Failed kicks come back to haunt Ellwood
Ellwood City (27) vs. Freedom (28)
Written: Sep 08, 2012
By John D’Abruzzo
New Castle News
Two points.
Two missed extra points, to be exact.
A pair of failed conversion kicks proved to be costly for the Ellwood City Lincoln High football team last night at Helling Stadium.
Despite trailing by as many as eight points in the closing seconds of the third quarter against visiting Freedom, the Wolverines battled back but still came up short in the Midwestern Athletic Conference matchup, 28-27.
“This was absolutely the best game I’ve ever been a part of being on the winning side,” Freedom coach Freedom coach Frank Hernandez said. “Our kids fought hard played at the line tonight. I told them the game would be a fight and they would have to finish it through the line and making plays.
“They made the plays in the end.”
Down 28-21 with 3:30 left in the game, Ellwood City senior fullback Beau Ewing barreled into the end zone to get the Wolverines (0-2, 0-2) within reach of the Bulldogs (2-0, 2-0).
A botched snap, however, drilled Ellwood City quarterback and holder Justin Vetica directly in the knee. Vetica could only fall on the ball before being met by a herd of Freedom players and ruled down.
The Wolverines, though, still had one more chance during the final seconds of the game. After recovering a Freedom fumble on Ellwood’s 42-yard line, the Wolverines needed to go 58 yard on two minutes but came up short in the end.
“Any game is tough to lose,” Ellwood City coach Don Phillips said. “You have to play four quarters in anybody’s league, and I told the kids that they had to play four quarters tonight. We played well in the second half but we didn’t play all four quarters.”
The other missed extra-point kick attempt that missed was even stranger, considering the football hit every side of the field goal post before bouncing back toward the field.
After opening the third quarter with a 11-yard touchdown run by Seth Mley, Ellwood City kicker Colton Kauffman booted the ball up, but it bounced off the left side of the post, over to the right side, before it smacked off the crossbar and was ruled no good.
“Never in my life have I ever seen anything like that,” Hernandez said. “The gods had the wind blowing in our favor, I guess.
“But you know what, everyone deserves a bounce like that and we know we deserved it.”
After a scoreless first quarter that followed a 51-minute lightning delay, Ewing put the Wolverines on the board with an impressive 80-yard scamper down the field. Freedom, however, quickly scored on its next possession and took a 14-7 lead into the half and kept its lead the rest of the way.
Kahlil Caracter paced the Bulldogs’ offense.
The junior running back rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. He also caught a key 75-yard pass from Freedom quarterback Forrest Petcovic with 10:12 left in the game.
“He’s a very good player,” Phillips said. “He runs well, he knows how to run and when gets into open space with his speed and quickness you can see the damage he can do.”
While Ewing rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, Ellwood’s backfield was led by Jared Meyers, who gained 150 yards on 15 carries.
“We certainly have some things we have to shore up,” Phillips said. “We have to be more consistent and not let the defense out of the field like we did. We left them out there, they made some mistakes and they capitalized on them.
“We let them come back and score and you can’t do that.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
FREEDOM ELLWOOD CITY
12 First downs 17
186 Yards Rushing 328
23 Yards Lost 32
163 Net Rushing 296
11 Passes Attempted 19
3 Passes Completed 6
1 Passes Intercepted 2
109 Yards Passing 106
272 Total Yards 402
4-2 Fumbles-Lost 3-2
6-21.3 Punts-Average 3-34.6
4-35 Penalties-Yards 4-18
FREEDOM 0 14 7 7 — 28
ELLWOOD CITY 0 7 6 14 — 27
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY — Beau Ewing, 80-yard run (Colton Kauffman kick).
FREEDOM — Forrest Petcovic, 2-yard run (kick blocked).
FREEDOM — Kahlil Caracter, 2-yard run (Sam Beckey pass from Petcovic).
ELLWOOD CITY — Seth Mley, 11-yard run (kick failed).
FREEDOM — Jared Hogue, 14-yard pass from Petcovic (Beckey kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Justin Vetica, 1-yard run (Jared Meyers run).
FREEDOM — Caracter, 75-yard pass from Petcovic (Beckey kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Ewing, 1-yard run (kick failed).
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