Ellwood gets a win to start the season
Ellwood City (41) vs. Freedom (20)
Written: Sep 04, 2010
By Steve Treu
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
FREEDOM — Forget that it’s just one game, this fact is indisputable:
Ellwood City Lincoln is undefeated.
After a nightmarish three seasons that included a 31-game losing streak, the Wolverines got off to a dream start in the 2010 high school football campaign with a 41-20 Midwestern Athletic Conference rout of Freedom last night.
“Anytime you win a football game it’s good,” Ellwood coach Don Phillips said, “but this win has us really excited. The kids are pumped. Now they understand they can win football games if they keep working hard.”
And if they keep playing this well, the headlines may soon be about a Wolverines winning streak.
Kyle Crawford rushed for a game-high 167 yards and scored three touchdowns as Ellwood punished the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball.
Crawford’s big night, which featured two electric TD runs and another score through the air, was one of several outstanding individual efforts that added up to an impressive team win.
Alexander Grymes ran for 91 yards on seven carries, Garrett Thomas added 75 yards on 10 runs and Gino Ceriani completed 3-of-5 passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns behind a front line that paved the way for 451 yards of offense.
“Our line was amazing,” Crawford said. “They kept giving us huge holes to run through.”
“I was very impressed with a number of kids tonight,” Phillips said. “We spread the ball around. We ran it well, we threw it well ... and the kids up front did a great job. We have a lot of seniors on that line and a lot of pride on that line. They know if our kids run the football well, they are getting after it.”
In reality, the season actually got off to a terrible start for the Wolverines as Freedom’s Khalil Caracter returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
But after that, it was nearly all Ellwood.
The Wolverines got the equalizer midway through the first quarter when Phillips modeled what he wants to see from his team — aggressiveness — and went for it on fourth-and-9 from the Freedom 29. Ceriani made the decision pay off with a picturesque spiral to a wide-open Crawford for an easy touchdown.
The Bulldogs responded with another breakaway on the very next play from scrimmage, as Delshawn Popowich dashed 71 yards for a 14-7 lead.
The Wolverines then produced five unanswered touchdowns to muzzle the ’Dogs for good.
After Ceriani tossed another tight, 29-yard spiral to Nicholas Polka — who had to beat out Crawford in the end zone for the ball — to tie it again, Crawford put Ellwood in the lead for good on the first play of the second quarter by darting around the right side and diving through contact across the goal line for a 22-yard touchdown.
The next time he touched the ball, Crawford took off on a 56-yard scamper to set up a 10-yard scoring run by Garrett Thomas, who bolted through a gaping hole in the Freedom defense and dodged a few tacklers to make it 28-14.
Crawford then tacked on the coup de grace — a 54-yard touchdown through a shell-shocked defense that had no chance catching up with the elusive junior back.
Anthony Punzell added the final score for Ellwood, a 30-yard run off right tackle near the end of the third quarter.
The Wolverines have already matched their win total for the last three seasons combined and are setting their sights on much loftier goals.
“We want to win big this year,” Crawford said. “We want to go to Heinz Field and we think we can do that.”
“I told them before the game that our whole season was Freedom,” Phillips said. “And now our whole season is New Brighton. That’s it. There is nothing but New Brighton.”
The Wolverines hold their home opener at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the Lions, who beat Yough 37-28 last night.
ELLWOOD CITY FREEDOM
10 First downs 9
402 Yards Rushing 173
26 Yards Lost 31
376 Net Rushing 142
5 Passes Attempted 13
3 Passes Completed 6
0 Passes Intercepted 0
75 Yards Passing 33
451 Total Yards 175
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
1-48 Punts-Average 7-35
5-38 Penalties-Yards 8-50
ELLWOOD CITY 14 14 13 0 — 41
FREEDOM 14 0 0 6 — 20
Scoring plays
FREEDOM — Khalil Caracter, 95-yard kickoff return (Franzee Barlamas kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Kyle Crawford, 29-yard pass from Gino Ceriani (Scott Lewis kick).
FREEDOM — Delshawn Popowich, 71-yard run (Barlamas kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Nicholas Polka, 29-yard pass from Ceriani (Lewis kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Crawford, 22-yard run (Lewis kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Garrett Thomas, 10-yard run (Lewis kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Crawford, 54-yard run (botched snap).
ELLWOOD CITY — Anthony Punzell, 30-yard run (Lewis kick).
FREEDOM — Darek Lehocky, 3-yard run (kick failed).
|