Ioanilli, Ellwood run right through Bulldogs
Ellwood City (51) vs. Freedom (14)
Written: Sep 20, 2014
By Steve Treu
New Castle News
FREEDOM — The schedule said football game, but a track meet broke out on Freedom’s field last night.
Ellwood City Lincoln’s Nick Ioanilli ran all over, around and through the Bulldogs.
The big junior back piled up 188 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns, including one on an interception return, in Ellwood City’s 51-14 rout.
“If you give Nick a chance in space, he’s very dangerous,” Wolverines coach Don Phillips said. “I think he proved that tonight.”
Did he ever.
Ioanilli turned in a career game for most players by halftime, knifing up the middle for a 28-yard touchdown to open the scoring and closing the half with an 18-yard burst through the left side.
In between those offensive strikes, he snagged a jump ball for an interception at midfield and returned it to the house as Ellwood took a 21-7 lead into intermission.
Total damage for Ioanilli over the first two quarters: Three touchdowns, 112 yards on 11 carries and a lot of bumps and bruises on the Bulldogs defenders.
“Nick is a phenomenal player,” Phillips said. “He has great speed and great strength, and now his vision is starting to open up. On the one touchdown, he made a tremendous cut that only a great athlete with good vision is going to make.
“He saw that opening, made a great cut, and they weren’t going to catch him.”
Throwing the ball all over the place (34 attempts netted 183 yards through the air), the Bulldogs were able to hang in there for a while.
But they were done in by five turnovers and an unsightly 14 penalties for 139 yards, including seven personal fouls.
“I’ve never seen one team get so many personal fouls in one game,” Freedom coach Tim Dubovi said. “That’s a lack of discipline. That’s unacceptable.”
The Wolverines took advantage of Freedom’s mistakes with 30 points in the second half. River Kelly scored on a 14-yard run, Ioanilli added a 40-yarder, quarterback D.J. Barrett tacked on a 9-yard touchdown and Logan Gibbons had a 60-yard pick-6.
All of those players are juniors.
“There were a lot of positives tonight and we have to build on that,” Phillips said. “There’s still a long way to go.”
Kelly finished as the game’s second-leading rusher with 61 yards on 12 carries.
Dean Ward had Freedom’s lone conventional touchdown on a 2-yard run.
The Bulldogs twice recovered their fumbles in the end zone, once in Ellwood’s end zone for a touchdown and the other time in their own pay station for a safety.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
ELLWOOD FREEDOM
11 First downs 12
295 Yards Rushing 71
1 Yards Lost 51
294 Net Rushing 20
6 Passes Attempted 34
1 Passes Completed 16
0 Passes Intercepted 2
22 Yards Passing 183
316 Total Yards 203
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 6-3
2-47 Punts-Average 4-28
6-55 Penalties-Yards 14-139
ELLWOOD 7 14 14 16 — 51
FREEDOM 7 0 7 0 — 14
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY — Nick Ioanilli, 28-yard run (Devin Cortez kick).
FREEDOM — Dean Ward, 2-yard run (Zach Green kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Ioanilli, 50-yard interception return (Cortez kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Ioanilli, 18-yard run (Cortez kick).
FREEDOM — Recovered own fumble in Ellwood end zone (Green kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — River Kelly, 14-yard run (Cortez kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Ioanilli, 40-yard run (Cortez kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — D.J. Barrett, 9-yard run (Cortez kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Safety, Freedom recovered fumble in own end zone
ELLWOOD CITY — Logan Gibbons, 60-yard interception return (Cortez kick).
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