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wolverines football

November 14, 2018

Ellwood City Varsity Football Head Coach Contract Terminated

The Ellwood City Area School District has terminated the contract of varsity head coach Nick Hand. Hand stepped down prior to the 2018 season due to an illness. Rob Magnifico, who had been with the program for over 10 years, was named interim head coach for the 2018 season, the team’s first in the recently reclassified Class 2A. “The Ellwood City Area School District and Mr. Nick Hand have mutually and amicably decided that he would not return as varsity football coach for the 2019 season, due to reasons unrelated to his performance as a coach,” said school superintendent Joe…

October 27, 2018

PHOTOS: Welsh Leads Wolverines To Wet & Wild Senior Night Victory

As if one overtime was not enough on a wet and sloppy Friday Night, the Ellwood City and Brentwood non-conference game stretched over three hours and into a third overtime before the Wolverine came out victorious, 34-26, to cap off their 2018 season in victorious fashion. Ellwood City Senior Brady Welsh scored on a 6-yard run to secure a triple overtime and led a Wolverine defense that stifled Brentwood’s last chance in the third OT frame as fellow senior Ricky Pitrelli intercepted a final pass attempt by Brentwood QB John Milcic. Welsh collected a second rushing touchdown earlier in contest…

October 13, 2018

PHOTOS: Panthers Knock Off Wolverines In Rivalry Game

The Riverside Panthers used a 127-yard rushing performance by LeMarcus Cleckley to knock off the Ellwood City Wolverines 21-7 to capture the Rivell Cup victory. Cleckley found the end zone in the third quarter while quarterback Ben Hughes connected on two touchdown strikes, a 14-yard score to Nathan Sciarro in the first half and a 6-yard connection to Nic Ottaviani, to lead the Panthers (5-2, 3-2) offense to victory.  Ottaviani also finished with 46 yards rushing while Sciarro finished with a game-high five catches. After trailing only 7-0 at halftime, the Wolverines offense was only able to find the end zone early in…

October 7, 2018

Wolverines Use Offensive Attack To Down The Wildcats

The Ellwood City Wolverines offense was on display Friday night as the running back duo of Rick Pitrelli and Donavin Chambers combined for five offensive touchdowns on the night while racking up almost 300 offensive yards as well in the Wolverines big defeat of the Wildcats 42-14. Scoring in the first quarter for the Wolverines has been at premium all season long, but on Friday night the Wolverines scored twice before the end of the first quarter, as a pass from QB Ryan Gibbons out into the flat was caught by Rick Pitrelli for the first touchdown on the night…

September 22, 2018

PHOTOS: Ellwood Falls To Freedom In Rain-Soaked Homecoming Game

After rain and thunder caused multiple game delays, Ellwood City finally fell to Freedom 35-13 in their homecoming contest Friday night at a wet Helling Stadium. Freedom senior Zack Rosa led an offensive attack that scored in each quarter of the Class-AA contest and connected with five difference receivers en route to his five touchdown performance. After the Bulldog’s first two scores of the contest, the Wolverines were finally able to counter and get on the board with a 15-play, 82-yard scoring drive in the second quarter capped with a 1-yard plunge by senior tailback Rick Pitrelli on 4th and…

September 17, 2018

PHOTO: Ellwood City Announces 2018 Homecoming Court

Congratulations to the Lincoln High School 2018 Homecoming Queen Court! The court that was announced last week includes Kaitlyn Francis, Bella Rangel, Mia DeCaria, Ariana Garroway, Natalia Greco, Katherina Boesendorfer, Madeline Spadafore, Isabella Roth, and Maura Agostinelli. Boesendorfer is an exchange student from Germany and is an honorary member of the court. Tickets for Ellwoods Friday Night Homecoming football game will be on sale Thursday & Friday in the main office at Lincoln High School. Cost of tickets: Student – $1.00 Adults – $5.00 No student tickets will be sold at the game. The Lincoln High School Wolverines will face…

September 15, 2018

Riverside Bounces Back In Victory; Wolverines Fall Short On Road

After being handed a lopsided shutout defeat last week, the Riverside Panthers were looking to rebound on their home field Friday night and prevailed in a convincing 24-0 shutout victory over Western Beaver. The Panther defense bounced back in pitching the shutout, allowing less than 150 yards of total offense. The Riverside offense was able to score early and relied on the ground game to dictate the mistake-free victory. LeMarcus Cleckley scored two first half touchdowns to lead the offense with sophomore Hunter Nulph capping the scoring with a 36-yard run in the fourth quarter. Wyatt Ray knocked in a…

September 10, 2018

Ellwood & Riverside Football Both Defeated Handedly On Road

Both Ellwood City and Riverside football teams took the road Friday night, but were both defeated handedly by their section foes.  Ellwood City fell victim to New Brighton 30-13 while Riverside was shutout by Freedom 43-0. Ellwood City relied heavily on their ground game Friday night, but it was the Lions air attack that led to the New Brighton victory.  Again victimized by the big play, the Wolverine defense allowed an 81-yard touchdown strike on the game’s second play from scrimmage.  Junior quarterback Jackson Hall found senior wideout Caleb Shuler for the early connection.  Wolverine tailback Ricky Pitrelli scored to…

September 4, 2018

Football Recaps: Panthers Blowout Lancers; Wolverines Fall To Serra Catholic

Both local schools were hosts in high school football action Friday night, the last Friday of August, with Riverside easily dismissing the Neshannock Lancers 45-14 while the Ellwood City Wolverines were on the losing end of a 24-14 contest against Serra Catholic. For Riverside, the Panthers continued strong offensive play that dates back to last season – scoring 31 points in the second quarter and scoring on their opening possession of the second half to evoke the mercy rule. Quarterback Ben Hughes led the offense that scored on every offensive possession and racked up over 340 yards of offense. For…

August 10, 2018

REPORT: Wolverine Football hoping to take advantage of move down to Class-2A

According to a publish report this week by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Tri-State Sports & News Service, Ellwood City football will be looking to take advantage of a WPIAL reclassification this year. The offense returns eight starters, including QB Ryan Gibbons (5-10, 170, So., QB), while the defense will return seven starters, including senior LB Coulton Cunningham (5-9, 175, Sr., OL-MLB).  A trio of running backs also return for the Wolverines as Rick Petrelli, Rocco Sesti and Donovan Chambers will lead the charge. Post-Gazette writers Ed Phillipps suggests “the Wolverines should benefit this year from the move down to the Class 2A Midwestern Athletic…