By JOE SIMON

New Castle News

The cameras, the reporters and the attention were all new to Ellwood City Lincoln High’s Kyle Crawford.

The junior running back didn’t play much last year as he continued to recover from a knee injury, so he wasn’t able to display his talents to the area.

That changed Friday night in the Wolverines’ 41-20 victory over Freedom. Crawford ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and also caught a 29-yard touchdown pass, earning him Athlete of the Week honors. The award is sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.

Crawford’s TD reception occurred at a crucial time in the first quarter following a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown by Freedom to start the game. Ellwood City coach Don Phillips gambled by going for it on fourth-and-9 at the 29-yard line of Freedom. The plan worked, as quarterback Gino Ceriani threw a near-perfect pass to Crawford for the score.

Phillips said Crawford has a chance to thrive this year because of his skill set and versatility.

“You don’t see it that often in a lot of kids,” Phillips said of Crawford’s all-around play. “But Kyle’s exceptional. He has the ability to catch the ball. That’s why we have him at the position we do. I had a lot of people say to me, ‘Why did you put him at that particular halfback spot?’ Because at that spot, he’s going to be able to carry the ball a lot, but he’s also going to get a lot of balls thrown to him. So I wanted that versatility.

“He’s going to attract some attention, and I think he’s going to thrive on that attention and prove that he can still get it done.”

Opponents won’t have to look far to find the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Crawford. He almost never comes off the field. He starts on offense and as a defensive back. He also serves as the team’s punter, punt returner and is on the kickoff return team. He found himself in a new position against Freedom, and again yesterday when he found out he was named Lawrence County’s Athlete of the Week — in the spotlight.

“It’s nice,” he said of the attention. “I didn’t really play that much on offense last year, so it was pretty exciting (on Friday). Hopefully, we’ll continue putting together nights like that all season.”

Phillips certainly believes more offensive outbursts are possible. He talked extensively about Crawford’s ability, but he noted how several other players contributed as well. Alexander Grymes rushed for 91 yards, Garrett Thomas added 75 and Ceriani completed 3-of-5 passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Not to be forgotten was an offensive line that made the 451 yards of offense possible. The list goes on.

“Kyle gives us another weapon,” Phillips said. “If you look at it, yes, (Crawford) did score some touchdowns, but so did Garrett Thomas, so did Anthony Punzell, so did Nick Polka. So, it wasn’t just a one-man show. That’s the kind of thing I really want to get is I want people to be aware of all of our kids, because if you try to defend one, that’s OK, because we have other weapons.”

It’s a nice change of fortune for a team that, just last year, was enduring a 31-game losing streak. Friday night, the Wolverines are looking for their first winning streak in quite some time when they face New Brighton, which was the team Ellwood beat to snap the losing streak last season.

“It was crucial,” Phillips said of beating Freedom. “Not only to just get the program off on the right foot ... but it’s a confidence factor for our kids. Over the last two years, I’ve been here, one of the biggest things we’ve had to fight to overcome has been that confidence issue. As soon as the kids would start to get down in years past, they would think, ‘Here we go again.’ Right now, our kids are showing a lot of resolve, a lot of resiliency and this group of seniors has vowed that they’re going to be the ones who right the ship.”