a creditable job filling in for the injured junior. This coming Friday, the Mules host the Red Tornado of McCaskey, a Section I foe entering the pasture with a 1-5 record. Their last loss, a 28-14 defeat to Penn Manor on Saturday, September 29. This may be the only chance for another Mule victory this season, as L-S, Cocalico, and Manheim Central are still to come. Trust me, the Mules will be the underdogs in all three. McCaskey is near the bottom of Section I in both offensive and defensive statistics, but their quarterback, Isaiah Thomas, is a good athlete. As the Tornado’s leading ball carrier, Thomas is averaging nearly five yards per carry. Thomas has thrown for over 600 yards, with Jamiere Gray his favorite receiver. Gray is averaging over 16 yards per catch. Head coach Eric Spencer has some big guys on the line. Junior Destry Gravely weighs in at 320, sophomore, Chance McIntyre at 310 and seniors Angel Tirado and George Santos tip the scales at 300. McIntyre is 6'4", Santos 6’3”. No one has been able to rein in the Mule’s ground game. We don’t see McCaskey able to twirl their way in stopping the Mule gallop. If the Mules minimize their amount of penalties and turnovers, we like Solanco in this one 35-14. Comments are closed.
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