EC Palmer-McCaine cracks 1,000 in Week 8
It was the Elijah Palmer-McCaine show Friday night as the Wolverines traveled to northern New Castle to take on the Neshannock Lancers in a must-win Week 8 game for Ellwood City. Although the game finished in favor of the Lancers 40-21, the Wolverines running back Palmer-McCaine made history on the night, and he’s only a Sophomore!
Late in the third quarter, RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCaine took a handoff from QB #12 Chris Smiley on 3rd down and 28 as called by the ECS crew that a handoff would be coming. Palmer-McCaine quickly silenced the Lancers crowd while the Wolverine faithful erupted as a simple handoff play on 3rd down turned into a 55 yard running play up the left side of the field for Elijah. With that being said, Elijah Palmer-McCaine officially crossed the 1,000 rush mark on the evening. More importantly, the next play went right back to Elijah as he capped off the drive with a 15 yard touchdown run to keep the wolverines within just 6 points of the favorited Lancers, 20-14.
Unfortunately that would be as close as the Wolverines would get on the night as they fell to the Lancers 40-21 at the end of the game.
The first quarter ended with the Lancers ahead 7-0 after a 7 yard run by QB #14 Jonny Huff. The PAT kick was good by K #17 Carter DeVivo. Even though the Lancers led going into the second quarter, it took almost 10 minutes of play before anyone touched the scoreboard.
Ellwood City quickly answered back on the next drive at the 9:41 mark of the second quarter as a great pass by Smiley was caught by TE #87 Aaron Hobel who on third down had the first down catch as he turned up field. A Lancer defender tried to tackle the 6-5 230 LB Senior athlete, but ended up on the wrong end as Hobel scampered the rest of the way over the middle of the field for the 27 yard receiving touchdown. PAT kick was good by K #19 Caitlen Kreitzer to even the score at 7.
As the teams fought back and forth before halftime, the Lancers were able to force an Ellwood punt that was fair caught at the 45 yard line with about 2 minutes remaining in the first half. Sure enough the Lancers were able to capitalize on the good field position as a pass by Huff was caught by WR #21 Braden Huff from 10 yards out with just 42 seconds to play. The PAT kick was failed, keeping the score 13-7 at halftime.
Second half looked gleam for the Wolverines at first as it took Neshannock just 4 minutes to add their next score, this time a pass by Huff caught by WR #1 Luciano DeLillo from 18 yards out made the score 19-7. The PAT was good by DeVivo as the score now read 20-7.
Just as it seemed like the game may have been out of reach, that exact same play of 55 yards by Palmer-McCaine on 3rd and 28 allowed the Wolverines late third quarter drive to continue as it was also capped off by Palmer-McCaine from 15 yards out as the Wolverines crawled back into this one, now down just 7. The PAT was good by Kreitzer, making the score 20-14.
On the next drive, a kick out of bounds would force the Wolverines back 5 yards and a re-kick that allowed the Lancers once again with good field position, this time at their own 46 yard line. Just a couple plays later, Jonny Huff added another rushing touchdown from the keeper position, this time from 30 yards out. PAT was blocked by Senior LB #17 Brighton Mariacher to keep the score 26-14.
The Wolverines continued the battle in the game as they took the ensuing kickoff and started their own drive, moving efficiently down the field. A screen pass to Michael Walters that seemed doomed was turned up field for a good 18 yard first down play. A pass over the middle to TE Hobel would also work before the end of the third quarter, getting the Wolverines another first down.
Heading to the fourth quarter, it seemed like the Wolverines would send another punch back into the scoreboard, but could not keep the drive going near the redzone as the Lancers forced a 4th down and long that unfortunately ended in a turnover via the interception. Although the score read 26-14, the Wolverines continued to battle.
After the interception, the Lancers drove the rest of the way to the endzone as Jonny Huff continued his excellent game on offense, scoring another rushing touchdown from 16 yards out. PAT kick was wide left to keep the score 32-14.
The Elijah Palmer-McCaine show picked up where it left off at on the next drive as the Wolverines continued to hand off the ball to him while throwing a pass in the mix every so often. A 3 minute drive was finished off when Palmer-McCaine scampered across the goal line from 8 yards out, to keep the Wolverines in the game now 32-20. Once again the PAT was good by Kreitzer, who finished 3/3 on PATs on the night while the score read 32-21.
As much as the Wolverines battled back every drive, they just could not keep the Lancers at bay as one more score when up the board, this time by the reliable RB #35 Matthew Ioanilli from 33 yards out to make the score 38-21. The two point conversion was also good by Jonny Huff to make the final score on the evening in favor of the Lancers 40-21.
The Neshannock Lancers with the victory improved to 8-1 (5-1) on the season giving the Lancers at least second place in the standings come playoff time, while the Wolverines traveled back home with a record of 2-7 (1-5) officially eliminated from playoff contention, knowing they had played the favorited Lancers fairly well on the night.
Quarterback Chris Smiley played efficient ball on the evening, going 10/16 with over 108 crucial passing yards, while completing the 27 yard TD pass to Hobel. WR #8 Michael Walters made some timely catches on the evening finishing with 5 catches and a total of 43 yards receiving. Senior Brighton Mariacher had another great evening on defense, finishing with 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and a blocked extra point. RB #26 Dayntae Pierce also contributed very well on the evening as he had 6 kickoff returns for 104 yards on the evening while rushing for 22 yards.
But the big man on campus, the team MVP, the man of the night goes to RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCaine. Elijah finished the night with 31 carries for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns, giving him officially 192 carries, 1,119 yards, and 13 touchdowns on the year. Elijah becomes the FIRST EVER Sophomore for the Wolverines to go over the 1,000 rushing yard mark while being the first 1,000 rusher for the Wolverines since 2014 when Nick Ioanilli ran for 1134 yards.
Combine his sophomore year total with his freshmen year, Elijah officially has 250 carries for 1,240 yards, and 14 touchdowns in his two year EC career. Elijah officially sits in 14th place on the Wolverine rushing yard record mark, and his 14 rushing touchdowns puts him close to the top of the leaderboards as well.
Meanwhile, QB #12 Chris Smiley adds another 108 yards to his passing total, giving him 936 passing yards along with 5 passing touchdowns. His 936 passing yards puts him in 6th place overall in season passing yards, officially surpassing Jay Cortez’s mark at 893 (2003). 5th place at 937 is Gino Ceriani (2010) while Smiley is just 64 yards away from hitting the 1,000 mark. We can’t go on the record the last time the Wolverines had the opportunity to have a 1,000 yard rusher and passer in the same year, but we definitely know it has been a long time!
The Wolverines will now look towards Week 9, the last game of the season as everyone knows, one of the biggest games of the year, as Ellwood City will play host to the rival “Riv-Ell” Cup opponent the Riverside Panthers (4-4). The Riv-Ell Cup game is also Senior Night for the Wolverines as they will send off 5 Seniors on the night. Live Video coverage of Senior Night will be presented by ECS starting around 6:30 PM on Friday.
