Wolverines battle back, defeat Tigers
Ellwood City fans and Beaver Falls fans had some great news to share as both teams were most likely going to be making WPIAL 2A football playoffs, but both fan bases knew that there was more on the line in the Week Nine game - home field advantage for being the second place team in the MAC conference. Both teams would throw “punches” during the game, left and right “jabs,” but in the end it was the Wolverines who were able to withstand the battle they had with the Tigers, winning 25-24 at historical Reeves field Friday night.
Beaver Falls came out swining early in the first half, forcing two big turnovers by the Wolverines to set up the early lead in favor of the Tigers. A fumble in the early going by EC gave the Tigers the ball which took just one play from scrimmage to score. Senior Kenny Jewell took the handoff from Christian Dawkins and cut to the left side scoring the 50 yard touchdown run. The two-poin run coversion was failed.
Beaver Falls would answer their own score late in the first quarter after EC struggled to get anything going on offense. This time Jewell would take the handoff from only 7 yards out, but would get his second rushing touchdown on the night. The PAT kick was failed to keep the early score 12-0 BF after one quarter.
Wolverines would end the first quarter barely in the positive yard total while also being down by two scores. On the flip side, all things looked great for the Tigers, except for their starting quarterback Xavier Clark who would leave the game after the second scoring drive for BF. Clark would not return with what looked like a serious arm injury.
EC would finally get a drive going from their own 10 yard line with a huge 41 yard catch by senior Dom Hogue. A couple plays later after a timeout EC would get on the board via the pass from senior quarterback Tyler Smiley to Kam Hockenberry for the 27 yard touchdown. The PAT hit the left upright, keeping the score 12-6.
Even though EC got on the board, the game still felt in favor of the Tigers who would add one more score before halftime. This was after it looked like EC would drive down the field and get their own score, but turnovers yet again cost the Wolverines. A high pass by Smiley was picked off by the Tigers defense who brought it back near the redzone. Just a couple plays later the Tigers would add the last score of the first half as senior Christian Dawkins would scamper into the endzone for the 15 yard rushing touchdown. The two-point conversion was failed keeping the score 18-6 BF at half.
EC would behind in every stat category at halftime, and seemed to be just holding onto the balance of the game as the Tigers would receive the second half kick. Sure enough a squib kick and straight middle kickoff by DaiLonn Currie would somehow find the arms of senior Colton Gullo that gave the Wolverines an extra posession to start the second half.
Wolverines would not waste the opportunity on offense, having their own one play drive from just 39 yards out as Richard Cureton took the handoff and scored the rushing touchdown to the right to get EC going. The PAT kick by Aden Huth would be good, and a crucial PAT at that. The scoreboard read 18-13.
Beaver Falls would have a counter punch ready to go, as they continued to battle upfront on the line. EC would give up the ball yet again this time via the fumble, giving the Tigers a short field to play with. Sure enough the made it count with a big touchdown pass by Jewell to Keyshawn Jamison who was left wide open on a blown coverage. the two-point conversion pass would fall incomplete to keep the score at 24-13.
Just as the Wolverines hopes started to fall to the fourth quarter, the Wolverines did have one more answer in the third quarter after they were set up near 50 yardline after Hogue had a great return on the ensuing kickoff. The Wolverines would quickly cap off the drive with a play-action pass by Smiley to Gullo for the score, closing the gap back down to five. The two-point conversion pass was failed to keep the score 24-19.
Just as the third quarter was wrapping up, the Tigers received the ensuing kickoff and would seemingly take the ball to the fourth quarter. Sure enough a simple handoff play ended with the 5th turnover in the game, this time with the Wolverines recovering the ball. As the score read 24-19 going to the fourth quarter, all momentum had swung from the Tigers 18-6 halftime lead to a 13-6 swing in the third quarter.
Fourth quarter action saw the Wolverines slowly go down the field, hoping to get a score to take the lead for the first time on the night. After a couple crucial pass plays by the offense, the Wolverines were forced to throw the ball on fourth down. Smiley threw a quick lob pass to senior Anthony Barberio who may have had his biggest catch of his career, finding a way to stay on his feet and get the first down. Just a play later Cureton would finish the drive with a 3 yard rushing touchdown to make the score 25-24. The two-point conversion was failed to keep it a one point lead for Ellwood City.
Beaver Falls would get one more shot at winning the game and with plenty of time to make it happen. The Tigers established the run game just enough to keep the first downs coming, and found ways to make short passes work for some key plays. The Tigers drove the ball all the way into the redzone area, knowing a fieldgoal would win it. However, historically the Tigers have not had a great kicking game, which meant the Wolverines could have a bend, don’t break mentality on defense.
The Wolverines would force the Tigers into a timeout and then a big play in the late going. Jewell would take the snap and roll to the left side where he quickly had to get rid of the ball, with the pass sailing on him when he released it. Sure enough the the defensive backfield of Dom Dinucci - who has had several timely interceptions this year - caught the high pass and quickly fell to the ground to seal the victory. The Wolverines would prevail 25-24 in an instant MAC classic.
The win would give the Wolverines only their 26th victory in the 98 meetings against the Tigers. More importantly for the Wolverines, it guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, and a decent seed as well being the second place team from the MAC - 6th overall. The win also means that the Wolverines will not have to travel and worry about their game-day schedule being on time as they will be hosting the game from Helling Stadium.
EC would finish the game flipping almost every stat category, except for the run game. EC would be outgained 125 to 35 in the run game, but would outgain the Tigers 202-80 in the pass game. The Wolverines would outgain the Tigers 237-205 on the night, holding the Tigers to just 76 yards in the second half. EC would also finish tied in the turnover category (3-3) after being down 2-0 in the category in the early going.
In the end, Cureton would finish with 69 yards rushing but more importantly 2 rushing touchdowns. After the interception, Smiley would come back with 202 yards passing and 2 crucial touchdown passes. The difference on the night would be the PAT game, where the ONLY conversion on the night would be Huth’s kick. Hogue would also finish with a great game with 152 all-purpose yards.
Ellwood City (6-5, 5-2) will now look to the playoffs at home, taking on the Keystone Oaks (4-6, 4-2) from Dormont, PA area (below the city of Pittsburgh). Beaver Falls (4-6, 4-3) will slide to the 12th seed and take on a tough opponent in Washington (9-1). ECS will have updated stas and records that can be set during the playoffs later on throughout the week as we cover the upcoming first round. EC also applied to have coverage of the playoff game and will wait for confirmation hopefully from the WPIAL on Monday.
2A-2 MAC RESULTS - WEEK NINE
Western Beaver 50-0 Freedom
Ellwood City 25-24 Beaver Falls
Mohawk 35-24 Riverside
New Brighton 6-2 Union
