Wolverines prevail in defensive battle

There are three phases to the game of football - offense, defense, special teams - and four quarters in a game being played - first, second, third, and fourth. But somehow on a beautfiul night in Western PA - New Castle, PA more specifically - the Ellwood City Wolverines and Laurel Spartans were able to set football back-in-time while also breaking records of present-time high school football. If you were a fan of the defensive side of things, then you were in for a treat at this Lawrence County non-conference showdown.

The Spartans won the coin toss and decided to go on offense first, which quickly stalled out as Laurel went three and out on the first drive. A great punt by #24 Kolton Carlson of 56 yards set the Wolverines back on their first drive, starting at their own 3 yardline. The Wolverines were able to get 2 first downs on their first drive, but a great up-the-middle and unblocked sack by #10 Jack Miles put a stop to the EC drive. A punt by #12 Chris Smiley of 50 yards had Laurel starting once again on their side of the field.

Once again Laurel would go three and out, giving the ball back to the Wolverines after another punt by Carlson. Wolverines took the ball at their own 33 yard line, and was able to make a splash in the yard department as Smiley was able to complete a pass to #1 Dom Hogue up the left sideline for 61 yards. However, penalties would play a BIG factor in this game for both teams as two personal fouls by the Wolverines kept the ball going in both directions on the drive.

The Wolverines offense finally started to settle in, as the first quarter came to an end with a score of 0-0. Ellwood City was able to cross over 100 yards on offense, with 61 coming from the reception by Hogue. Laurel on the other hand, had 6 plays for -2 yards and didn’t have a first down (until mid-second quarter for the game). Finally, the Wolverines broke through in wildcat formation as quarterback Smiley had to sit out for one play due to losing his helmet while running back #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane took the snap and scampered into the endzone for the 2 yard touchdown run. The PAT kick by #19 Caitlin Kreitzer was good to make the score 7-0 at 10:29 left in the second quarter.

The Spartans took the ensuing kickoff and finally got their first firstdown of the game, but had a drive that included three crucial penalties against themselves that ultimately ended the drive with no points. Give credit to the Wolverines defense on stopping the Spartans offense on fourth down to preserve the shutout in the first half. Fourth down plays just like the penalties would play a factor throughout the entire game for both sides.

The Wolverines did get the ball back and were looking for a late first half score or at least an attempt at points, but a scramble pass by Smiley was picked off by Miles just before going out of bounds to end the drive. Spartans decided to kneel the ball as the halftime score read 7-0 in favor of Ellwood City.

Second half action saw the Wolverines first on offense with the hopes of going up two scores. For Palmer-McCane, just one rushing yard seperated him from breaking the all-time EC career rushing mark, and he did just that with a 4 yard rushing play. Palmer-McCane would finish the game with 23 carries and 145 yards to bring the rushing career record up to 2907. Ellwood City had a really good drive going, just methodically getting a first down after first down. The Wolverines clocked almost 7 minutes off in the third quarter, but a sack by #51 Tyler Fuchs on 4th down stopped the Wolverines drive and gave laurel their first opportunity in the second half.

Momentum looked like it was about to swing to the Spartans as the first play from scrimmage was a 38 yard run by Jackson Sauders up the right sideline, giving the Spartans their biggest play of the night. But once again the Wolverines defense came through as #44 Trent Schilling was on a full blitz on fourth down to get the sack and turnover on downs.

Wolverines got the ball back as the momentum flipped again with just over two minutes left in the third quarter. But…once again the Wolverines offense sputtered with penalties that forced them to punt the ball back to Laurel. A big time catch by Carlson from #4 Luca Santini was able to get Laurel into Ellwood territory as the third quarter closed still 7-0 in favor of EC.

The Wolverines looked like they were going to stop Laurel quickly, but a set of penalties and a couple conversions on 4th down by Laurel kept the Spartan faithful on the edge of their seat. Laurel had a four attempts to score early fourth quarter, but a big stop by #39 Deklan O’Brien kept Laurel out of the endzone once again, the second time Ellwood was able to do so.

The Wolverines got the stop, but needed to get out of their own backfield as they started at their own 3 yardline. Finally, the biggest play of the night occurred when Palmer-McCane was able to break through the front line and scamper for 76 yards to the Laurel 21 yardline. But again, Ellwood penalties kept the Wolverines going in the wrong direction and ended the drive with another 4th down stop, this time by Laurel.

7:19 remained in the game as Laurel got the ball back with another chance they didn’t expect to have, but the Wolverines defense stopped Laurel for the third straight time to get the ball back with just over 5 minutes left. All the Wolverines had to do was get a couple first downs with Laurel only being able to stop the clock just one more time.

