The Tyler duo lifts EC past Mohawk late
The MAC. It stands for Midwestern Athletic Conference. Friday night, it stood for “Mayhem Across the County” as the visiting Wolverines came to town to take on the Warriors. Almost acting like a house-divided crowd, EC vs Mohawk has become a secondary rivalry across all high school sports. Friday night proved worthy of another instant classic.
Mohawk hosted the Wolverines on a big “Red, White, and Blue” night crowd thanking and supporting all military, veterans, and first responders. The crowd on both sides of the field had wide range of emotions, all the way up to the final whistle.
Mohawk won the toss and decided to jump on offense first. This decision would back fire quickly as Bobby Fadden would scramble around looking for someone to throw to, but Fadden would be taken down on the sack and would give up the football with Drake Davis leading the charge. The ball would then be quickly picked up by Cameron Mills who would scamper into the endzone for the fumble recovery touchdown. The PAT by Aden Huth was good to make the score 7-0 EC just two minutes into the game.
Fadden and the Warriors would get the ball back, this time driving down the field to be stopped on third down. On a fourth down and 23, Fadden magic would come alive as a double-go route by Joe Nail would open up behind the Wolverines defense for the 28 yard touchdown. The PAT kick was blocked by P.J. Dubois to keep the score 7-6 in favor of EC.
The next drive had a couple interesting calls from the officials and then some penalties from both teams, but the Wolverines continued to drive forward. Sure enough a couple penalties and an incomplete pass broken up behind the line of scrimmage left EC with their own fourth down play. A pass by Tyler Smiley fell right into the hands of Dom Hogue for the 28 yard touchdown pass on fourth down, almost running a similar double-go route like Nail did for the Warriors. The PAT was good by Huth to make it 14-6 EC.
Both teams would trade drives back and forth, but the Warriors would win the field position battle to get points - a 26 yard fieldgoal by Andrew Lloyd made the score 14-9. Once again the Warriors defense stepped up and stopped the ensuing drive by the Wolverines to get the ball back with just a few minutes reminaing before halftime. On the flip side, the bend-don’t-break defense from Ellwood was also up to the task. Mohawk would get the ball back near mid field and would drive to the endzone. After a couple incompletions and miscues via the offensive penalties, the Warriors would settle for a 28 yard fieldgoal rigth before halftime to make the score read 14-12 EC. Defense played havoc in the first half as EC would be held to just 51 yards. Meanwhile Mohawk had 115 yards, but only 12 points to show for it.
Second half action got underway as EC would receive the ball. Ellwood would drive to mid field, but would be stop on fourth down with the little dump down pass to Barberio fell incomplete. Mohawk would take the ball back and try to take the lead with the help of Lucas Stratton in the backfield, but penalties would cost Mohawk going forward. EC would then have to punt the ball away yet again, as both teams just could not get anything going in the third quarter.
Mohawk would continue their drive in the fourth quarter, but on a 4th and 8 scramble run by Fadden would not be successful. The tackle was made by sub Nick Condell, who came into the game on defense as a sub for Tristan Rennels who would be injured on the previous play. Needless to say, it was fitting for Condell to make a stop on fourth down.
More back and forth drives continued for both teams as EC just could not get things rolling in the right direction. Mohawk would finally get things going, including a pass interference against the defense that would set them up with first down going into Ellwood territory. More penalties by the Wolverines defense would give Mohawk first downs on a fourth and one, after Mohawk was thinking a farther fieldgoal attempt. But the Wolverines defense would not bend again, stopping Mohawk from the endzone. Mohawk would kick the fieldgoal from 22 yards out, the third on the night by Lloyd. The score would read 15-14, giving Mohawk their first lead of the game with just 2:52 remaining.
Last week EC lost to Neshannock after a passing touchdown with just 13 seconds left in the game. A similar outcome would happen this week, but most fans in the stadium thought that the fieldgoal by the Warriors would be the winner. They were wrong.
EC would get decent field position from returning the kickoff all night by Dom Hogue. Wolverines set up at their own 35 yardline. Tyler Smiley would go six of seven passing down the stretch, with three completions to Dom Hogue and two big time completions to FR Kam Hockenberry. The last completion of the drive was the big one - with just 16 seconds remaining in the game, Tyler Smiley took the snap and dropped back to pass. The offensive line held together perfectly, including sub Craig Patterson who was in for the injured Rennels at right tackle. Tyler would get the time he needed, sat back, and loaded the pass right down the middle of the Warriors defense to a wide open receiver in JR Tyler Amicone who collected the ball, scampering into the endzone for the 41 yard touchdown. The crowd erupted from the Wolverines’ faithful fans while the air had been removed from the Warriors side of the stadium. The PAT kick by Huth was good to make the score 21-15 EC with just nine seconds left to play.
Mohawk would get the ball back and would move into EC territory with a tough play by Fadden passing to Landyn Argiro who lateralled to Joe Nail. The tackle would be made by…you guessed it…Tyler Amicone to have the game come down to just one more play. The deep route pass to the far sideline would make it to the endzone, but would be intercepted by Dom Dinucci who was covering on the route to end the game. Final score read 21-15 in favor of the Tyler-to-Tyler connection Wolverines!
Ellwood City would be outgained on the night and would have their offense be held in check till the last touchdown score, but would make enough plays to get the job done. Tyler Smiley would finish 8-18 109 yards, with 69 of them coming on two passing touchdowns. The defense once again for the Wolverines led the charge, while the offense did just enough down the stretch for the victory.
EC goes to 2-2 (1-0) on the season while Mohawk falls to 1-3 (0-1). EC will have to quickly get ready and healthy for an interesting matchup with Freedom 3-1 (1-0), who defeated and shutout New Brighton 42-0 on the evening. The “Red-River-Run” of four straight teams wearing the red colors hits the midway point with EC going 1-1 (Neshannock, Mohawk, followed by Freedom, and New Brighton). EC will host Freedom Friday night from Helling Stadium, with kickoff slated for 7:00 PM. Pregame festivities on Ellwood City Sports will begin at 6:45 PM. Go Blue!
2A-2 MAC RESULTS - WEEK THREE
Western Beaver 38-6 Beaver Falls
Freedom 42-0 New Brighton
Ellwood City 21-15 Mohawk
Riverside 9-7 (Thurs) Union
