EC posts offensive onslaught, beat Lions

“You have to be here to believe it!” A phrase often used and stated for many reasons, but this past Friday it meant so so much more. In fact, 102 points more, as Ellwood City defeated the New Brighton Lions on Homecoming night 62-40.

New Brighton took the opening kickoff as the Wolverines deferred to the second half. The Lions took the ball and drove all the way down to the 24 yardline with ease. A pass from QB #7 Brian Taylor lobbed a pass to the close side of the field to WR #5 Mike Veon as he scampered in for the touchdown. The PAT kick was good by #6 Jesus Farina to make the early score 7-0 NB.

The drive for New Brighton took more than half of the first quarter off the board, specifically 6 minutes and 10 seconds. But the Wolverines had an answer of their own late in the quarter. After driving the ball down the field to the Lions side, the Wolverines turned the ball over via an interception to give the ball back to the Lions. But just two plays later, #23 Richard Cureton was able to intercept the ball and flip the script back to Ellwood City. Two more plays later, a pass by QB #12 Chris Smiley was caught in the endzone 7 yards out by #1 Domenik Hogue for the first touchdown of 9 on the night. The Wolverines went for the 2PT conversion as EPM waltzed into the endzone to make the score 8-7 EC.

New Brighton had an answer once again, as Veon ran in from 10 yards out on the ensuing drive. The 2PT pass was no good, to keep the score 13-8 NB.

Ellwood City would then go on a tear in the second quarter, scoring the next 27 points on the board. RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane took a screen pass from Smiley for a 55 yard touchdown run, followed by a 38 yard touchdown pass from Smiley to Hogue for his second on the night. Dayntae Pierce got into the action with a 46 yard touchdown pass from Smiley while EPM continued the big running game from 44 yards out to add to the scoring list. K #19 Kaitlyn Kreitzer was good on 3/4 as the Wolverines miss-handled a snap on one of the PATs.

New Brighton did get the last score of the half and they needed it. The scoreboard reading 35-13 in favor of EC, another pass by Taylor was caught by Veon, this time from 53 yards out. The touchdown was made with 44 seconds left in the first half, which felt very similar to the ending of the first half last week. PAT kick was good by Farina as the halftime score read 35-20 EC.

Total yardage on the night would be insane, with over 500 yards combined in the first half alone. Second half adjustments would have to be made for both teams - and it seemed like Ellwood City had the early edge in the second half.

The Wolverines took just two plays, 15 seconds to score their 6th touchdown on the night - EPM ran the ball in from 14 yards out after the penalty called on New Brighton, to make the score 41-20. The PAT was good by Kreitzer, making the 11:37 quarter three score read 42-20.

But, New Brighton was not done. Back-to-back scores by the Lions brought the score back to just a one score game, 42-34. The first score was by Taylor from 1 yard out while Mike Veon was having an amazing night, scoring again as a long deep ball was caught for an 85 yard touchdown. Both PATs were good by Farina.

Fourth quarter action started with the score reading 42-34. One hand, EC scoring 42 points felt great - on the other hand, giving up 34 points made the fourth quarter that much more meaningful for both teams.

Another good drive ended in points for Ellwood City as it took just one play for the Wolverines to score the touchdown after the clock was reset as EPM added his 5th score on the night from 4 yards out. PAT was good by Kreitzer, pushing the score to 49-34.

As the fans started cooling off in the rain, the teams were still getting warm. Ellwood City would score two more, back-to-back touchdowns to make the lead in favor of the Wolverines seem out of hand for New Brighton. SR WR #8 Michael Walters caught his 6th reception touchdown from Smiley, this time 24 yards out. Finally, EPM got his 5th score on the night, scampering 48 yards up the left sideline with 6 minutes to play. Kreitzer made 1/2 PATs on the scoring plays, making the scoreboard bulbs read big in favor of EC, 62-34.

A late score was added by the Lions #4 Nyzier Humphries from 53 yards out, adding to the total yardage that cracked the 1,000 mark combined between the two teams. 2PT pass conversion was failed to make the final score read 62-40 in favor of Ellwood City.

With the craziest of games we have seen on ECS the past several years, the Wolverines finished with a total of 653 yards, while New Brighton finished with 447 yards. Both teams combined for 123 offensive plays and 1100 yards on the night, with 37 first downs. Both teams had 2 turnovers each, while combining for 22 penalties for 178 yards.

Palmer-McCane finished with 23 carries for 285 yards and 4 rushing touchdowns while adding 71 receiving yards and a touchdown. In total, EPM finished with 368 total yards on the night. Smiley finished 14-19 with 5 passing touchdowns, 4 of those in the first half while posting 275 yards passing. Hogue had a big night for the Wolverines, posting only 3 catches for 71 yards, but more importantly 2 receiving touchdowns.

With the big numbers, EPM officially has 1098 rushing yards on the season to go with 10 rushing touchdowns. Smiley officially has 1077 passing yards on the season to go with 12 passing touchdowns. This will be the first time that the Wolverines will have a 1,000 yard rusher and 1,000 yard passer in one season, and the total numbers will continue to grow with 3 more games at least. Walters officially has 356 receiving yards on the season to go with 6 receiving touchdowns.

With those numbers, Smiley is 3rd on the all-time season passing list for EC, sitting just 39 yards short of second place and 333 yards short of first (both numbers held by Joe DeLisio). In career passing yards, Smiley slides to 3rd with 2,017 yards, just 135 short of Ryan Gibbons in 2nd, and 509 from the lead over Joe DeLisio.

EPM moves up to 11th in rushing yards in a season, just 330 yards short of the all-time lead, including 6th place a number that EPM holds from last year (1,156). EPM moves into the top 5 in career rushing yards as well at a career mark of 2,375 yards. The 285 yards EPM had Friday was also 3rd best ever in a single-game mark, that was 36 yards shy of the mark set by Thad Wiley at 321. EPM needs 445 yards to hold the total offense in a season record for the Wolverines, a record held by Thad Wiley at 1,648.

The 62 points scored by Ellwood City on the night was the most since 1997 (63 against Hampton), making a short list of the top 9 scoring games over 60 points for EC - a mark at 127 held by the 1927 Wolverines (against Evans City). The 653 total yards by Ellwood City was best for 2nd most since 2011 as EC put up a total 680 yards against Riverside in 2013. The 5 passing touchdowns by EC was also the most as a team since 2011. The 12 season passing touchdowns by EC also is the most since 2011, with all of the 2011 marks stats in the blog being the farthest that ECS has held stats on record. The Wolverines will continue to break records across the board and we will have those for you throughout the remaining weeks.

The Wolverines improve to 4-3 (2-2) on the season and continue to sit in the 4th/5th spot of standings for playoffs. The road gets tough for the Wolverines going forward as they travel to Beavers Falls (3-4) in Week 7, followed by Senior Night back home at Helling Stadium against Neshannock (6-1). Ellwood City finishes the season at Riverside (0-6) in the RivEll Cup, with the potential to determine playoffs for the Wolverines. Meanwhile, New Brighton goes home still without a victory on the season, but should feel better about how their offense worked in the game against EC.

Congratuations to Joseph Roth and Giovanna Huth on being the 67th Homecoming King and Queen for Ellwood City. Next week’s game against Beaver Fallls will be played at Reeves Field at Geneva College with live video stream coverage presented by ECS. Coverage will begin around 6:45 PM.