Wolverines can’t hang with Quips
Ellwood City (7) vs. Aliquippa (44)
Written: Sep 13, 2014
By Joe Sager
New Castle News
Out of the gauntlet and … back into the gauntlet?
That’s what Ellwood City Lincoln High football coach Don Phillips believes following his team’s 44-7 loss to Aliquippa last night in WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference game at Helling Stadium.
After opening the season with a 35-0 win at Summit Academy, the Wolverines (1-2 MAC, 1-2 overall) dropped contests against two teams favored to finish atop of the conference standings. New Brighton beat Ellwood, 38-13, last week and the Quips, ranked second in the WPIAL by the Post-Gazette, rolled last night.
Phillips, however, isn’t ready to chalk up wins for the remainder of the Wolverines’ schedule.
“Yes, we have had two very good football teams that we’ve played, there’s no doubt about it. But, when you play in the MAC, everybody’s tough,” he said. “Right now, we’re looking up at everybody. We have to focus on next week and nothing down the road. We have to get next week and then we’ll worry about the week after that. That has to be our mental focus. We have to get some kids healthy, too. We had three starters on the sideline tonight and two are on the offensive line. Some of the young kids grew up a lot tonight.”
Aliquippa (3-0, 3-0), which has scored at least 44 points in its first three games, had no trouble finding the end zone against Ellwood. The Quips’ powerful offensive line paved the way, too. Aliquippa rushed for 264 yards and racked up 412 total hashmarks on the evening.
“Our line played extremely well on both sides of the ball,” Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said. “So far, the teams we played have been outmanned. It’s just that simple. We’ll find out, when we get a little deeper in the schedule, just what we have.”
Aliquippa’s defensive line was just as dominant. It only yielded 84 yards rushing to the Wolverines.
“They are a very fine football team that is extremely well coached,” Phillips said. “When you put that level of talent, speed and size with great coaching, you’re going to get a good football team. There’s no doubt about it and they proved that they are who they are and they belong where they are.”
DiMantae Bronaugh got the Quips on the scoreboard with a 3-yard run early in the game. On the team’s next possession, Darrian Fields connected with Patrick Anderson for a 20-yard scoring strike.
Aliquippa poured it on in the second quarter with 28 more points. Kaezon Pugh, Anthony Barton and Bronaugh had TD runs, while Jassir Jordan hauled in a 57-yard scoring pass from Fields.
The mercy rule running clock was in effect for the entire second half. The Wolverines broke the shutout late in the fourth quarter when freshman quarterback Andrew O’Brien hit freshman receiver Toby Kelly for a 7-yard TD.
“I was proud of the young kids. They made a great effort. The second half, especially in the fourth quarter, became a jayvee game and I know they got a lot of kids playing and we got a lot of kids playing,” Phillips said. “I was happy for our kids to score. The kid who threw the touchdown pass is a freshman and the kid who caught the touchdown pass is a freshman. It was good for them to get out there and get the feel for being out there even though last year they would have been playing junior high ball.”
The Wolverines return to action Friday at Freedom in a MAC clash.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
ALIQUIPPA ELLWOOD CITY
20 First downs 7
291 Yards Rushing 115
27 Yards Lost 31
264 Net Rushing 84
9 Passes Attempted 9
6 Passes Completed 3
0 Passes Intercepted 1
148 Yards Passing 10
412 Total Yards 94
4-2 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
1-27 Punts-Average 5-26.4
7-57 Penalties-Yards 4-20
ALIQUIPPA 16 28 0 0 — 44
ELLWOOD 0 0 0 7 — 7
Scoring plays
ALIQUIPPA — DiMantae Bronaugh, 3-yard run (Darrian Fields run).
ALIQUIPPA — Patrick Anderson, 20-yard pass from Fields (Kaezon Pugh run).
ALIQUIPPA — Pugh, 18-yard run (Fields kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Jassir Jordan, 57-yard pass from Fields (Fields kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Anthony Barton, 37-yard run (Fields kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Bronaugh, 4-yard run (Fields kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Toby Kelly, 7-yard pass from Andrew O’Brien (Devin Cortez kick).
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