Wolverines hold off 2PT Attempt, win 27-26

After a year of firsts in forever, the Wolverines continued to break records Friday night. Ellwood City did something Friday night they have not done before since 2014 - win the season opening game. On top of that, with the victory on Friday night, the Wolverines snapped a 1,764 day streak since their last home win. Expectations say that more records will be broken this year - we have no doubt.

The 117th Edition of Wolverine football kicked off the 2023 season looking like they were the team that would score first. But with 32 seconds left in the first quarter, the Wolverines fumbled the ball on 4th down and 3 from the Spartan’s 12 yard line. Most of the players initially thought the play was dead, but the whistle did not sound. Brentwood’s DB #3 Ethan Simmons picked up the football at the 10 yardline and scampered 90 yards for a fumble recovery TD to start the scoring on the night.

The initial PAT attempt was good by K #2 Forrest Betz to make the first quarter read 7-0 Brentwood. However, a flag on the play reset the PAT attempt. Usually when plays are reset or re-run, they seem to go awry - sure enough the snap went through the holder’s hands and did not result in a successful conversion. So at the end of the first quarter, the score read 6-0 Brentwood.

Quarter 2 continued statistically in favor of the Wolverines, but not in the score column. A great defensive play was made by LB #13 Kaden Docchio to almost bring QB #13 Cedric Davis down in the endzone for a safety, but the officials spotted the ball at the 1 yardline. Nonetheless, the Wolverines forced the punt and started their next drive at the Spartans’ 41 yardline.

Three plays later, the Wolverines were held to a 4th and 7 where QB #12 Smiley had time to throw to RB #9 Luciano Gagric on a delayed block route right off the line. Gagric rumbled the rest of the way, shedding off 3 tacklers to open the scoring for the Wolverines on the season. After the 25 yard passing TD, the PAT attempt was good by K #19 Catlin Kreitzer.

Both teams traded off one more drive before halftime, but no points were scored. So in a bizarre first half of a game where the Wolverines outgained the Spartans 195 to 13 in yardage, Ellwood City only led 7-6.

The third quarter looked very similar to the first half where the Wolverines were able to move the ball fairly easily as EC leaned on the shoulders of RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane to run the ball. Back-to-back scores in quarter 3 via a 12 yard TD run by Palmer-McCane and a QB roll out keeper to the left from 2 yards out by Smiley, saw the Wolverines take a 19-6 lead. The first PAT kick attempt was blocked while the Wolverines tried to go for 2 on the second attempt and was unsuccessful.

As Palmer-McCane tallied another 100 yard plus rushing night, the momentum swung in the direction of the Spartans in the 4th quarter. For the most part, the Spartans offense was held in check through 3 quarters, posting just 6 points and just over 30 yard of offense. That quickly changed, as Brentwood became one dimensional relying on the pass game.

Brentwood answered with their own back-to-back scoring drives, starting with a 5 yard TD run by Davis (PAT good by Betz) and then a 9 yard TD pass from Davis to Betz (PAT good by Betz). Within 4 minutes into the 4th quarter, the score now read 20-19 in favor of Brentwood.

Things looked bleak for the Wolverines who were now behind on the scoreboard for the second time in the game, but adversity by Ellwood City on first down plays and penalties proved that this game was far from over.

Ellwood City finished off the following drive with a 1 yard TD run by Gagric who was featured on the drive. Gagric also added the 2PT conversion attempt via the run. With 5:50 remaning in the game, the scoreboard read 27-20 Ellwood City.

Now the pressure fell back onto the Spartans as they took the next drive inside the redzone methodically through the air as Brentwood only ran the ball twice in the second half. A quick fade pass to the left part of the endzone was almost caught by Betz From Davis, but the ball fell incomplete. On that same play, Betz was not able to get up and a timeout by the officials was called for the injury. Betz was able to walk off the field by himself, but he was not able to finish the drive on the field. This became very important as Betz was the primary kicker on the night for the Spartans.

With it being a non-section game, the Spartans decided to go for the win. After taking a timeout, the Spartans offense came back on the field while the playclock was counting down, foregoing the PAT kick attempt by Betz. A fake handoff was kept by Davis as the Wolverines defense blitzed on the play. Davis tried to scramble forward, but the Wolverine defense led by DE #55 Maddox Singer was able to get the tackle made outside of the endzone, preserving the lead in favor of Ellwood City, 27-26.

The last big play of the game was the ensuing onside kick, that was taken by the hands team of the Wolverines RB #5 DaiLonn Currie. Two kneels down were needed, and the clock officially struck zero for the Spartans. Ellwood City won their first season opener since 2014 (where they had shutout Summit Academy 35-0) and their first home game in 1,764 days.

Game stats were all in favor of the Wolverines, as they outgained the Spartans 364 to 202 while holding the Spartans to 18 carries for -16 yards rushing on the night.

Leading the charge for the Wolverines were a trio of players - QB #12 Smiley who was 8-16 for 134 yards and 2 TDs (1 passing) on the night while RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane added 6 points on 25 carries and 166 rushing yards, and finally RB #9 Luciano Gagric who added 59 yards rushing and 47 yards receiving with 2 TDs and a 2PT conversion run that was good.

Although the stats were in favor of the Wolverines during the night, the passing game by Brentwood kept it close. But the defensive by the Wolverines held on for the win, and helps kick off momentum for the Wolverines heading into the next week. The Wolverines will look to start 2-0 for the first time since 2011 as they play host to the Union Scotties in the second non-section game of the year at Helling Stadium on Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 PM with live stream coverage and stats by Ellwood City Sports.