In a celebration of Senior Night on the campus of Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School, the NDCL Lions had much to celebrate.
Game photos click here.
In a celebration of Senior Night on the campus of Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School, the NDCL Lions had much to celebrate.
With dry weather, senior players, cheerleaders,and band members have much to be proud of.
Once pregame ceremonies were done, the Lions football team took the field against the Padua Bruins. The Lions controlled the ball much of the night, but had issues finishing what they started.
The Bruins , then, became quick-strike artists, scoring twice on big plays in the first half while also making big stops on defense when the Lions threatened.
In the end, it all led to a tough 21-7 victory for the visitors from Cuyahoga County.
The main culprit was junior tailback Roderick Love.
He ignited the second possession of the game for Padua (4-5) with a pair of runs totalliing 24 yards, and as the NDCL defense tightened to shut him down, quarterback Nick Barker found Karon Thomas deep behind NDCL defensive backs to a 45 yard touchdown to open scoring with just 31 seconds left in the opening period.
A 13-play drive for the Lions led to that play, but it had ended in a blocked field goal after the Lions drove to the Bruin 11 yard line before stalling.
The Lions moved into Bruin territory againg early in the second quarter. A punt set up Padua deep in their own end of the field, but Love did his thing again, taking a direct snap from center, heading toward right tackle, and cutting back to the left, going 84 yards to score.
The Lions took the next kickoff and drove again, reaching the Padua 5-yard line with a first down pass from James Koenig to Robert Bonchak.
Twelve ticks before intermission, appearing ready to get back into the contest, a Koenig pass was picked off in the end zone by Brady Devore, and things still were looking bleak but with much time left to play.
“Mistakes and missed opportunities killed us tonight,” NDCL Head Coach Anthony Baldisare said. “We had good field position several times and didn’t capitalize on it. To have a 15 play drive just before halftime and come away with zero points just doesn’t cut it. I was happy, though , with how we competed in the second half. Number 10 (Love) is by far the best back we’ll face all year, for sure. We had more hats on the ball in the second half, we expected a physical ballgame tonight and were ready for it, but we just had problems stopping his feet.”
Love ended up with 275 yards on 22 carries with a pair of scores.
The Lions (4-5) came out fired up for the third period, and Brayden Buell put on a show of his own on the ground to start things off for NDCL. He capped a 75 yard drive on the first NDCL possession after the defense forced a punt. On the fifth play, Buell dashed through a huge hole and went 55 yards to get is team on the board. A Griffin Moskal interception stopped the next drive for the Bruins, but the Lions could only move the ball ka few yards before being forced to punt again. A big roll sent Padua back to their own 13, but Love carried four of five plays, the last seeing him break a trio of tackles on his way to a 70 yard score, and that basically was the game.
After being shut down early, Buell had a huge second half, finishing with 113 yards on 16 tries.
Those missed chances in the first half hurt, but the Lions were resilient. They will need to finish more this week as they tangle with nemesis Lake Catholic with possible league and playoff implications very much at hand.
