Ellwood holds off Riverside, wins RivEll Cup

Friday night’s scoreboard gave initial thoughts that the RivEll Cup played similar to the Backyard Brawl when Pitt went into West Virginia and pulled off an upset victory score of 13-9. The game had vibes of who had the ball last would came away victorious, setting back football to 2007. But those fans who took on the 3 mile adventure across the Connequenessing Creek got to see a real treat that brought on the reminiscence of the 1980’s duels between the two rivals - Ellwood City and Riverside.

First quarter action saw both teams have some “RivEll jitters” where each side had fumbles and some miscues early. But the Wolverines capitalized on a fourth down muffed snap to get the ball in Riverside territory with a short field. On fourth down, quarterback #12 Chris Smiley took the snap and worked his way to the left side where no one was open. Finally as he came close to the line of scrimmage, #5 Dailonn Currie cut to the back of the endzone and found the opening for the 5 yard touchdown reception. The PAT kick by #19 Caitlin Kreitzer was good to make the score 7-0 Ellwood City.

After the great start by the Wolverines, Riverside quickly answered with an 86 yard kickoff return for touchdown by #27 Zachary Hare. Unfortunately, for the first time all year we started to see some miss tackles by the Wolverines defense and coverage team. The PAT was blocked by Currie who made a big impact in this game, keeping the scoreboard at 7-6 EC.

Wolverines got the ball back and looked like they were back in business on offense as #1 Dom Hogue picked up 24 yards on the first play from scrimmage. But Ellwood City could not finish the drive that ended up into the redzone. Give credit to the Panthers defense who sacked Smiley on fourth down to give the ball back to the offense.

Riverside’s offense took the field for the time with just 4 minutes left in the first quarter. The Panthers knew they would have to get the Wolverines out of their rhythm on offense and the did just that by doing just enough on offense while killing the clock posession. Leaning on the shoulders of #2 Robert Janis, the Panthers marched slowly down the field going into the second quarter. The Panthers offense sputtered, giving the ball back to EC with just 8 minutes left in the second quarter.

The Wolverines offense once again could not complete a pass on fourth down, giving Riverside a short field with Janis and company. Riverside had their own issues on fourth down as a pass into the endzone was intercepted by Currie with just a minute remaining in the first half. The Wolverines tried to go down the field, but could not complete their own fourth down on the opponents’ side of the field. Riverside decided to kneel the ball and looked forward to halftime with the Panthers trailing just by one point.

Both teams knew coming into the game that there was a lot at stake for both teams, but most fans would have not predicted a 7-6 lead at half with both teams being held way below their offensive yard average.

Second half action saw the Wolverines receive the kick, but EC’s offense could not get anything going forward. The one bright side of EC punting was seeing #15 Declan Gray back on the field after having a torn ACL over the summer. Declan finished with three punts on the night, averaging 25.0 per kick. Ellwood City held Riverside to 53 yards on offense, but they wouldn’t stop Janis as efficiently in the second half as a big run up the right sideline for 34 yards had the Panthers offense going in the right direction. The “bend-but-don’t-break” defense by the Wolverines came alive in the redzone area, keeping the Panthers at bay from scoring any touchdowns. Riverside was able to march down the field, but was held to a 27 yard field goal attempt by #1 Miguel Keefer. The kick was good off to the left, giving the Panthers a lead of 9-7.

The Wolverines had not really been tested in section play, having to come back in games against Laurel and Neshannock. But this time it meant more, not only being Riverside your rival, but also a chance to remain undefeated on the season and tie the 1944 Wolverines with winning 7 straight games.

Both teams had a couple more chances on offense as Ellwood City was shut down before the end of the third quarter while a Riverside pass on fourth down was intercepted by #9 Luciano Gagric to keep both sides in check. The Wolverines offense got the ball with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter looking to take back the lead in another fourth quarter comeback. The offense dug deep, leaning on the shoulders of #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane who would carry the load all the way down to the redzone area. After a carry by #26 Dayntae Pierce was taken to the 1 yard line, the quarterback sneak by Smiley that has worked all year long went into the endzone, giving the Wolverines a 13-9 lead. The two point conversion pass was no good, keeping the score 13-9.

Riverside just saw Ellwood City pull a trick out of their bag, taking over 5 minutes of gametime to march down the field 70 some yards. Riverside took the ball and was able to get one first down, but was stopped yet again by the Wolverines’ stingy defense. With the Panthers punting the ball away, EC was looking to run out the clock with 5 minutes left.

But with an early pass falling incomplete and back-to-back running plays kept short of the first down, the Wolverines were forced to punt the ball away for the third time. Riverside was aided on a kick catch interference of 15 yards, bringing the ball to their own 46 yardline with 3:18 left in the game.

Ballgames like this one swayed back and forth like a pendulum, and this time, it fell in favor of the Wolverines. After the penalty was assessed, the very next play saw the Panthers offense snap the ball and run a play that was designed for Janis to take the handoff from #11 Aidan Gaydosz and just bully forward for a positive play. #50 PJ Dubois and #27 AJ Grinnen had another idea in mind, breaking through the Panthers offensive line and hitting Janis the moment he got the ball. Janis fumbled the ball and it dropped in the middle of the backfield, where #57 Drake Davis was able to dive on the ground and recover the ball. The turnover by the Panthers would be their third on the evening and possibly their most costly.

Riverside had a couple chances to stop Ellwood City on the drive, but to no evail. Three timouts and a couple first downs later, the Wolverines were able to run out the clock on the evening. Final score read 13-9 in favor of the Ellwood City Wolverines.

Both teams battled to the final whistle, but one team had to prevail. Ellwood City improved to 7-0 (5-0) on the season, the best start since 1944. But more importantly, the Wolverines victory clinches a playoff berth for Ellwood City in back-to-back years, the first time that has happened since 2010-2011 seasons.

The Wolverines finished the night with 244 yards compared to just 138 by Riverside, but were held under 20 minutes of posession compared to almost 30. The Riverside Panthers had a great game plan that almost did the trick. For the Panthers, Janis finished with 122 yards and will look to bounce back against Beaver Falls Tigers in the upcoming week. For the Wolverines, Palmer-McCane led the way with 148 rushing yards, giving him 1000 yards on the season and now 3762 career rushing yards.

The Wolverines will be back in action this week against the Union Scotties 2-5 (2-3) who are on a 2-game winning streak. Ellwood City has a chance to lock up at least a share of the section title, while solidifying the opportunity for a first round bye. ECS will have the coverage from Helling Stadium starting at 6:45 PM with kickoff slated for 7:00 PM.