Ellwood City bolsters playoff hopes with rout of Mohawk
Ellwood City (35) vs. Mohawk (7)
Written: Oct 02, 2010
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
For the Ellwood City Lincoln football team, it’s a different year and different body language.
Last season, it was as if the Wolverines were just waiting for something bad to happen. This year, they are making things happen.
“We’re expecting good things to happen,” Ellwood City coach Don Phillips said.
A lot of things went right for the Wolverines last night at Mohawk. They scored 28 points in the second half and cruised to a 35-7 victory in a Midwestern Athletic Conference contest.
The win moves Ellwood City (3-1 conference, 4-1 overall) another step closer to securing a WPIAL playoff berth.
“We go to Aliquippa, so the road gets tougher,” Phillips said. “But we’ve got two of our last three at home and that helps.
“The thing is, the kids now know they can win … that we can get this done.”
Ellwood City proved that in the second half against Mohawk (2-3, 2-3).
The Warriors put together a four-play, 70-yard touchdown drive at he start of the second half to tie the score at 7. Colin Bredl, who rushed for 79 yards on 11 carries, darted over right tackle and raced 57 yards for a first down at the Ellwood City 7. John Fleck burst through the line and into the end zone on the next play.
Last year, Ellwood City players might have hung their heads when something like that happened.
Not now.
The Wolverines answered by moving 48 yards in seven plays for a touchdown. The drive was aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty against Mohawk that gave the Wolverines a first down at the Mohawk 33. Four plays later, Alexander Grymes scored from 16 yards out on a counter play over the right side.
Ellwood City then forced Mohawk to punt and took over on its 38. On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Gino Ceriani faked a handoff and then hit a wide-open Kyle Crawford on a 64-yard touchdown pass with 4:52 left in the third quarter. That put the Wolverines on top, 21-7, and broke the game open.
Ceriani completed just three of seven passes for 112 yards, but two went for scores. He tossed a 37-yard pass to Nicholas Polka for the first touchdown of the game.
“We knew they (Mohawk defenders) were coming up and playing the run tough and we just kept pounding it,” Ceriani said. “We knew their free safety liked to come up and we took advantage of it.
“We had run that same play earlier and I overthrew him. It was so wide open the second time that I actually underthrew him.”
“We came back to it because we were running the ball and having decent success,” Phillips said. “You could see their (defensive backs) sticking their noses in there a little bit thinking, ‘I’ve got to help, I’ve got to help.’ Our quarterback did a great job on the fake and the kids all know that if they give him a chance, he’ll get the ball there.”
Ellwood City wasn’t done. It recorded a sack when Mohawk went for it on a fourth-and-13 play from the Wolverines’ 45. Ellwood City took possession on the Mohawk 47 and scored seven running plays later. Garrett Thomas, who led the Wolverines with 80 yards rushing on 15 carries, found the end zone on a 13-yard scamper around the right side with 1:33 remaining. That gave the Wolverines a 28-7 lead.
Last year, Mohawk defeated Ellwood City, 26-14. But that was last year.
ELLWOOD CITY MOHAWK
13 First downs 11
209 Yards Rushing 166
20 Yards Lost 48
189 Net Rushing 118
7 Passes Attempted 16
3 Passes Completed 5
2 Passes Intercepted 2
112 Yards Passing 54
321 Total Yards 172
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
4-38.5 Punts-Average 6-32.8
3-25 Penalties-Yards 6-60
ELLWOOD CITY 7 0 14 14 —35
MOHAWK 0 0 7 0 — 7
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY — Nicholas Polka, 37-yard pass from Gino Geriani (Scott Lewis kick).
MOHAWK — John Fleck, 7-yard run (Cody Dean kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Alexander Grymes, 16-yard run (Lewis kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Kyle Crawford, 64-yard pass from Ceriani (Lewis kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Garrett Thomas, 13-yard run (Lewis kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Anthony Punzell, 8-yard interception return (Lewis kick).
|