Quips run all over Ellwood
Ellwood City (0) vs. Aliquippa (56)
Written: Oct 12, 2013
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
ALIQUIPPA — Ellwood City Lincoln High had little time to get into the flow of its game last night against Aliquippa.
Try 22 seconds.
The Quips scored on their first offensive play and never looked back, as the top-ranked Class AA team in the state rolled to a 56-0 mercy rule victory over the Wolverines in a WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference game at Carl A. Aschman Memorial Stadium.
“There’s not a whole lot you can say,” Ellwood City coach Don Phillips said. “We ran into a very good football team.”
Aliquippa (5-0 conference, 7-0 overall) finished the game with nearly 600 yards of total offense, most of that coming in the first half.
“We have good players,” Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said. “Some of these guys have started for four years and they’ve been in three (WPIAL) championship games, so they know what they’re doing.
“It’s our blocking. We have a couple of great runners, obviously. It’s a veteran team.”
The Quips found the end zone on their first offensive play, as quarterback Darrien Fields hooked up with Dravon Henry on a 48-yard touchdown pass. Dennis Moreland added the PAT kick to make it 7-0.
Henry, who intercepted a Dillon Horgan pass on the Wolverines’ first possession and returned it 57 yards for a score, was a scoring machine for the Quips. The senior running back/defensive back, who is being recruited by Pitt, West Virginia, Ohio State and Alabama, rushed for 177 yards on just four carries, including a 97-yard TD run in the second quarter.
Terry Swanson, who is also receiving Division I looks, added 156 yards rushing on just six totes. He scored on runs of 25, 68 and 12 yards.
“I’ve been watching that for four years,” Zmijanac said. “He’s a Division I player. He and Dravon split time last year, if you can imagine that. Now I’m getting them both in the game at the same time.”
Fields, who hit on two of his three passes attempted in the game, connected with Jyier Turner on a 25-yard scoring strike in the first quarter.
“They’re very athletic, they’re very fast and they’re very aggressive,” Phillips said of the Quips. “We can’t match the speed, we can’t match the quickness. To stay in the game, we literally had to play mistake-free. And they make you make mistakes.”
Ellwood City (2-4, 3-4) saw its best chance to score come in the second quarter after Mario Street recovered a Turner fumble on a punt at the Aliquippa 10-yard line. After Jared Meyers gained two yards on the ground on the first two plays of the drive, Henry picked off Horgan to end the drive.
Both teams went deep into their benches in the second half. Risardi Pugh closed out the scoring with a 3-yard run.
The Wolverines will host Beaver on Friday.
“Right now, we’ve got to regroup health-wise,” Phillips said. “We have some kids who are beat up. As a matter of fact, some of the kids are upset at me because I wouldn’t put them back in the game. The score was out of control, and I told them at halftime they weren’t going back in because we had to get ready for next week.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
ELLWOOD ALIQUIPPA
4 First downs 19
88 Yards Rushing 494
8 Yards Lost 7
80 Net Rushing 487
7 Passes Attempted 3
0 Passes Completed 2
2 Passes Intercepted 0
0 Yards Passing 73
80 Total Yards 560
3-2 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
5-30 Punts-Average 0-0
6-32 Penalties-Yards 10-70
ELLWOOD CITY 0 0 0 0 — 0
ALIQUIPPA 36 13 7 0 — 56
Scoring plays
ALIQUIPPA — Dravon Henry, 48-yard pass from Darrien Fields (Dennis Moreland kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Henry, 57-yard interception return (Moreland kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Terry Swanson, 25-yard run (Henry run).
ALIQUIPPA — Jyier Turner, 25-yard pass from Fields (Moreland kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Swanson, 68-yard run (Moreland kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Swanson, 12-yard run (pass failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Henry, 97-yard run (Fields kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Risardi Pugh, 3-yard run (Sheldon Jeter kick).
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