KANE — The aptly-named Crusaders of Elk County Catholic went on an 80-yard crusade in the fourth quarter to register a 13-12 Allegheny Mountain League South Division victory over Kane at Paul R. Miller Stadium on Friday.

ECC (7-1, 2-1) clinched a District 9 Class A playoff berth by erasing a 12-0 deficit with two touchdown passes by senior quarterback Mitchell Smith.

“That is a great football team that is well-coached and they (Crusaders) do some creative things,” said Todd Silfies, Kane headvcoach and ECC grad. “They mixed it up and had us on our heels on that final drive.”

The Wolves opened the on-field Senior Night festivities with a 14-play, 80-yard march that culminated with John English following James Lingenfelter into the middle of the line for a 1-yard touchdown run. The extra point attempt sailed wide left as Kane led 6-0 at the 5:11 mark.

“We came out of the gates flying on both sides of the ball,” Silfies noted ECC’s first possession ended with a three-and-out and the ensuing 15-yard shanked punt nearly beaned one of the Kane cheerleaders.

Two plays later English scampered for 14yards, Lingenfelter plowed for 15 more and then English demonstrated a burst of speed on a 16-yard TD run right up the gut. The pass for two failed and it was 12-nil with 1:43 left in the opening period.

“John was great tonight and healthy for the first time in a long time,” Silfies said of English, who rushed for 178 yards on 34 carries to leave the 5-11, 190-pound senior unofficially six yards shy of 1,000 for the season. “He ran behind an offensive line that played well tonight.”

The combatants traded turnovers in the second quarter when ECC’s Matt Feldbauer recovered a fumble and Kane’s Shane Rolick intercepted a pass 91 seconds later.

Then in the waning moments of the first half Smith found Ryan Seelye at the Kane 19 and the 6-5, 205-pound wide receiver took it to the house for the 54-yard score with 49 seconds showing. Kyle Huff booted the PAT and it was 12-7 at the intermission.

All Siflies could say of the late score was, “That happens.”

After a penalty-free 24 minutes, the Wolves drove from their own 6 to the ECC 25 where the 13-play sojourn ended when the middle of the Crusader line snuffed a fourth-and-1 try.

The visitors couldn’t advance the chains as Kane’s Tyler Weidenhoff fielded the 38-yard punt at his 36 and raced down the left sideline to the end zone. But the return was negated by the initial penalty of the evening, which made Silfies a very unhappy camper.

“They (officials) make mistakes too and it cost us a touchdown,” Silfies said. “I wasn’t perfect tonight so how can we expect everyone else to be?”

The Wolves would eventually punt and ECC took over at its own 20 with 10:15 remaining in the contest.

Following the first infraction on the Crusaders, Smith sandwiched a pair of aerials to Seelye totaling 23 yards around a 10-yard run by Dan Singer to move into Kane territory at the 45. Noah Werner ran for 10 more and Smith located Seelye once again for 10 for a first-and-goal just a pigskin length inside the 10.

On second down Smith hit Huff at the 2 and the 6-3, 200-pound junior backed his way across the goal line. The pass for two was denied and it was 13-12 Elk with 5:18 left.

From their own 33 the Wolves utilized a 17-yard jaunt by English and 15-yard pass interference to set up shop at the ECC 30. English carried twice for a first down at the 17, but a 3-yard setback and two incompletions forced a fourth-and-13 from the 20 with 1:32 remaining.

With a brisk left-to-right crosswind along with some friendly advice from the grandstand, the Wolves eschewed a risky 37-yard field goal attempt and Jack Kocjancic’s pass was tipped away by a sliding Werner.

“It was a decision and we thought we had a better chance to pick it up on fourth down,” Silfies declared.

Smith gained 12 yards on a daring keeper around right end and then took two kneel downs to run out the clock.

The Wolves (5-3, 1-3), who are amidst a bit of a scoring funk with just 27 points in their last three games, finish the regular season at Clarion-Limestone in two weeks.

“We have a bye week and then we’ll focus on Clarion-Limestone,” Silfies stated. “We’ll get better next week and the following week, beat C-L and hopefully that gets us in.”

By Quarters

ECC 0 7 0 6 — 13

Kane 12 0 0 0 — 12