Jon Smoker could barely keep his eyes open.
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The Cocalico senior was exhausted.
He had just rushed for 257 yards, on 11 carries, while reaching the end zone five times, to lead the Eagles to a 56-31 shootout win over Elco in the first round of the District Three Class AAA playoffs Friday night in Denver.
"I'm so tired, but it's a good tired," Smoker, who had just 236 yards heading into the game, said with a grin. "It was well deserved."
Cocalico (9-2), the No. 7 seed, will travel to No. 2 Susquehanna Township (10-1) in next week's quarterfinals. The Eagles beat the Indians, 49-30, in the first round of last season's playoffs.
The first half gave the impression that the game would be close and quick.
Matt Carty (10 carries, 101 yards) scored twice for Cocalico, and Smoker once, while Kyle Wenger booted a pair of field goals and the Eagles headed into the locker room with a 21-6 lead.
The opening half lasted 46 minutes.
The second half lasted a lot longer and was the reason that 1,016 total yards were churned out on the night.
Each team's first three possessions of the second half ended with touchdowns.
Smoker scored on a pair of option runs of 24 and 65 yards, with Carty adding another for the Eagles on a four-yard scamper.
Elco (8-3) countered with three Arron Achey (27-of-49, 341 passing yards) touchdown passes. Eric Ondo (7 catches, 128 yards) was on the receiving end of two Achey tosses — two and 61 yards — and Bryan Bowman (10-110 receiving) the other with a four-yard strike to make the score 42-24 Cocalico at the end of the third quarter.
Achey made it 42-31 with a three-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
"He's one of the best quarterbacks that I've seen in a long, long time," Cocalico coach Dave Gingrich said of Achey, who finished his career with 4,299 passing yards. "He beats you with his legs, his arm and his mind."
Unfortunately for the Raiders, Smoker wasn't finished.
The Eagles, in particular Carty, noticed Elco was over-adjusting to their unbalanced line trying to stop the veer run of Austin Hartman (18-110 rushing).
So Carty took advantage of the Raiders' defense with two more option pitches to Smoker that went for a pair of 44-yard scores.
"It's Jon (Smoker), but it's also the offensive line," Gingrich explained. "It's the receivers, who didn't get a pass all night, and it's also Matt Carty making good decisions."
"Carty and Hartman are such good runners and I have to give credit to the offensive line," Smoker said of Blake Bomberger, Ben Brugger, Taylor Yost, Brad Entzminger, Zach Gossling, Earvin Johnson and Kyle Felpel. "The receivers also blocked so well. It made my job easier once I got to the perimeter."
With 549 yards of offense, all on the ground, Gingrich is pleased that his team has found another offensive threat in the playoffs.
"Now hopefully teams will have to prepare for a third option and that's why they call it a triple option," he said laughing.
Gingrich's new-found weapon, though desperately in need of sleep, is happy that his scholastic career will continue.
"This could have been my last game ever," said Smoker. "So I had to give it my all and I'm glad it worked out for us."
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