EC lose to Lancers 42-14 on Senior Night

Football

Oct 22

It was a “Blackout” Night for the Wolverines on Senior Night as the 117th team in Ellwood City Wolverines’ history sported new “Blackout” Jerseys for a great sendoff at the last home game for the Seniors. The crowd was into the game and had a great showing on the night, despite the weather being not as cooperative for Senior Night festivities. The Wolverines were looking to come out swinging like they did against the other first place team they face just three weeks ago (Mohawk), but the Neshannock Lancers team had other intentions.

Neshannock received the opening kickoff as EC deferred to the second half. A Quick three and out by the Lancers gave the ball to Ellwood City just two minutes into the game. Unfortunately, a sack by the Lancers defense gave the Lancers defense a three and out as well while giving good field position to Neshannock.

Once again, Neshannock could not do anything on offense as it looked like the rain on the evening would make the offensive drives a premium to end in the endzone.

Ellwood City took the ball after the punt at the 4 yardline, and drove all the way down the field. The drive included a 48 yard rushing play by RB #2 Elijah Palmer-McCane and a great scramble run by QB #12 Chris Smiley. The drive was stopped by the Lancers defense at the 6 yardline as EC drove 90 yards and could not put up any points. The Wolverines fans in fact were looking for a penalty on either team as both teams moved on the 4th down play which could have potentially given the Wolverines another opportunity. But we played on.

Neshannock then took the ball with just 2 minutes remaining in the first half and could not put up points in the first half. It was the first time in a long time that a game was played at Helling stadium that had the end of the first quarter score being 0-0.

Another punt by Neshannock gave the Wolverines great field position at the 35 yardline of Neshannock, but like the Lancers, Wolverines could not capitalize on the short field, once again turning the ball over on downs. The first quarter action featured 4 punts, 3 by Neshannock and 1 by EC.

Second quarter action had Neshannock start with the ball and again had to punt. So just like that, the 5th punt of the evening proved that this first half was a defensive battle. The defensive advantage went to Neshannock this time as a big scack by the Lancers defensive line gave us the 6th punt on the evening, giving the ball to Neshannock at their own 33 yardline.

It finally took the Lancers one play, a big pass play by QB #1 Jino Mozzocio to WR #11 Dominic Cubellis from 67 yards out, to put up the first points in the game at the 7:04 mark in quarter two. The PAT kick by #17 Carter DeVivo was good as Neshanock led 7-0.

The Wolverines got the ball back and once again had to punt, the 7th (EC’s 3rd) punt on the night, leaving Neshannock with a short field again. Neshannock drove the ball all the way down to the 20, but missed a fieldgoal attempt from 37 yards out, giving the Wolverines one more shot before halftime.

The drive started at the 20 yard line, with some great running plays by EPM, but the Wolverines just seemed like they couldn’t open up the field on offense. The Neshannock Lancers defense was just blitzing all night long while finally the Wolverines were able to make some progress with the screen play pass to #9 Luciano Gagric. The only knock on the play - a flag was called for leaping by Gagric.

So the ball was pushed back to the 45 yardline where a quick pass out to WR #8 Michael Walters was caught for 6 yards, but that was not the end of the play. ECS along with every fan in the stands missed a little wrinkle play as OL #73 Evan Twedell lined up in a different position than normal - TIGHT END. Sure enough after the pass was caught, Twedell was caught coming off the line right behind Walters as Walters turned and pitched the ball to Twedell for the lateral. Twedell had three players to beat for the Lancers, and HE DID! A 49 yard scamper into the endzone by Twedell cut the score to 7-6. The PAT kick was good by #19 Caitlyn Kreitzer as the offensive linemen of the week Twedell helped the Wolverines tie the ballgame at 7-7.

Up to this point, both teams combined for 7 punts, but also had one big play each for points. Sure enough, this would be the tipping point in the game, once again right before halftime. With just 1:04 left in the half, the Lancers took the ball and drove down the field to the 3 yardline after some great passes by Mozzocio. The 3 yard drive was finished off by #27 Patrick Argiro for the score. PAT was good by DeVivo to make the halftime score 14-7 Neshannock.

After the air was taken out at halftime with the late first half score at 14 seconds, the gut punch continued into the second half as Neshannock outscored the Wolverines 28-7 the rest of the way.

Third quarter action favored Neshannock completely, with scores from #13 Braden Montgomery via the 24 yard pass from Mozzocio and a great quarterback keeper by Mozzocio up the middle for 16 yards. Both PATs were good as the game headed to the fourth quarter 28-7 Neshannock.

The Wolverines offense was held to just 10 yards in quarter three, but that was quickly erased as the first play in quarter 4 was a 77 yard touchdown pass from Smiley in stride with Walters for his 7th receiving touchdown of the year. The PAT kick was good by Kreitzer to make the score 28-14 Neshannock.

The remaining play in the game favored the Lancers as they added two more scores from Argiro on the evening, both from 6 yards out. PATs were good by DeVivo to make the final score at the end of the game 41-14 in favor of Neshannock.

The Wolverines were outgained on the night 417 to 281 as EC was held to just 95 yards in the second half with 77 of those yards on the one play to Walters. On the rainy night, the teams combined for 72 rushing plays with 253 yards from the Lancers and 151 from the Wolverines. Meanwhile, special teams were very active as EC finished with 7 punts while Neshannock finished with 5, with a total of 12 punts combined.

Leading the charge on the night for Neshannock was Jino Mozzocio who finished with 16 carries for 118 yards and 1 rushing touchdown while throwing for 190 yards on 10-19 passing, finishing with 2 passing touchdowns.

Palmer-McCane finished with 14 carries and 106 yards rushing with a 7.6 average while Chris Smiley put up 167 passing yards on 8-22 passing, also with 2 passing touchdowns. Senior Michael Walters added 3 catches for 89 yards and 1 touchdown.

The Wolverines have been outscored by their opponents 84-42 in the last two weeks while continuing to break records across the board, but now we officially can throw out all of the records as THE week has finally come upon us.

The final week of the WPIAL regular season spots the biggest game for Ellwood City football (4-5) in 11 years as they travel across the Connoquenessing Creek to take on the rival Riverside Panthers (1-7) in the 38th RivEll Cup game. The overall series lead favors Riverside (22-15) who have won 7 straight games since 2013 when the series was even at .500. Ellwood City has one thing on mind - win the game and you are in the playoffs, breaking the 2nd longest drought of playoffs in the WPIAL. But Riverside has something to play for as well - win the game and have Freedom lose against New Brighton to force a 5th place playoff tiebreaker based upon points.

The game is slated for 7:00 PM at Riverside High School with ECS on the coverage starting around 6:45 PM. The annual bonfire for the RivEll Cup is also on Thursday night, the night before playoffs will be determined. With so much on the line, YOU HAVE TO BE HERE TO BELIEVE IT! #ECGoBlue

WEEK 8 MAC SCORES

Freedom 0 - Beaver Falls 36 (BF clinches playoff spot)

Neshannock 42 - Ellwood City 14

Riverside 23 - New Brighton 14

Western Beaver 21 - Mohawk 31

WEEK 9 PLAYOFF SCENARIOS FOR THE MAC

Mohawk - Clinched

Neshannock - Clinched

Beaver Falls - Clinched

Western Beaver - Clinched

Ellwood City - Win against Riverside and EC clinches

Freedom - Win against New Brighton and EC loss forces 5th place Tiebreaker