Opening Round District 3, Class 5A Football:

On Friday, the Cocalico Eagles made easy work of the Hershey Trojans and carried off a 42-21 win. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Eagles just coasted through the last quarter.

CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS.

Leading Cocalico to victory were Josh Myer and Dane Horning. Myer rushed for 138 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries, while Horning rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.9 yards per carry. Cocalico is 7-1 when Horning posts two or more rushing touchdowns, but 1-2 otherwise.

Cocalico was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 310 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now rushed for at least 173 rushing yards in 11 consecutive contests.

One reason for the win was Cocalico’s imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Rylan Jenkins and Jerry Mcardle, who racked up four sacks between them. Mcardle also set a new season high mark in total tackles with eight.

When it comes to explaining why Hershey lost, don’t look at Cameron Sweeney. Despite the final result, he rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 180 yards and a touchdown.

Cocalico has been performing incredibly well recently as they’ve won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. As for Hershey, their loss dropped their record down to 7-4.

Cocalico will face off against Mechanicsburg at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Mechanicsburg knows how to get points on the board — the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past six matches — so hopefully Cocalico likes a good challenge. Hershey does not have any more games scheduled as of now.