EC defeated in Quarterfinals, finish 7-5
The 2025 Wolverines Football team’s season came to a close Friday night in a 42-6 defeat to the Steel Valley Ironmen. It was the second time in a row that the Wolverines had a trip to the Semfinals on the line, but with a different outcome this year against the higher seeded Munhall school district.
Ellwood City would play behind from the 6:23 mark of the first quarter as the Ironmen took the opening drive and spent almost 6 minutes dominating the line of scrimmage. The first score of the night came from no other than Da’ron Barksdale, the early enrollment in January and Pitt commit, from 4 yards out. The PAT was good by Andrew Tenny to make the score 7-0 SV.
The Ironmen would continue to add to the scoreboard, scoring on some timely drives and long drives, while scoring on short runs up the middle. Barksdale would add 4 more scores scattered across the next two quarters, scoring on runs of 1 and 4 yards in the first half while 3 and 10 yards in the third quarter. All PATs were good by Tenney giving SV a 35-0 lead with the mercy rule in effect.
The fourth quarter saw both teams trade scores with Jayden Franklin scoring the 16 yard passing score from Tyson Barron. The Wolverines would finaly break through after a 64 yard pass from Tyler Smiley was caught by DaiLonn Currie who took the ball all the way down inside the 10 yard line. The reception of 64 yards double the yard total of EC on offense on the night. The drive was capped off by Guilian Frisk from 3 yards out. The 2-point conversion attempt was no good as the final score of the game read 42-6 in favor of Steel Valley.
Ellwood City would be held to just 4 first downs on the night while averaging 3.4 yards per play compared to 7.6 for Steel Valley. EC would be outgained 119 to 373 with Barksdale accounting for 213 yards rushing and 33 yards passing.
The lone bright side of the night was Dom Dinucci for the Wolverines who accounted for 114 kickoff return yards on the night. Deklan O’Brien would also would have 10 tackles on the night from the defensive end of things. Tyler Smiley would tack on another 103 passing yards on the night, going 5-10 on completions.
The Wolverines (7-5) were not the only ones from Lawrence County that finished their season as they joined Mohawk, Neshannock, and New Castle all in losses on Friday night in the weather. Laurel is the last remaining team from the WPIAL along with Wilmington from District 10 who also continues to move on in the PIAA brackets. Tune back in to the W-Zone this week as we will do a recap of the season of Fall Sports for Ellwood City along with the records that were broken by the football team. #ECGoBlue
WPIAL 2A PLAYOFFS - QUARTERFINALS RESULTS
#1 Seton LaSalle 42-7 #8 Mohawk
#2 Western Beaver 41-14 #7 Apollo-Ridge
#3 Steel Valley 42-6 #6 Ellwood City
#5 Washington 31-7 #4 South Allegheny
