BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

Six times Catawba quarterback Mitch Ellis was sacked. Another dozen times, he was racked, whacked or smacked.

Through it all, he kept coming. He kept coming despite a painful knee injury that has reduced his time in the 40 to the point that snails and tortoises are starting to lap him. He kept after it on a day of bone-chilling cold at Shuford Stadium that had to make that braced and banged-up knee ache like an impacted wisdom tooth. He gritted his teeth time and again in the face of a killer rush and fired for 380 yards and three touchdowns.

The sore-kneed slinger ultimately lifted Catawba (11-0) to a 28-24 NCAA Division II playoff win over West Georgia that was so emotional that even head coach David Bennett, who has never met a word he didn’t like, was almost stunned into speechlessness.

Almost.

“I hope the ol’ boy (Ellis) lives to be a hundred,” croaked Bennett. “When he does, Ihope they’ll do an autopsy on him. They’ll ask how in the world did they get that heart inside this young man.”

Catawba’s survival fell on Ellis’ shoulders Saturday, because the Tribe’s normally reliable running game was stopped cold by coach Glenn Spencer’s tenacious Braves (10-2). Catawba backs carried the ball 19 times. They lost two yards.

“They refused to let us run,” said Bennett.

Then, after the Braves had erased the Catawba ground game, they laid their ears back and came after an ailing Ellis like circling sharks.

“But I was going to keep coming,” said Ellis, who hobbled to the sidelines once, but sat out just one offensive play. “I’m the starting quarterback and the leader of the offense. If they knock you down, you have to keep getting back up off the ground.”

“You might sack Mitch once and then you might sack him again,” chimed in Bennett. But it still only takes him one play to score.”

Catawba scored the winning TD on fullback Joe Hilliard’s 2-yard run with 1:17 remaining to be played— on what was Catawba’s best running play of the day. How the Tribe got to the point of Hilliard’s heroics is an improbable tale that will be re-told for decades.

Catawba’s terrific defense, playing without All-American lineman DeVonte Peterson, would be sorely tested by the Braves, who piled up 394 net yards, but it delivered the first big play of the day.

Peterson’s running mate, Radell Lockhart, crushed West quarterback Jeremy Clements, forcing a fumble. Darris Morris recovered. And on the very next play, Ellis drilled one to Cedric Squirewell for a 12-yard touchdown. Matt Gross’ PAT made it 7-0.

That sudden change might have sent some teams reeling. Not the Braves.

“And we didn’t expect it to,” said Bennett. “This is the playoffs. There are no weak sisters around.”

A roughing-the-kicker penalty on the Tribe, led to a field goal that put the Braves on the board.

Then West sacked Ellis, forced a punt and drove the ball 65 yards for a TD against the Tribe defense — something which just doesn’t happen. Now, the visitors led 10-7.

Ellis stormed right back, leading the Tribe on a long drive by firing passes to five different receivers. He lofted a perfect aerial over the shoulder of Squirewell to make it 14-10 Indians with a minute to go in the first half.

But the Braves ran their hurry-up drill to perfection, salvaging a field goal at the horn to cut Catawba’s halftime lead to 14-13.

“That field goal gave us momentum,” said Spencer. “And it carried over to the third quarter.”

That “Mo” swelled when one of Spencer’s trick plays worked to perfection. West faked a punt and punter Justin Allen threw for a huge first down to get a drive started. A TD followed when 270-pound fullback Chris Elam turned a swing pass into a bone-jarring, 31-yard touchdown romp.

“Elam was a load,” said Catawba end Shawn Sanders, who had 10 tackles.

West then surprised Catawba again with a two-point conversion and led 21-14.

“They were just flat out-coaching us some,” said Bennett. “But then we hunkered down and our defense hunkered down.”

Soon everyone was hunkering on both sides, and the game got wild. Turnovers and turning points came and went.

Elam ripped off a 50-yard run, but Tribe corner Corey Reese stopped West with a pick.

Then Catawba was pinned deep by a punt and Ellis was picked off by Jason Blake, who returned to the Tribe 7. The Tribe was on the ropes, but Sanders said the defense drew inspiration from Peterson’s jersey, which hangs on the Tribe sideline. His teammates know Peterson might return to action if Catawba reaches the D-II finals.

“Our goal is for DeVonte to play again,” said Sanders. “He will play again.”

Inspired by “Big D,” Catawba’s “D” limited West to a field goal, But now the margin was 24-14. And now it was the fourth quarter.

It’s darkest before the dawn, and so it was for Catawba. The Tribe rolled to the the West 1 when Arnold Gaither, who had a remarkable day with eight catches for 146 yards, grabbed a long Ellis pass. But on first and goal, Kevin McKenzie fumbled into the end zone and West recovered.

If there’s ever been a disaster play, this was it. Catawba was down 10 with 10:38 left and had just thrown six points to the wind. But as Bennett has said a few thousand times this year, this team is special. It was about to prove it.

“When the offense struggles, the defense has to pick them up. We’ve got their back and they’ve got ours,” said Sanders.

The defense came through. Tribe safety Anthony Spencer came up with an interception to pick up McKenzie. Ellis followed with a 32-yard laser-shot to Nick Means for a TD. Catawba trailed 24-21.

The defense got another stop. But Catawba was forced to punt with only 5:07 left. Bennett had to trust his defense.

That defense hunkered down. West went three-and-out. David Huey stopped a run; Reese stopped a pass; Saunders sacked Clements for a loss of 15. West punted to the Catawba 29. The Tribe faced 71 yards with 3:19 left.

Some prayed for a tying field goal. Bennett was not among them. “Our guys were going to find a way to win the game,” he said. “We didn’t want overtime.

And then Ellis went to work on what he knew might be the last drive of his career.

We have nine senior starters on offense,” he said. “We were going to do it.”

Ellis found Gaither for 53 yards to the West 18. Then after a sack, Ellis bounced off the tundra and hit Ryan Millwood for 25 yards to the 3. Catawba hadn’t been able to run a lick, but two plays later, little fullback Hilliard chugged wide into the end zone for the winning score behind blocks by Mark Sintich and Don Moore.

West got the ball back with just over a minute left. But Catawba’s defense delivered one last time. Dyran Peake’s pick ended the game and set off a celebration. The Tribe had survived to face Delta State (11-1) at home next week.

And a choked-up Bennett could only say that he was proud. Very, very proud. And then Bennett called his team “special” for, oh, the 1,0001st time.

But no one seemed to mind at all. Because, you know something, he’s absolutely right.