Ephrata beats Toppenish 42-7

The Ephrata Tigers kept their CWAC playoff hopes alive with a road win against Toppenish last Friday. Ephrata continued to improve offensively with Dalton Balentine and Tyler Lutz leading a formidable rushing attack en route to a 42-7 victory.

The Tigers controlled things up front on the offensive line to open holes for their backs and to allow time for quarterback Evan Brooks to manage the game and get the Ephrata offense out to an early lead. With Balentine rushing for two touchdowns and Tyler Lutz breaking a long touchdown run that put the Tigers up early, Ephrata was able to go up 35-0 by the break.

With a commanding halftime lead they spread playing time around in the second half and as they have done multiple times this season, got underclassmen in the game and playing varsity minutes.

"I was most impressed with our offensive line on Friday, it was their most dominant performance all year. Those guys really worked hard and controlled the line of scrimmage all game. That really was the key in opening things up for our offense in the first half." head coach Jay Mills said.

Toppenish matched the Tigers one score in the second half, but Ephrata's depth proved to be too much and they coasted in the second half, keeping pressure on the home team's offense all night long and disrupting their offensive strategy.

"The defense did a nice job and the defensive line was very physical. We recorded the most sacks we have all season on Friday and keeping that kind of pressure in the back field made it tough for them to get going and made it tough for them to run the ball." Mills said.

The Tigers needed a statement game for the defense and they got it on Friday. In addition to a dominant defensive performance, the Tigers offensive leaders came through with big games, as Balentine found the end-zone twice and Tyler Lutz flashed his big play capability, while Evan Brooks was a consistent game manager once again.

With the most pivotal part of the season on the horizon, Ephrata needed to tie up any lose ends and with outstanding performances from the defense and both lines, look for the Tigers to be confident when they take the field Friday against Grandview for their homecoming game.

"The big thing as we prepare for Grandview is just to continue to improve, be consistent and work our fundamentals. We can still improve in some areas, I think our blocking, specifically on outside runs, could improve and we will work to get better this week and play well on Friday." Mills said.