Ellwood suffers bizarre loss to Char Valley
Ellwood City (19) vs. Chartiers Valley (53)
Written: Sep 22, 2012
By Kayleen Cubbal
New Castle News
The statistics show that Ellwood City Lincoln High hung in with Chartiers Valley in all but one place last night.
The scoreboard.
The Wolverines had nearly as many first downs, yards rushing and yards passing, but the end result still was a 53-19 nonconference loss to the Colts at Helling Stadium.
Ellwood City (0-4) amassed 146 yards rushing to the 2-2 Colts’ 175. The Wolverines had 182 total yards to Chartiers Valley’s 231 and the losers’ eight first downs were just four fewer than the winners’.
And time of possession was in Ellwood City’s favor outright. The Wolverines ran 31 offensive plays in the first half to the Colts’ 14.
The Wolverines were playing without starting quarterback Justin Vetica, along with running backs Beau Ewing, the team’s leading rusher, Jared Meyers and Seth Mley, all sidelined for a variety of reasons. In addition, two-way lineman Bradley Grinnen took a seat when he and a Colts player both were thrown out for fighting in the first half.
“This is the first time in my career I ever went into a game with my entire backfield out,” said veteran Ellwood City coach Don Phillips. “The kids who started in the backfield (Brandon Magnifico, Christian Sarver, Chris Shurtz and Layne Lutz) responded very well.
“There were so many flukey things that happened, the final score really doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Magnifico has to play a JV game tomorrow (today) because we’re short on quarterbacks, so he’s going to be pulling double duty,” he added.
Ellwood City took the opening kickoff and went 85 yards in 13 plays, all on the ground. Sarver accounted for 62 of those yards , including a 28-yard touchdown run.
But the Colts returned the ensuing kickoff and they were off to the races. Chartiers Valley came up with big play after big play, including two fumble returns and another kickoff return, to help it reel off 47 unanswered points.
Ellwood scored twice late, on a 6-yard run by Sarver and an 11-yard scamper by Magnifico. Shurtz also had a 70-yard kickoff return to the Chartiers Valley 15 in the third quarter.
Sarver led the Wolverines with 77 yards on 17 carries.
“One plus tonight was that a lot of kids got on the field for experience,” Phillips said. “No, we didn’t win, but the kids that played made a statement that they want playing time and will push the starters.”
(Email: kcubbal@ncnewsonline.com. Gaylord Muny contributed to this story)
CHAR VALLEY ELLWOOD
8 First downs 12
175 Net Rushing 146
5 Passes Attempted 4
3 Passes Completed 1
0 Passes Intercepted 0
56 Yards Passing 36
231 Total Yards 182
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 6-2
2-14.5 Punts-Average 3-34
4-29 Penalties-Yards 4-30
CHAR VALLEY 13 28 6 6 — 53
ELLWOOD 6 0 13 0 — 19
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY — Christian Sarver, 28-yard run (kick failed).
CHAR VALLEY — Michael Boulos, 89-yard kickoff return (kick failed).
CHAR VALLEY — Andreo Coury, 3-yard pass from Josh Lapiana (Kristina Coyne kick).
CHAR VALLEY — Tyler Terrell, 33-yard fumble return (Coyne kick).
CHAR VALLEY — Lapiana, 74-yard run (Coyne kick).
CHAR VALLEY — Coury, 8-yard fumble return (Coyne kick).
CHAR VALLEY — Joe Ragni, 1-yard run (Coyne kick).
CHAR VALLEY — Conner Lindsay, 66-yard kickoff return (kick failed).
ELLWOOD CITY — Sarver, 6-yard run (Sandy Smajic kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Brandon Magnifico, 11-yard run (kick failed).
CHAR VALLEY — Ryan O’Connell, 35-yard run (run failed).
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