ELY—The Timberwolves opened the season in convincing fashion last Friday, trouncing rivals Northeast Range 52-0. It was the first sign that Ely is taking up where it left off last season, when the Wolves won the Section 7 Nineman title.

“There’s no question that Ely is the team to beat,” commented North Woods Head Coach John Jirik this week. North Woods and Ely are scheduled to meet in the regular season finale on Oct. 19.

The story of the night was Ely’s running game. In all, they rushed for 371 yards, led by Josh Heiman’s 195 yards and four touchdowns. He was the first one to hit pay dirt in the first quarter, opening up Ely’s scoring with a 65-yard touchdown. Braxton Casey would score the two point conversion to make the score 8-0.

Ely’s next touchdown came through the air as Carter Gaulke connected with Adam Porthan for 32 yards to make the score 14-0.

Heiman then ripped off three straight touchdown runs in the first and second quarter. They included a 10-yard run, a 14-yard run and a 57-yard scamper. Blaise Lah and Eli Conaway added two point conversions on the last two of those scores, Matt Gerzin hit the endzone from seven yards out and Gaulke added another two point conversion to make the score 44-0 heading into half time.

“We jumped right on them from the start,” said Ely Head Coach Brian Lamppa. “I was real happy with the way we played. The kids were executing for the most part and now we’ll just have to keep things going.”

In the third quarter, Ely added one more touchdown, coming from Gerzin from six yards out. They also recorded a safety in the fourth to finish off the scoring.

Defensively, Augie Richter finished the game with 11 tackles and Lah finished with nine.

Ely, 1-0, will next take on Silver Bay on Sept. 16.