Elizabeth Forward leans on run game to beat Freeport
Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News
Andrew Schaffer | October 31, 2020
Tonight is was Elizabeth Forward’s run game that set the tone in their 34-20 win over Freeport. “That’s something we wanted to come in and do, we wanted to use a bunch of our athletes at running back and wear them down” said Coach Collodi. The win was also Elizabeth Forward’s first home playoff win in program history if you can believe that.
Freeport got the ball to start the game but they quickly went 3 and out. Elizabeth Forward started their first drive at their own 45. On the third play DaVontay Brownfield ran it into the end zone on a 45 yard run which made it 7-0 Elizabeth Forward. Brownfield was one of three running backs who had a big game. He had 9 carries for 79 yards.
After that Elizabeth Forward did a squib kick which turned out to be an onside kick and they recovered. They started at basically midfield and after several big runs they extended their lead when Nico Mrvos ran it in for a 1 yard touchdown. Mrvos who saw the majority of playing time at quarterback also had a big night rushing. He had 10 carries for 68 yards in the game.
Another key in the game was Elizabeth Forward’s offensive line opening gaps for the run game. “They had a great game, they’re a tight knit group, they’ve played with each other for a number of years, and they’re very cohesive” said Coach Collodi.
The score at the end of the first quarter was 14-0 Elizabeth Forward. In the second quarter they added to their lead. The next scoring drive for Elizabeth Forward started at Freeport’s 41 yard line. After several plays Kyle Flourney scored on an 8 yard run. Flourney was the main running back for Elizabeth Forward. He had 30 carries for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns. “We know what we have in Kyle” said Coach Collodi.
To top off the dominating first half Elizabeth Forward scored with 38 seconds left on a 2 yard run by Nico Mrvos. The score at half was 27-0. “No one cares about who gets the credit as long as we get the win at the end of night” said Coach Collodi about the running game. The defense also dominated for Elizabeth Forward holding Freeport to only 1 first down in the first half.
In the second half Freeport did try to get back into the game they got a turnover on the first drive of the second half and on the very first play Ben Lane connected with Brady Stivenson for a 31 yard touchdown. That turned out to be the only score in the third quarter with Freeport trailing 27-6.
Early in the fourth quarter Elizabeth Forward extended their lead to 34-6 on a 13 yard run by Kyle Flourney. That was Elizabeth Forward’s last score of the game.
Freeport tried to get back into the game. They added 2 more touchdowns before the game ended. One of those scores was aided by an Elizabeth Forward turnover. In the end though Elizabeth Forward ran the clock out with their run game.
Next week Elizabeth Forward will play North Catholic in the WPIAL 3A Semifinals. “We played them last year real tight, I know the guys are looking forward to it, it’ll be a great game, they’re a good team” said Coach Collodi.
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