Mistakes stop Ellwood in upset bid
Ellwood City (7) vs. Aliquippa (29)
Written: Oct 09, 2010
 By STEVE TREU
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
ALIQUIPPA — For a moment there, Ellwood City Lincoln seemed to have weathered the Aliquippa storm.
It was quickly wiped out, however, by some of the Quips’ trademark thunder and lightning.
Aliquippa pushed back a pesky Ellwood City squad with two quick touchdowns in the third quarter en route to a 29-7 victory at Carl Aschman Stadium, aka The Pit.
“We made it interesting for a while,” Ellwood City coach Don Phillips said. “But when you are up against the kind of speed and toughness they have, there’s no room for mistakes.”
Only a few mistakes were enough to cost the Wolverines (3-2 conference, 4-2 overall) a shot at an upset of the Quips (6-0, 6-0).
When Garrett Thomas plowed in from 4 yards out early in the second half, Ellwood City sliced its deficit to 15-7 and seemed to have all the momentum.
Against Aliquippa, though, momentum changes on a dime.
Two plays after pulling within one score, lightning-fast Quips receiver Haetaun Mathis blazed through the Ellwood City secondary and ran under a perfectly thrown ball by Mike Hall for a 60-yard touchdown and a 22-7 lead.
Three plays after that, thundering Quips lineman Zachary Hooks intercepted an ill-advised pass and rumbled 20 yards into the end zone.
The TD by the 6-foot-6, 286-pound Hooks was the knockout punch from the WPIAL heavyweights.
“They are not the No. 1 or 2 team in the state for nothing,” Phillips said. “We made a few mistakes, and they made us pay.”
Perhaps their most glaring mistake came near the end of the first half.
With the scrappy Wolverines hanging tight, down just 7-0, Aliquippa faced a third-and-13 near midfield. Despite being in an obvious passing situation, Mathis ended up roaming free with no defender anywhere near him and walked into the end zone on a 46-yard scoring strike from Hall.
“That blown coverage and the interception return for the touchdown were really the difference,” Phillips said. “That’s two scores right there. Take away those plays and we’re right in it.”
The Wolverines were right in it for much of the evening.
They managed as many first downs (11) as Aliquippa and forced a pair of fumbles, one that went through the end zone for a touchback and the other recovered by Christian Sarver to end a scoring threat. During one 20-minute stretch in the second half, they ran 27 plays from scrimmage to Aliquippa’s nine and maintained possession 15 minutes compared to just five for Aliquippa.
Quips coach Mike Zmijanac noted how the visitors put up a good fight.
“That’s a pretty good team we beat,” he said. “We made just enough plays and did just enough things right to win.”
Kyle Crawford was Ellwood City’s leading rusher with 42 yards on 11 carries. His 55-yard kickoff return to start the second half sparked the team’s lone scoring drive.
The Wolverines return home Friday for a conference matchup against Laurel, which has won two straight after winning at New Brighton 19-7 last night.
ELLWOOD CITY ALIQUIPPA
11 First downs 11
110 Yards Rushing 193
46 Yards Lost 27
64 Net Rushing 166
19 Passes Attempted 10
5 Passes Completed 7
2 Passes Intercepted 0
65 Yards Passing 162
129 Total Yards 328
1-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-2
5-30 Punts-Average 1-36
4-45 Penalties-Yards 6-32
ELLWOOD 0 0 7 0 — 7
ALIQUIPPA 7 8 14 0 — 29
Scoring plays
ALIQUIPPA — Ben Cobb, 8-yard run (Marquis Jenkins kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Haetaun Mathis, 46-yard pass from Mike Hall (Cobb run).
ELLWOOD — Garrett Thomas, 4-yard run (Scott Lewis kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Mathis, 60-yard pass from Hall (Jenkins kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Zachary Hooks, 20-yard interception return (Jenkins kick).
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