On October 20, the Varsity football team played against Eastern High School in the homecoming game. The Rams were coming into this game with a 3-4 record, losing three straight games and looking to bounce back. The Rams came out on top, 42-25.

With a little under six minutes to go in the first quarter, Eastern couldn’t convert on fourth down. That led to running back Josh Vipperman running touchdown with 3:32 to go in the first quarter.

“I think our running game is our strong suit. Our line fires off the ball very well, and they create great lanes for the backs. Our backs have good vision and the speed to slip away,” said running back Dalton Stike.

A little later, in the second quarter, Eastern scored a touchdown to make it a tie game at 7-7 with 6:53 left in the first half. Not too much later, the Rams scored another touchdown and took the lead back at 14-7.

Then, with 38 seconds left in the first half, the Rams scored another touchdown to extend their lead to 21-7.

Suddenly, with 6:09 to go in the third quarter, the Rams scored another touchdown to make the score 28-7.

Eastern scored a touchdown to make the game a little closer, and after the missed extra point, the score was 28-13. Then Eastern scored another touchdown, but couldn’t convert on the two point conversion, leaving the score at 28-19.

With 9:44 to go in the game, Stike scored a 95-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 35-19.

Eastern scored to cut the Rams’ lead back to ten after their touchdown. However, Eastern failed again to convert on the two-point conversion.

With 5:03 left in the game, the Rams scored another touchdown, leaving the score at 42-25. After a few kneel downs, the game ended, and the Rams won, 42-25.

Looking back at the game, Head Coach Christopher Grube said, “ I was pleased offensively. We were able to sustain drives and run the football effectively. Our defense struggled with Eastern’s passing game, but we knew going into that game they were just going to throw deep balls and hope to keep it a close game.”

Grube also mentioned that the Rams had to minimalize #20 on Eastern, Logan Kline.

The Rams had 435 yards of total rushing. Stike had the most rushing yards with 218 yards, and three touchdowns. Running back Wyatt McCleary ran for 122 yards and scored two touchdowns. Vipperman scored one touchdown and ran for 95 yards.

Stike thought the Rams performed well and the running game is the strongest it has been in a long time.

Quarterback Noah Hulslander agrees. “To me, the thing that stands out to me the most is the offensive line played one outstanding game. They created some HUGE holes and the running backs did the rest. We take pride in our running game, and it was a great feeling for the team to get it done on Friday night,” he said.

When asked about the great amount of running plays, Grube said, “Every week our main focus is our run game. We have passing opportunities during games, but when we are averaging over six yards a carry it’s tough to call a pass play when we are getting that kind of production from our running backs. We had options to throw the ball last Friday, but we didn’t need too due our success running the ball.”

Grube also said that he is very confident in the Rams’ run game, and they have been running for over 200 yards per game for most of the season.

Another key to victory is the crowd, and Grube said “I believe we have the best student section in York County. Period. Our players feed off the energy that the student section gives them during games. I think that we have had the most support from our student body in the four years that I have been coaching football at KD. When the student body has school pride and care about the success of the football program, good things are going to happen.”

According to Grube, Eastern is a very young team, but they have some really good athletes. The defensive focus of the Rams was to limit the big plays that Eastern is capable of and limiting their playmakers.

Quarterback Noah Hulslander said, “I thought the team played outstanding. We struggled for a little bit through some games, so this win really gets us back on track. When adversity came during the game, we definitely handled it well and we capitalized on it.”

Grube also said that Eastern played better on offense than he thought, and they played how he expected them to play on the defense.

Gallery • 2 Photos

Photo by: Michael Zabkowski