Ephrata, Warwick ready to renew long-standing rivalry: Reinhart's L-L Football Spotlight

Rivalry — noun; a state or situation in which people or groups are competing with each other. Competition: rivalry between Yale and Harvard.

LANCASTER — Nothing like a good rivalry.

Yankees-Red Sox. Michigan-Ohio State. Duke-North Carolina. USC-UCLA. And yes, Yale-Harvard.

The football programs at Ephrata and Warwick have one of the best — and long-standing — rivalries in the L-L League.

The Mountaineers and the Warriors — their schools separated by about eight miles as the crow flies — have squared off on the gridiron 83 times.

Some games have come as section rivals. Others, like this Friday’s encounter, have been nonleague battles.

But one thing has been constant: Ephrata and Warwick, neighboring school districts and rivals in every sport, not just on the gridiron, strap on the shoulder pads and spikes play a game of football every year.

Game No. 84 in their backyard series comes Friday at 7 p.m., when Warwick heads to War Memorial Field to take on Ephrata.

Expect an overflow crowd. And with temps going down into the 60s Friday night, make sure you go early for a bowl of chicken corn soup from Ephrata’s first-rate snack bar.

The winner of the annual Ephrata vs. Warwick battle receives the traveling George Male Trophy. And trust me when I tell you that it’s a really, really big deal to have that trophy in your case for the rest of the school year.

Male was a former Ephrata and Warwick head coach.

The Warriors have dominated the rivalry as of late, with seven wins in a row over their counterparts to the east.

Warwick’s win streak, including last year’s 17-7 victory in Lititz, has pushed the Warriors ahead in the all-time series by a fraction:

39-38-6.

That says quite a lot about how terrific this rivalry is — on the field. To play that many football games over that many years and to have the series’ win-loss mark separated by one game? That’s great stuff, and truly speaks to how big this game is to both programs — regardless of how their season is going or what the records are heading into this yearly showdown.

Ephrata, which was wrecked by injuries in the preseason, can tie the series with a victory on home turf on Friday.

The Mounts, with playmakers Blake Weaver and Jeremy Kachel on the shelf, are 0-2, and have managed just 263 yards, 15 first downs and 14 points in two games, losses to Exeter and Garden Spot.

Warwick bounced back from a 33-7 Week 1 setback to Manheim Central to beat Conestoga Valley 35-16 last Friday. So the Warriors will pack plenty of momentum into the bus for their short trip through the back roads of Lancaster County to Ephrata on Friday.

But you can throw out all the records and all the stats for this one.

Ephrata and Warwick.

Warwick and Ephrata.

There’s never any love lost when those two knock heads on the football field.

It is a true L-L League rivalry.

Enjoy No. 84.

Follow @JeffReinhart77