Ellwood runs over Laurel in convincing win
Laurel (13) vs. Ellwood City (50)
Written: Oct 24, 2015
By Joe Sager
New Castle News
The Ellwood City Lincoln football team decided to pass on its passing game last night.
The strategy worked as the Wolverines racked up 476 yards on the ground in a 50-13 win over Laurel in a WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference clash at Helling Stadium on Senior Night.
Seniors Nick Ioanilli and D.J. Barrett were the biggest culprits. Ioanilli rushed for a game-high 222 yards and two scores, while Barrett rambled for 201 yards and three touchdowns. With those two leading the way, the squad did not attempt a pass.
“The last couple games, the kids have responded well. Even three weeks ago when we played Beaver Falls, there were some good signs in there, even though the score doesn’t reflect it,” Ellwood City coach Don Phillips said. “I wanted to get our kids running. I am really excited because every one of our four starting running backs scored a touchdown. I am really happy for those kids, with it being Senior Night and getting the victory and keeping our momentum going was very important for us. It’ll carry is into our last game and we’ll need all the momentum we could get.”
However, the Wolverines (3-4 conference, 4-4 overall) had their WPIAL playoff hopes dashed with Beaver’s 27-0 victory over Freedom. Ellwood City needed a win last night, coupled with a Bobcats loss to set up next week’s showdown at Beaver, with the winner earning a playoff berth.
“It’s not a surprise that Beaver won,” Phillips said. “We know we’re going to throw the ball and we know we’re going to need to throw the ball. We were very fortunate and it was a big plus to get that ground attack going.”
The loss was a frustrating one for the Spartans (2-5, 3-5). They struggled to stop the Wolverines’ ground game and did not generate much offensively.
“The bottom line was, we got beat up. Hats off to Ellwood because they beat us up front,” Laurel coach Brian Cooper said. “It’s hard to do anything with some injuries and this and that. It’s no excuse, though, they just beat us up front. To me, that summed up the entire football game.”
Ellwood City scored the game’s first 36 points. Ioanilli tallied the first touchdown, while Barrett added the next two. The Wolverines added a safety when River Kelly blocked a punt out of the end zone. He reached paydirt on the team’s next drive. Barrett raced 37 yards early in the third quarter to put the game into a mercy rule running clock.
Laurel broke the shutout on Jake McDougal’s 10-yard run. However, Norman Ballard scored on a 12-yard run and Ioanilli exploded for a 64-yard TD jaunt for the Wolverines. Jesse Pacifico capped the scoring when he hauled in a 21-yard scoring strike for the Spartans, who close out their season at Quaker Valley.
“We have one week together and we’re going to make the most out of it,” Cooper said.
Kelly finished with 29 yards, while Ballard added 17 for Ellwood City.
“We know D.J., Nick, Norman and Nick can run,” Phillips said. “We felt we had a lot of opportunity that, if someone was going to try to neutralize one, they couldn’t neutralize all four. We tried to spread the ball around.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
LAUREL ELLWOOD CITY
11 First downs 13
94 Yards Rushing 492
15 Yards Lost 16
79 Net Rushing 476
26 Passes Attempted 0
9 Passes Completed 0
0 Passes Intercepted 0
128 Yards Passing 0
207 Total Yards 476
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 4-0
6-21.3 Punts-Average 2-38.5
4-38 Penalties-Yards 9-91
LAUREL 0 0 6 7 — 13
ELLWOOD 13 17 20 0 — 50
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY — Nick Ioanilli, 1-yard run (Justin Baney kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — D.J. Barrett, 56-yard run (kick failed).
ELLWOOD CITY — Barrett, 8-yard run (Barrett run.)
ELLWOOD CITY — Safety, Toby Kelly blocked punt out of end zone.
ELLWOOD CITY — River Kelly, 6-yard run.
ELLWOOD CITY — Barrett, 37-yard run (kick failed).
LAUREL — Jake McDougal, 10-yard run (pass failed).
ELLWOOD CITY — Norm Ballard, 12-yard run (Devin Cortez kick).
ELLWOOD CITY — Ioanilli, 64-yard run (Cortez kick).
LAUREL — Jesse Pacifico, 21-yard pass from Jake McDougal (Zach Morrison kick).
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