Wolverines Football magical season ends in Semis

The Wolverines football season came to an end this past Friday night as Ellwood City fell to the South Park Eagles 28-7 at Newman Stadium (North Allegheny HS). After starting the regular season 9-0 and a one point victory over Second Round foe South Allegheny 13-12, the Wolverines football program came up just one game short of making it back to the Championship game held at Acrisure Stadium.

Ellwood City took advantage early in the Semifinal game as a kickoff turnover gave the Wolverines a short field to work with, taking just two plays and 45 seconds into the game for the first score via the pass from SR QB #12 Chris Smiley to #5 Dailonn Currie. The touchdown gave EC a 7-0 lead with the PAT good by #19 Caitlin Kreitzer. The Wolverines were able to stop the Eagles on the ensuing drive via a three-and-out, holding the Eagles to just 2 yards gained. But unfortunately the Wolverines were not able to capitalize on the early field position.

From there, all things went in direction of the Eeagles run game as South Park would snap the ball 47 more times with 42 of those plays on the ground, totaling 376 rushing yards on the evening. The yards were the least of the worries for the Wolverines as three scores of 37 yards, 48 yards, and 30 yards was the difference on the night. A late rushing touchdown by South Park SR RB #21 Eric Doerue sealed the deal for the Eagles to make the final score 28-7.

The packed house on the Ellwood City side of the stadium knew unfortunately their season was finished for the 2024 football campaign, but recognized quickly what a huge accomplishment they had just witness. Everyone had witnessed history, beyond anyone’s belif for the past 37 years…an Ellwood City Football program being renewed in the easiest ways possible - with wins.

Ellwood City finishes the year officially with a record of 10-1, the second most wins every in a season (11 in 1987) while also posting the best start to a season with 10 straight victories. The Wolverines also took home the MAC conference title, something that has happened only three times in the program’s 117 years of football. The home playoff game was the first hosted at Helling Stadium this year since 2000 with the victory in playoffs being the first since 2011. As you can tell, the accolades continue to come in for the Wolverines who ended up breaking overall 9 combined records as a team this year alone, setting the bar high moving forward with the program.

SR RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane could not be talked about enough for the Wolverines program, a four year player who just finished with 1653 total offensive yards, the most ever in a single season by a Wolverine. EPM also set career records for the Wolverines, posting the most rushing yards in a career with a total of 4246 yards while also posting the most accounted for touchdowns in a career at 53. EPM also posted the most total offensive yards in a career, setting the mark at 4629.

SR QB #12 Chris Smiley also reset the Wolverines’ passing record books, setting the career passing yard mark at 4143, almost 2,000 yards more than 2nd place. Smiley also has the career passing completions mark at 291 while also being 2nd in passing completion during the past four years. Smiley also holds the passing touchdown career mark at 38.

The Wolverines wide receiver duo between #1 Dom Hogue and #5 Dailonn Currie set the bar high their Junior season and will return next year with both having chances to hold records that haven’t been touched in decades. Meanwhile, SR K #19 Caitlin Kreitzer officially holds the PAT career mark at 64, adding one more this past Friday against South Park.

The Wolverines defense led the charge for most of the season, setting a steady pace in each category including tackles (Deklan O’Brien), tackles for loss (Luciano Gagric), sacks (Deklan O’Brien), interceptions (Gavin Partridge), forced fumbles (P.J. Dubois), fumble recoveries (Drake Davis), blocks and safeties (Evan Twedell) and passes broken up (Dailonn Currie). The Wolverines defense held their opponents to 140 points in 11 games, averaging just 12.7 points against - the lowest point total given up in 20 years!

Let’s take a moment and thank the entire staff involved with football - from the players to the coaches, to the volunteers and to the parents of the student athletes, none of this would be possible without everyone coming together as a community. With that being said, a special thank you goes to Head Coach Dan Bradley and the success he has brought to the program. Sitting 6th on the list of win percentage (.531) and already 9th on the coaching list of all-time wins for the program, Coach Bradley truly has made an impact on the Wolverine football program.

Finally, thank you EC community. You have made this year something special for the football team, and us as well for Ellwood City Sports. The fundraising done to bring you live coverage throughout the year let alone for two playoff games was amazing. In fact, our audio only broadcast this past week brought in over 6,500 views…an amazing number in itself. The Second Round matchup against the Gladiators saw almost 13,000 views in itself as well! In total, the Wolverines football season brought in 56,000 views in 10 games, averaging over 5,600 views per game!

Like the football program this year, Ellwood City Sports continues to bring you something special every week and every sports season and will continue to do so as much as we can. The book may have officially closed on Fall Sports - one of the most successfull Fall sports ever in EC history, combined record of 57-41 (44-35) in match play - but the next chapter of the 2024 season is upon us. The 2024-2025 Winter Sports Season is upon us beginning with Wolverine Madness on Wednesday at 6:00 PM in the EC Big Gym.

Once again - thank you to everyone involved with an amazing Fall Sports season at Ellwood City. And as always…GO BLUE.