Ephrata on a heater

GRANDVIEW - Dalton Balentine ran for 235 yards and three touchdowns, and Tyler Clark connected on five of 12 passes for 80 yards and two scores as the Tigers raced past the Greyhounds 45-12 Friday.

It didn't take long for Ephrata to scratch out points on the board as the Tigers scored just 12 seconds into the game on a 65-yard run by Balentine (Dalton Johnson PAT) to go up 7-0.

Ephrata made it 14-0 with three minutes to go in the first quarter on a 3-yard Balentine run (PAT).

It appeared as though Ephrata was going to blow things wide open early, but Grandview answered back with six points (kick failed) to close the gap to 14-6 as the first 12 minutes of play came to an end.

The Tigers put the only points on the board in the second quarter of action on Balentine's third TD of the game; a 1-yard dash (PAT) to stretch Ephrata's lead to 21-6 and finish out the first half scoring.

The Greyhounds desperately trying to make a game of it, scored on a 56-yard run (run failed) to start the third quarter, and got within nine, 21-12.

The Tigers responded with a 1-yard TD by Clark (PAT) to push the score to 28-12. Ephrata added another score in the waning seconds of the quarter on a 12-yard pass from Clark to Evan McMartin (PAT) to give the Tigers some breathing room, 35-12.

A Clark touchdown pass, and a Dalton field goal in the fourth quarter rounded out the scoring for the game, 45-12.

The win over Grandview improves Ephrata to 5-2 in CWAC league play, and lands the Tigers in three-way tie for third place in the standings with one game left to go in the regular season.

Ephrata is back on the gridiron Friday when the team hosts No. 4 ranked Prosser at 7 p.m.