Warriors advance to semifinals with milestone win (copy)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Elizabeth Forward’s Kyle Flournoy breaks a tackle against Freeport during Friday night’s WPIAL Class 3A playoff game at Warriors Stadium. Flournoy rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns in the Warriors’ 34-20 victory.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Freeport’s Ben Lane (2) gets off a pass from his own end zone while being pressure by Elizabeth Forward’s Chase Whatton (67) and Nicholas Murphy (54) during last Friday night’s WPIAL Class 3A playoff game at Warriors Stadium. The Warriors travel to North Catholic tonight with a spot in the WPIAL championship game on the line.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Elizabeth Forward’s DaVontay Brownfield (9) slips a tackle near the sideline against Freeport as the clock winds down in Friday night’s WPIAL Class 3A playoff game at Warriors Stadium. The Warriors controlled the ball for the final 7:35 of play to wrap up their first ever home playoff win, 34-20.
A very happy Elizabeth Forward head coach Mike Collodi addresses his team after its 34-20 victory over Freeport in a WPIAL Class 3A playoff game at Warriors Stadium Friday night. It was the Warriors' first postseason win since 2000 and its first ever at home.
Elizabeth Forward's Chase Whatton (67) and Vernon Settles (22) correctly signal touchdown as teammate Kyle Flournoy crosses the goal line on a 13-yard run in the fourth quarter against Freeport during Friday night's WPIAL Class 3A playoff game at Warriors Stadium.
Elizabeth Forward's Nico Mrvos turns the corner to pick up yardage against Freeport during Friday night's WPIAL Class 3A playoff game at Warriors Stadium. Mrvos scored two touchdowns in the Warriors' 34-20 victory.
ELIZABETH — Elizabeth Forward’s biggest football crowd of the season got to witness a program first and the ending of a long drought on Friday night.
The Warriors rolled to a 27-0 first-half lead and survived a mistake-prone second half to defeat visiting Freeport, 34-20, in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal playoff game at Warrior Stadium.
It was EF’s first ever home playoff victory and also its first postseason win anywhere since 2000.
More importantly, the win advanced the third-seeded and unbeaten Warriors (7-0) into next Friday’s semifinals where it will travel to No. 2 North Catholic, which beat Mount Pleasant, 35-14, on Friday.
“It’s unbelievable, from where we’ve come to where we are know,” EF coach Mike Collodi said. “The program is just getting better and better.”
That’s thanks in large part to Collodi, the sixth-year coach who now has a sparkling 37-18 record at Elizabeth Forward. Collodi had taken the Warriors to the playoffs the previous three years but they came up short each time. Friday night’s win was only the sixth in the postseason for Elizabeth Forward.
Collodi, though, deflected credit for his team’s success to his players.
“They’re the ones that do it,” he said. “It’s 100 percent guys like these two (motioning to Bowling Greene recruit Chase Whatton and Nicholas Murphy standing nearby) and the rest. The bought in, trusted me and I love everyone of them. I’m so happy for these guys they deserved it.”
“It’s just huge for our team,” Whatton said of the victory. “First time in history on this field. I’m very happy.”
The Warriors rode a strong ground attack led by Kyle Flournoy, who rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns. DaVontay Brownfield ran for 80 yards and a score and Nico Mrvos added 69 yards on the ground and two TDs.
Elizabeth Forward dominated play in the first half from the very first snap when Whatton tackled Freeport’s Vincent Clark for a 5-yard loss.
The Warriors forced a three-and-out, then Brownfield broke free for a 45-yard touchdown run three plays later and Andrew Smith’s extra point made it 7-0.
The ensuing squib kick went off a Yellowjackets’ lineman with EF recovering at their own 49. The Warriors marched 51 yards in seven plays with Mrvos covering the final 23 with a 22-yard scamper down the sideline followed by a 1-yard plunge for the score and a 14-0 advantage.
Elizabeth Forward made it 20-0 with 6:35 left in the second quarter when Fournoy capped a 41-yard drive following a Freeport quick kick with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Mrvos put EF up 27-0 with a 2-yard TD run with 38 seconds left in the half.
It was Elizabeth Forward’s best half of the season, according to Collodi.
“We put it all together,” he said. “We came out to play. The team was ready to roll tonight.
“We wanted to use a bunch of our athletes at running back and sort of just wear them down. We knew we were a little bit bigger than them and we just wanted to keep pounding and pounding and pounding. The line did an awesome job tonight. The backs did a great job.”
The Warriors weren’t nearly as sharp in the second half with several penalties and turnovers, which allowed the Yellowjackets (3-3), behind quarterback Ben Lane, to stay in the game.
Elizabeth Forward fumbled on the first play of the third quarter and Lane tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Brady Stivenson on the next snap to make it 27-6.
The Warriors seemed to put the game away on Flournoy’s 13-yard touchdown run with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter, but Lane threw a 19-yard TD pass to Mario DeVivo just 1:17 later.
After EF fumbled the kickoff, Lane again led Freeport downfield and threw 29-yard touchdown pass to Colton Otterman with 7:35 remaining and then passed to Cole Charlton for the 2-point conversion and suddenly the Yellowjackets were within 34-20.
Elizabeth Forward squashed any hopes Freeport had of completing a dramatic comeback when it once again turned to its powerful ground game and methodically marched downfield to run out the clock.
Lane completed 12 of 19 passes for 160 yards and three touchdown and also was intercepted for only the second time this season by Mrvos late in the first half.
Elizabeth Forward quarterback Zion White was efficient, completing 4 of 5 passes for 70 yards. EF, which lost starting quarterback Evan Lewis to a season-ending injury on Oct. 9 against South Allegheny, used both White and Mrvos behind center against the Yellowjackets.
While Whatton was thrilled with the win, he sounded like a coach when he assessed his team’s second-half problems.
“Stupid stuff like that, that doesn’t have to happen,” he said. “We need to definitely fix those things at practice if we want to beat North Catholic.”
The undefeated Trojans (8-0) have beaten EF in each of the past two regular seasons, 27-7 at Warriors Stadium in 2018 and 12-7 at NC last year.
The Warriors are far from intimidated, though, according to Murphy.
“I couldn’t be happier, North Catholic, we’ve gone head-to-head with them the past couple years,” Murphy said.
“I’m excited. We want them again.”