Ellwood puts it all together against Freedom
Ellwood City (35) vs. Freedom (0)
Written: Sep 07, 2013
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
FREEDOM — What a difference a week made for the Ellwood City Lincoln High football team.
After shooting themselves in the foot numerous times in a season-opening loss to New Brighton, the Wolverines were hitting on all cylinders last night at Freedom.
Ellwood City scored on its first five possessions on the way to a 35-0 mercy rule win in a WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference game at Bulldog Stadium.
“We made fewer mistakes,” said Ellwood City coach Don Phillips, whose team had five turnovers in the 42-21 loss last week. “We played like we know how to play. We had a lot of confidence coming in tonight that we could do what we needed to do as long as they came out to play. As you could see, it was a little different than last week.”
Indeed.
After forcing the Bulldogs to punt on the opening series of the game, the Wolverines (1-1 conference and overall) marched 30 yards in six plays, capped by Paul Lutz bulling his way into the end zone from 13 yards out. Seth Mley kicked the first of his five PATs to give Ellwood City a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest.
Freedom (0-2, 0-2) moved the ball to the Ellwood City 41 on its next possession, but the drive ended when Jared Hogue’s pass on a fake punt attempt on fourth down fell incomplete.
The Wolverines wasted little time in cashing in, as Jared Meyers broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run to hike Ellwood City’s lead to 14-0 with 2:11 remaining in the first quarter. Meyers led all rushers with 110 yards on 11 carries.
“We had five touchdowns with five different people scoring,” Meyers said. “That was huge. We came out more focused tonight and were ready to go.”
Following another Bulldogs punt, Ellwood City put together a seven-play, 53-yard drive to increase its lead to 21-0 with 9:22 to go in the first half. Nicholas Ioanilli capped the drive by scoring on a 4-yard run.
“We spend a lot of time on our running game,” said Phillips, whose team piled up 258 yards on the ground. “We work a lot on scheming versus what they do. We tell our offensive linemen every week that we win because of them.”
The Wolverine got another big play to score their fourth touchdown of the first half, as quarterback Dillon Horgan faked a handoff and raced 71 yards up the middle for the score at the 5:27 mark of the second quarter.
“All of my blockers were great,” Horgan said of the run. “I saw an open hole, and I went.”
Horgan also figured in the Wolverine’s final touchdown of the night, as he hit tight end Jeffrey Fallabel for a 7-yard TD pass at the 8:26 mark of the third quarter. It was Horgan’s only pass attempt in the game.
“He ran a nice route and did a nice job of getting open,” Horgan said of the TD pass.
While Ellwood City was racking up the offense, Freedom managed just 65 total yards in the game. Tyler Maine led the Wolverine defense with two sacks.
The Wolverines will host Beaver Falls on Friday.
“The kids worked hard and gave us a great effort,” Phillips said. “I’m very proud of them. This is a beginning. We got a victory, now it’s time to get the next one, although next week will be interesting.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
ELLWOOD CITY FREEDOM
9 First downs 9
278 Yards Rushing 106
20 Yards Lost 63
258 Net Rushing 43
1 Passes Attempted 9
1 Passes Completed 3
0 Passes Intercepted 0
7 Yards Passing 22
265 Total Yards 65
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
0-0 Punts-Average 5-27.4
7-57 Penalties-Yards 8-51
ELLWOOD CITY 14 14 7 0 - 35
FREEDOM 0 0 0 0 - 0
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY –Paul Lutz, 13-yard run (Seth Mley kick)
ELLWOOD CITY – Jared Meyers, 56-yard run (Mley kick)
ELLWOOD CITY – Nicholas Ioanilli, 4-yard run (Mley kick)
ELLWOOD CITY – Dillon Horgan, 71-yard run (Mley kick)
ELLWOOD CITY – Jeffrey Fallabel, 7-yard pass from Horgan (Mley kick)
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