As the game progressed in the second half, it just seemed as though Laurel was just one play away from making a difference. At the same time, the Wolverines seemed destined to win the game as they were able to convert on fourth down once again in the game. But once EC hit midfield, things started to go awry - two plays that amounted just two yards while also an incompletion on third down stopped the clock with still over two minutes left in the game. A QB position punt by Smiley unfortunately hit a Wolverine lineman as the Spartans took over near midfield with 1:59 remaining in the game.

The Spartans didn’t waste much time, getting two quick first downs to get inside the 30 yardline of Ellwood. After an offensive fumble recovery, Laurel had to use their last time out while the ball rested on the 12 yardline with 1 minute remaining. After a smart play by Santini to throw away the football to not lose yardage, Santini came back and threw a dart to the right side of the endzone to Carlson for the 12 yard touchdown. The PAT attempt was good by #25 Maya Jarrett to tie the score with 48 seconds left. The Wolverines fans in attendance were not happy with the call as the playclock read double zeros before the ball was snap by Laurel, but the close sideline judge was calling for a reset playcock and the play was let go. Either way, the score was now tied at 7.

Ellwood City did have one more chance before the end of regulation, but wisely decided to run the clock out and play for overtime. The overtime coin toss was won by Laurel who deferred to go on defense first. Overtime rules set the ball at the 10 yardline with 4 plays to score (no first downs). Penalties also at the high school level are not automatic first downs, so it becomes very apparent for teams to try and score as quickly as possible.

Ellwood City attempted first from the 10 yardline, starting with two runs by Palmer-McCane. An incomplete pass on a corner fade route fell incomplete, having the Wolverines settling for a fieldgoal attempt. Kreitzer struck the ball with ease, but pushed the kick to the right of the goal post. But as we said before, penalties played a big role in determining the winner of the game. Sure enough a Laurel defender ran into Kreitzer, calling for a penalty thrown by the side judge. the penalty made it half the distance to the goal, givng EC another 4th down chance from the 3 yardline. This time, #9 Luciano Gagric went into motion and Smiley handed the ball off to Palmer-McCane who cut to the right side and into the endzone for the touchdown. The second touchdown gave EPM the career touchdown scoring record all-time for Ellwood City, now marked at 34. The PAT kick was good by Kreitzer to make the score 14-7. Now for Laurel’s attempt in overtime.

Just like Ellwood, Laurel started the first play with a run play up the middle, but only gained a yard. Santini was then tasked with throwing the ball on second down to a quick slant to the post route by Miles. But the Wolverines defense stood one more time as Gagric was able to fall back into a zone read and intercepted the pass attempt from Santini to Miles, officially ending the game in favor of the Wolverines. As the Wolverines players piled up on Gagric, the coaches and sideline players ran onto the field to celebrate yet another dramatic finish at the last whistle. The Wolverines were able to stop the Laurel offense from the endzone on three posessions, while also doing just enough on offense to pick up the Week Zero victory.

Ellwood City finished the game with 333 yards on 64 plays. 198 of those yards came via the run that averaged 4.7 yards per carry. On the flip side, Laurel finished the game with 211 yards on 45 plays. Laurel was held to under 100 yards rushing in the game, which played a big factor on first down runs during the evening.

Most of the remaining team statistical categories were very close, but the biggest story on the night was penalties and fourth down conversions. EC had 11 penalties for 120 yards while Laurel had 10 penalties for 72 yards. EC was 2 of 5 while Laurel was 0 for 4 on 4th down conversion attempts.

Luca Santini led the charge for Laurel finishing the game with 114 passing yards and 1 touchdown while Kolton Carlson averaged 43.3 yards per punt during the game on 3 attempts.

Chris Smiley finished with 135 passing yards while Elijah Palmer-McCane added another 100-yard rush game, finishing with 145 yards on 23 carries - a 6.3 average per carry. EPM also added two touchdowns, the later being the difference in overtime. Dom Hogue was effective on the outside edge, catching 3 passes for 77 yards including the long 61 yard catch that helped the Wolverines score on the drive.

Defensively Carlson finished the game with 13 tackles for Laurel while Deklan O’Brien finished with 9 for the Wolverines. Both O’Brien and Gagric finished the game with forced fumbles on the night with Gagric having the big interception in overtime.

Ellwood City (1-0) will now quickly turn their attention to route 65 foes the Shenango Wildcats (0-1) who lost to the upcoming New Brighton Lions at home 9-7. The game is slated for Friday at Helling Stadium with a start time of 7:00 PM. Live coverage will be presented by ECS with pregame starting at 6:45 PM.