Elco pulls out 29-26 victory at Fleetwood

FLEETWOOD - Elco's Ryan Eshleman latched onto a pair of touchdown catches from quarterback Kyle Knight, including the game-winning score in the fourth quarter, to lead the Raiders to a victory Friday night on the road.

Fleetwood had gone ahead 26-22 in the final period when Alex Rubino caught a 35-yard TD pass from Trevor Koenig, but Eshleman's last touchdown, on a play from the Tigers' 10-yard line, lifted the Raiders to a 29-26 non-league football decision.

Knight finished with an 8-for-16 night, with three of those completions going to Eshleman for 37 yards. Knight also had a good night rushing the ball, accounting for 112 yards on 18 carries.

Fleetwood held running back Tyler Horst to 61 yards on 14 carries, but Horst did reach the end zone from 2 yards out.

The Tigers broke out to a 12-0 lead after one quarter, but Elco got on the board when Knight found Nate Beamer for a 31-yard scoring strike, and Horst's TD made it 15-12 at halftime.

Dane Miller was 3-for-3 on extra points and Knight threw to Eshleman for a two-point conversion. Beamer ended up with three catches for 75 yards for the Raiders, who are 2-1 heading into next Friday's home clash against Annville-Cleona.

For Fleetwood, Mike Wilkinson ran 16 times for 163 yards and 2 scores.

Elco 29, Fleetwood 26

Elco _0  _ 15 _7  _7  _ — _ 29

Fleetwood  _12 _0 _  6_  8_ —  _ 26

First Quarter

F — Mike Wilkinson 2 run (kick failed)

F — Brendan Jocsak 11 run (run failed)

Second Quarter

E — Nate Beamer 31 pass from Kyle Knight (Dane Miller kick)

E — Tyler Horst 2 run (Ryan Eshleman pass from Knight)

Third Quarter

E — Eshleman 16 pass from Knight (Miller kick)

F — Wilkinson 70 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

F — Safety

F — Alex Rubino 35 pass from Trevor Koenig (kick failed)

E — Eshleman 10 pass from Knight (Miller kick)

Team Statistics

_ Elco _ Fleet

First downs _ 17 _ 15

Rushes-yards _ 33-173 _ 42-259

Passing _ 8-16-0 _ 4-10-1

Passing yards _ 153 _ 72

Total yards _ 326_ 331

Punts _ 5-24.6 _ 3-32.3

Fumbles-lost _ 1-0 _ 1-0

Penalties-yards _ 9-55 _ 9-93

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Elco: Kyle Knight 18-112, Tyler Horst 14-61, Cole Miller 1-0. Fleet: Mike Wilkinson 16-163, Brendan Jocsak 15-78, Jordan Wilmer 8-23, Jordan Barr 2-4, Trevor Koenig 1-(-9).

Passing — Elco: Knight 8-16-0-153. Fleet: Koenig 4-10-1-72.

Receiving — Elco: Nate Beamer 3-75, Ryan Eshleman 3-37, Cory Kline 1-39, Horst 1-2. Fleet: Alex Rubino 2-43, Wilkinson 1-16, Izaiah David 1-13.