I will be covering high school football tonight from the sidelines of Knights of Columbus Field as the Padua Franciscan Bruins travel from Parma to Lorain County to take on the Elyria Catholic Panthers in a North Coast League crossover game. You can tune in to 1320 AM or listen online (replay will be available online as well). I'll be working with play-by-play announcer Bob Karlovec and color commentator Darryl Maynard.
For the Padua (4-2), they have won at least seven games in each of the last four years and have made the play-offs the last three seasons. The Bruins graduated 16 senior starters a year ago but still return a strong senior-filled squad. Padua is coming off a 28-7 win against Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. The Bruins are 4-0 this year at home and 0-2 on the road.
Padua is led offensively by RB Xavier Means, WR Nico Sidari, and TE Tom Walsh on offense. QB Kurt Freeman suffered an ankle injury in week 1 forcing junior Jim Solano into action. Solano has led 4th quarter game-winning TD drives in wins over Shaw and Madison. Defensive stars on Padua include Ball State recruit DE Collin Perchinske, LB Mike Sustar, and DBs Zak Baumer and Kyle Tomko. Kicker Zack Paul already has three field goals this year over 30 yards and has received some interest from colleges.
Elyria Catholic (6-0) is in the middle of a special season. The Panthers are trying to start the year 7-0 for the 2nd time in school history and are looking to return to the post-season for the first time since 2007. Last week after trailing 10-0, Elyria Catholic stormed back and won going away 54-31 vs. Trinity.
Third-year starting quarterback Danny Reaser leads a high-powered offense that averages 43 points per game while Reaser himself is averaging 377 yards passing and almost four touchdowns per game. Reaser is already Elyria Catholic’s all-time leading passer and he has a chance to set several Lorain county records this year. His favorite targets are seniors Conor Voreis, Zach Rogers, and junior James Baker. Corey Campbell and Joe Dempsey are the primary ball carriers. Defensively, the Panthers are led by three-year starter at CB Zach Rogers, safety Joe Dempsey, and LB Buddy Davila.
EC has a two game winning streak against Padua winning in 2005 (24-14) and 2004 (43-14). The Bruins delivered a 48-0 thumping in 2003 and the Panthers won an overtime thriller 20-14 in 2002.
Big night for Elyria Catholic QB Danny Reaser: (1) surpassed Avon's Ryan O'Rourke for career passing yards and (2) passed Lorain Catholic's Chad Kutting for Lorain County single-season passing record. Reaser had three touchdown passes to James Baker, Conor Voreis and Zak Rogers.
ReplyDeletePadua's Xavier Means had 30 carries for 155 yards rushing and 3 TDs. His 10-yard TD run at the end of the 3rd quarter put the Bruins in control.