E-TC strikes first but falls to Pickford

EWEN - Ewen-Trout Creek stormed out to an 14-0 early lead, but Pickford rocked the Panthers by scoring 56 of the next 62 points and won 56-22 in the opening 8-man game of the season on Thursday night.

"E-TC was hitting on all cylinders and fought hard the whole game," Pickford head coach Josh Rader said. "We seemed to have a lot of first game nerves, but there was no panic, no worry. The offense calmed down and responded. We had good focus, a good first game and a good victory. It's our first year in 8-man football and the kids love it."

E-TC ran hard-charging senior Cyal Washer a number of times, but then used a bit of tricker-ration to get on the scoreboard. Quarterback Landon Maki handed off to Washer who ran about two yards and then handed off on a reverse and Alan Goll sprinted 54-yards down the sideline for a score at the 10:16 mark. Washer ran in the 2-point conversion to put E-TC up 8-0.

The Panthers used the same counter-reverse play in the next series and scored on the first play when Goll got down the sideline on a 49-yard scamper. The conversion failed but E-TC led 14-0 with 6:56 left.

"Those plays used deception to score," said assistant coach Carl Ahlskog. "But they made adjustments and took away our wide game. Give them credit, they're a fine team."

E-TC led 14-6 at the end of the first quarter, but then the roof caved in on E-TC.

The Pickford Panthers blanked E-TC 22-0 in the second quarter as the whole complexion of the game changed. Pickford went on a three-play, 75-yard drive and capped it off when Ian Firack fired a 40-yard TD to Wyatt Boik at the 11:21 mark. Firack's 2-point conversion narrowed the ETC lead to 14-12 and his one-yard plunge gave Pickford the lead for good, 20-14. Wyatt Boik's seven yard run with 35 seconds left in the half increased the Panther lead to 28-14.

Boik was at it again in the the third quarter as he ran in a score from seven yards out with 6:08 left in the third quarter to make it 34-20 after three quarters.

Pickford added 22 fourth quarter points to insert the dagger and Maki said Pickfordwore the Panthers down.

"They have a great core of football players," E-TC head coach Larry Maki said. "Our big guys got tired and we stepped back from our performance in the scrimmage. We missed tackles and had turnovers. and it comes down to blocking and tackling and we got out-executed. Our players made plays but not enough of them."

ETC's final score came on a six play 60-yard drive capped off by Landon Maki's two-yard scoring run with 3:15 left on the clock and Washer's conversion run.

Boik led Pickford's rushing attack with 126 yards on 15 carries and Firack added 99 yards on 19 attempts.

Firack connected on eight of 11 passes for 168 yards passing.

Wascher led all rushers with 163 yards from 29 carries and Goll added 87 yards from six rushes.

Landon Maki was 1-9 passing for seven yards.

E-TC (0-1) hosts Stephenson in another Thursday night game in the Western U.P. Football Conference at 7 p.m. EST. Stephenson should be one of the largest teams in the conference and is in its first year of 8-man football.

"The route doesn't get easier against Stephenson," Ahlskog said.

Pickford 6 22 6 22 - 56

E-TC 14 0 0 8 - 22

First Quarter

E-TC - Alan Goll 52 run (Cyal Wascher run), 10:16

E-TC - Goll 49 run (run failed), 6:56

PFD - Ian Firack 2 run (run failed), 2:22

Second Quarter

PFD - Wyatt Boik 40 pass from Ian Firack (Firack run), 11:21

PFD - Firack 1 run (run failed)

PFD - Boik 7 run (Firack run), :35

Third Quarter

PFD - Boik 7 run (pass failed), 6:08

Fourth Quarter

PFD - Lance Batho 11 run (pass failed), 11:22

ETC - Landon Maki 2 run (Wascher run), 3:15

PFD - Kurtis Reich 1 run (run), 1:08

Pick E-TC

First Downs 16 8

Rushes-yards 376 250

Comp-Att-Int 8-13-1 1-2-2

Passing yards 168 7

Total yards 544 257

Penalties-yards 4-35 6-45

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-2

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Pickford, Ian Frick 19-9, Wyatt Boik 15-126, Kurtis Reich 5-26. E-TC, Cyal Washer 29-163, Landon Maki 1-2, Alan Goll 6-87, Randy Pantti 1--1.

Passing - Pickford Ian Firack 8-11-168-1, Derrick Eddington 0-2. E-TC, Landon Maki 1-9-7-1.

Receiving - Pickford, Wyatt Boik 4-89, Derrick Eddington 4-79 E-TC, Alan Goll 1-7