Wolverines start 4-0, first time since 1997

The Wolverines continued their winning streak on Friday, defeating the Freedom Bulldogs 43-3. Ellwood City had defeated the Bulldogs last year after a 5-game losing streak was broken. Now the Wolverines made it 2 in a row for the boys in blue.

Ellwood City won the opening toss and deferred to the second half. This gave the Bulldogs their only chance on the night at points as a great return and horsecollar tackle gave Freedom the ball at the 15 yardline of Ellwood City, just 11 secconds into the game. But the Wolverines defense held Freedom’s offense in check not only for this scoring drive, but the entire game. Limiting the Bulldogs to under 10 yards in quarter 1, the Bulldogs had to settle for a 31 yard fieldgoal by Garrett Drutarosky.

Down 3-0 early, The Wolverines would answer in a big way - 43 straight points. The offense started off on the right foot as another special teams “keys-to-the game” return by #1 Dom Hogue set the wolverines up on the Freedom Bulldogs side of the field. Just a handful plays later, #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane took the rock and scored from 12 yards out on a nifty run to the left hash mark. The PAT kick was failed to the right, keeping the score 6-3.

The Wolverines held the Bulldogs in check on the next drive, giving the offense the ball back at their own 20 yardline after the touchback punt. The Wolverines leaned on the shoulders of one of their captains, Senior #12 Chris Smiley who played fantastic on the night. A couple scrambles and a couple completed passes on offense set up one of the biggest plays of the night - a great pass and reception from Smiley to #6 Gavin Partridge went for 54 yards to set up the Wolverines at the 5 yardline. A couple plays later, the Wolverines leaned on the shoulders of Smiley again, who - just like against Neshannock - had an amazing fake handoff and bootlegged to the right to scamper in for the touchdown. The PAT kick was no good again, keeping the first quarter score at 12-3.

Second quarter action saw more of the same for both teams as the Bulldogs would only gain 18 yards of offense by halftime. Meanwhile, the Wolverines tallied 213 yards while adding two more scores in the second quarter - one via the pass from Smiley to Hogue from 29 yards out (2 PT conversion good by Palmer-McCane) and Smiley picking up the bad snap scoop and score from 7 yards out (PAT kick good by #19 Caitlin Kreitzer). With a 27-3 lead at halftime, the Wolverines seemed well on their way to a 4-0 start, the first time they would do so since 1997!

Quarter 3 saw the Wolverines continue where they left off in the first half, scoring three more times. A solid drive of almost 4 minutes was capped off by EPM scoring on the 1 yard rushing touchdown, his second touchdown on the night. PAT was good by Kreitzer. ECS commentators not only called the “keys-to-the-game” to include special teams, ECS’ very own “Thad-the-dad” predicted that a punt would be blocked on the night. Sure enough, the Wolverines’ #73 Evan Tweddell - last year’s lineman of the year - was able to break through all the blocks and blocked the punt attempt off of his arm. The ball rolled all the way out of the endzone, giving another 2 points to the Wovlverines who led 36-3.

The final score of the night came from another great pass by Smiley to Partridge from 10 yards out. PAT kick was good to make the final tally of scores 43-3 in favor of EC. The score was big for the senior-led team, as it gave Smiley 2 rushing touchdowns and 2 passing touchdowns on the evening. Meanwhile EPM did EPM things - tallying 16 carries for 74 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns.

Starters were pulled early fourth quarter, as “mercy-mercy-me” was called on the evening as the clock struck zero for the Bulldogs. Ellwood City would hold Freedom to just 48 total yards on 36 plays. Meanwhile the offense took off, officially having 319 yards on 54 plays. The Wolverines averaged 5.9 yards per play, while having a balance attack of rushing and passing, 130-189 respectively. The key stat of the night that has been the “bread and butter” of the Wolverines defense was holding Freedom to a combined 0-12 on third down and fourth down. Chris Smiley finished 12 of 15 on the night with 189 yards passing and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Gaving Partridge caught 4 pass for 98 yards and a touchdown.

The balanced offensive-attack continued for the Wolverines as they have 669 yards rushing and 610 yards passing so far on the season. EC’s defense has held their opponents to 12 of 53 on third down and fourth down combined, just 23% rate. Elijah Palmer-McCane now officially has 558 yards rushing with 9 scores to go with it while Chris Smiley has been efficient - 52% pass completion for 610 yards and 5 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. Dom Hogue and Gaving Partridge lead the receivers both with scores while having 234 yards and 123 yards respectively.

The Wolverines continued success breaks a record that was held in 1997 of winning four straight games to start the year. the 1997 team would finish 8-2 and lose to Brownsville 14-7 in the secound round of playoffs. Ellwood City will take their 4-0 (2-0) record back to Helling Stadium this Friday as they will host the New Brighton Lions 3-2 (1-1) in another MAC showdown. The game is EC’s Homecoming Night with kickoff slated for 7:00 PM and pregame festitivies starting at 6:30 PM for Homecoming. The game also marks the 2nd annual Blackout Night for the football team who will be wearing their alternate third jerseys. Go Wolverines!