The East Central Eagles football team earned their first win of the season with a shut-out of the Ely Timberwolves on Friday night at Bruce Harding Field.
The Ely squad is a relative unknown to area teams as they return to Class A competition this year as a cooperative program with Northeast Range High School (Babbitt/Embarrass) after several years competing at the nine-man level.
The weather was picture perfect for football as Ely returned the opening kickoff to the Eagles’ 48-yard line. They would quickly turn the ball over on downs.
The Eagles moved the ball into Ely territory with two runs by Jacob Ackerman, but their drive stalled as well, and the Timberwolves got the ball back at their own 29-yard line at the midway point of the first quarter.
Ely turned it right back to the Eagles with a fumble that was recovered by James Denzer.
Bobby Rubio assumed the rushing workload on this drive with two runs taking the ball to the Timberwolves’ six-yard line. Quarterback Brayden Olson capped the drive with a run to the right corner of the end zone for the Eagles’ first touchdown of the season.
Olson completed a pass to Dylan Lundberg for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 Eagle lead.
The Timberwolves first drive of the second quarter got to the Eagle 25-yard line, but Denzer and Brock Nelson stopped the Ely running back on fourth down.
Neither team would sustain any offensive momentum for the rest of the second quarter, and it appeared the game would go quietly into the half-time break when Ely received a punt at their own 41-yard line with 1:08 remaining.
On first down, Rubio caught the Ely running back for a nine-yard loss. Denzer and Jackson Grover teamed up for another tackle for loss on second down, and it appeared Ely might be content to run out the clock. After a short gain on third down, Ely faced fourth down and twenty-three yards to go from their own 28-yard line.
They called a time-out with one second remainingein the half.
On fourth down, Ely’s quarterback ran untouched right through the middle of the line and scampered toward the right corner of the end-zone. Fortunately, Warren Carlson made the play of the night, chasing down the Ely quarterback and pulling him down inches from the goal line preserving the 8-0 half-time lead for the Eagles.
The second half started with defensive stands by both teams. Highlights for the Eagles included tackles for loss by Dylan Lundberg and Brennen Hammer.
The Timberwolves eventually began throwing the ball, and late in the third quarter they completed a 45-yard pass to the Eagle 16- yard line.
The Eagles’ defense stiffened again, with Rubio ending the drive with a fourth down tackle at 11:02 in the fourth quarter.
The next Eagle possession ended in an interception, but Ely turned it over to the Eagles again on downs.
On the following drive, Ackerman broke loose on third down for a 45-yard run to the Ely 27-yard line. The Eagles got a huge insurance score on the next play when Rubio ran up the left sideline for the score.
Ackerman ran it in for the conversion, and the Eagles led 16-0, which was the final score.
Coach Todd Lindstrom was pleased with the effort. He said, “The guys came out with great intensity and played a hard-fought battle with Ely. I was very pleased with how our defense played the entire game. The offense struggled at times sustaining drives against an aggressive Ely defense. I’m proud of the perseverance the guys showed, however. It was a great win for the Eagles!”
He added, “Now we turn our sights this week to Braham. They are a very good football team, and we will need to have a great week of practice and carry our momentum into Friday’s game.”
The Eagles travel to Braham to take on the Bombers on Friday, Sept.15.
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