Times' Game of the Week Preview: Western Beaver at Ellwood City

ELLWOOD CITY – Helling Stadium figures to be a happening place Friday night.

After all, it’s been a long time since Ellwood City High School’s football team has played a home game as meaningful as the one it plays this week.

The Wolverines are off to their best start in 12 years. They are 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the WPIAL Class 2A Midwestern Conference.

To put that in perspective, consider that Ellwood City hasn’t had a winning season since 2011. To put that into even further perspective, consider that when Dan Bradley was hired as coach two years ago, he inherited a program that was coming off seasons of 0-8, 0-7 and 0-10.

“It should be a fantastic environment,” Bradley said. “The community really rallies around all their sports teams in Ellwood City. It should be a rowdy night.”

Yes, excitement will be in the air when Western Beaver arrives to provide the opposition.

The Golden Beavers are only 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference. But they’re a much better squad than their record indicates.

The combined record of the teams they’ve lost to is 9-3.

They opened the season with a 35-14 loss to Beaver, a Class 3A program that’s 4-0. Next was a turnover-marred 21-15 loss to Class 1A Shenango. Their lone win was a 47-0 rout of Hopewell, a struggling 1-3 3A program.

And last week in its Midwestern Conference opener at Neshannock, they lost a 27-26 thriller. The Lancers, who made it to the WPIAL semifinals last year, are 3-1.

Trailing 27-20 in that loss to Neshannock, Western Beaver scored a touchdown with 1:55 left to play. Instead of attempting a game-tying extra point, the Golden Beavers went for the win and attempted a go-ahead two-point conversion. However, that two-point try failed when they fumbled.

“We’ve inflicted a lot of wounds on ourselves,” said Western Beaver coach Ron Busby.

“Turnovers. Penalties. It seems like every time we take a step forward, we take two steps back. I’d be lying if I said we aren’t a little bit frustrated. But we’re not in panic mode. We’re a good football team, a talented football team. We feel like we’re going to get it together. We’re going to be in the (playoff) mix when this thing starts to wind up.”

While Western Beaver has had a challenging strength of schedule so far, the same can’t be said for Ellwood City. The combined record of the teams it's beaten is only 2-10. The Wolverines have beaten Brentwood (0-4), Carlynton (1-3) and conference foe Freedom (1-3). Their only loss was a 34-21 decision to Union (3-1), which won the WPIAL 1A title last year.

That being said, give credit to Ellwood City for taking care of business. It has no control of its schedule.

But now, after a 2-8 campaign last year in Bradley’s first season with the Wolverines, they have a chance to prove they’re legitimate playoff contenders.

“I’m excited for our kids,” Bradley said. “I’m excited that we’re 1-0 in the conference. I’m excited that we’ve been able to win the games that we’ve won.”

Ellwood City has been winning primarily thanks to strong play on its offensive and defensive lines and the performance of running back Elijah Palmer-McCane.

In each of their three wins, the Wolverines have rushed for over 200 yards. In their loss to Union, they only rushed for 91.

“We lean on the guys up front,” Bradley said. “They’re all returning starters from last year.

Racking up most of those rushing yards has been Palmer-McCane, a 6-foot, 205-pound junior. He earned first-team all-conference honors last year when he rushed for 1,156 yards. In four games this year, Palmer-McCane has already racked up 563 rushing yards.

“We’ve been doing a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Bradley said. “We’ve run the ball effectively and we’ve been able to shut down the run for the most part.”

“They’re fundamentally sound,” Busby said of Ellwood City. “They are not going to make a lot of mistakes. They know who they are. They’re not going to try to out-fancy you. They know what they do well. Their kids have bought into what their coaches want them to do. They play hard. They’re a good team. We’re expecting everything they’ve got.”

Bradley feels the same way about Western Beaver, which routed Ellwood City 47-14 last year.

“They’ve got a ton of big play people on the outside. They’ve got great receivers. They’ve got a tremendous running back who was all-conference last year like Elijah,” Bradley said. “They’re a big play waiting to happen. We have to be able to control those guys and keep the ball away from them.”

The WB receivers Bradley alluded to include 6-foot-3 Mikey Crawford (16 catches, 210 yards, 3 TDs), Dorian McGhee (11 for 367, 4 TDs), Chris Kirkland (10 for 125) and 6-foot-4 Dontay Green (7 for 174, 3 TDs).

The running back who earned Midwestern Conference all-star honors last year is Tyson Florence. After rushing for 1,261 yards and 13 TDs last year, he’s rushed for 372 yards and 3 TDs so far this year.

But the Golden Beavers’ most intriguing skill player is Jaivin Peel. He’s a freshman who’s the nephew of former Blackhawk star Jim Peel, who played college football at Ohio State.

Jaivin Peel has completed 46 of 87 passes for 889 yards and 10 TDs with only two interceptions. Unofficially, he ranks second in the WPIAL in passing yard behind Shaler’s Keegan Smetanka, who’s thrown for 1,007.

“A year ago, he was playing middle school football,” Busby said. “He’s gotten a lot better every week. He really grew up Friday in a very difficult environment (at Neshannock). We’re happy with his progression. He’s on schedule. When we look at his future, we certainly think it’s very bright.”

So the stage is set for a showdown in the Midwestern Conference.

Western Beaver wants to prove its playoff potential like it has in three of the past four years when it qualified for the playoffs.

Ellwood wants to improve to 4-1 for the first time since 2010 and prove that it has what it takes to make the playoffs. The last time EC qualified for post-season play was 2011.

It shapes up to an intriguing game featuring two teams with contrasting styles.

Or, like Bradley said, “it should be a rowdy night” at Helling Stadium.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Times' Game of the Week Preview: Western Beaver at Ellwood City