ELY – A new season, a new coach, and with more than twice as many players in uniform as their opponent, the Timberwolves cruised to a 26-6 home-opening win over Carlton here on Friday night.
Ely took the opening kickoff for six, in a drive capped by a five-yard run by junior Erron Anderson. Anderson had a stellar night for Ely, rushing for 138 yards and three touchdowns, including two in the first half. His second score came from two yards out in the second quarter. Another failed conversion left the score at 12-0.
Davis’s quarterback-keeper from the one-yard line late in the second quarter, followed by a two-point conversion pass to Simons from Davis, gave Ely a 20-0 lead at halftime.
The Raptors put their only points on the board in the third quarter, on a 10-yard run, but Ely held them off the rest of the way. Ely found the end zone again at the start of the fourth quarter on Anderson’s third touchdown of the night to lift their final margin to 26-6.
Senior quarterback Mason Davis had a big night as well, rushing for 57 yards, including a score, while also completing seven passes for 97 yards. Harry Simons added four receptions for 35 yards.
It all combined to nearly 300 yards of total offense for the Wolves, including 97 in the air.
"Mason throws the ball really well," said Head Coach Louis Gerzin. “He understands where the receivers will be, whether it is a back-shoulder pass or an inside pass. He’s been playing quarterback for a while and is showing some big improvements from last year.”
Gerzin also said he was also pleased with his team’s defensive performance. “They came out to play and looked great,” he said. “We made that a point of emphasis during the week and they stuck to it.”
Senior linebacker Eddie Prijatel lead the team with 15 tackles. Logan Meskill, Anderson, Chase Sandberg, Jackson Hegman, and Gavin Marshall each had eight tackles on the night. Simons had two interceptions and Sandberg recovered a fumble.
The Timberwolves came out with a few first-game jitters and committed a couple of procedure penalties with false starts and illegal formations. “Several of our guys haven’t played on the varsity level before. We cleaned that up in the second half,” Gerzin said.
With junior Jason Kerntz on the sideline to start the season, Anderson stepped into the starting running back role. “He did a great job this week and will only get better,” Gerzin said.
“There were a few things that we need to work on this week, with a couple of fumbles and some missed passes, but I feel good about coming into week two,” he added.
The Timberwolves were set to host Mt. Iron-Buhl at home on Friday, and travel to Bigfork on Sept. 17.  Ely returns home to host Cherry on Sept. 24.