Chardon OH- The (2-2) Notre-Dame Cathedral Latin Lions hosted the (3-1) St.-Vincent St. Mary's Fighting Irish on Friday Night.
The Lions would start with possession, but only a few plays into their drive QB James Koenig was intercepted by Nasir Abdullah, giving St.-Vincent the ball. Rylan Hurley would take the reigns for for the Irish, leading a scoring drive. A first down run by RB Donald Jackson Jr. of three, set up a connection between Hurley and SirCharles Gordon to move the chain. Rylan would dial up David Ajsoe for a 42-yard strike, setting St.-Vincent up at the one yard line. Hurley would do it himself with a quarterback sneak behind center Andrew Vanscoy.
With the ball back in their offenses hands the Lions looked to claw back. But Koenig missed his receiver on 3rd down, forcing a punt. It didn't take long for Johnson find the end zone again, a wacky play where he reversed on the defense, hiking his way downfield, hitting pay dirt from 35-yards out. Now leading 14-0, NDCL was in need of a positive offensive drive. Two offensive plays for the Lions is all they could muster. Caleb Cirino fumbled causing the 2nd turnover of the game by the Lion offense. This took us into the second quarter.
A good defensive stand from NDCL forced the Irish to punt. Koenig used his legs on an 18 yard scamper on first down, moving the chains. He found Robert Bonchak and Cirino consecutively for a first down. After the promising start, the Lions offense punted it back to Saint-Vincent. Donald Johnson Jr. ripped off a huge first play 37-yard burst. With the ball inside the NDCL 20, a bad snap sent Hurley scrambling backwards to recover it, and he was sacked by Dylan Hoenigman for a loss of 23.
Rylan connected with Danny Wildman on two consecutive throws, the first one being for a gain of 15, putting the ball on the Lion 25-yard line. The next completion was a 25-yard dot to Wildman for the touchdown. Wildman's touchdown was a buzzer-beater, sending the Fighting Irish into halftime up 21-0.
Rylan Hurley's first play of the second half was a QB keeper, ripping off a 35 yard gain. But following the burst, the Saint-Vincent offense would turn it over on downs. Koenig continued his struggles in the passing game, missing Brandon Sawitke on the run. NDCL would be forced to punt. Ryan Cvitkovic would take the snap, miss one tackle and take off for the first down, but was brought down at his own 15, which is where to Saint-Vincent offense would start.
Following a 9-yard pickup from Angelo Tamburrino, after a Lions timeout, Tamburrino took another handoff slipping in the backfield for a loss of 4. James Koenig cut it lose on a 58-yard keeper, giving NDCL a first down from the Fighting Irish 15 yard line.
Saint-Vincent was called for a defensive pass-interference, moving the ball down to the 7. On first & goal from the 7, Koenig dropped back and would be chased down for another sack, a loss of 12 on the play. He kept it again, gaining 6 and setting up fourth and nine. His fourth down pass was knocked down at the line of scrimmage, turning it over on downs. Hurley connected with SirCharles Gordon a number of times throughout the second half, twice to open the drive, once for 16, and again for 23. Hurley's 23-yard scamper would end the third quarter as Saint-Vincent leads NDCL 28-0.
Daniel Ajose and Dominic Meltzer would find themselves on the receiving end of a pair of Hurley passes, putting SVSM inside the 3. One play later, Johnson Jr. took the carry up the middle for his 3rd touchdown of the game. With a running clock in effect, backups came in to close out a dominating 35-0 shutout victory by the St.-Vincent St.-Mary's Fighting Irish.
They're set to face off with Walsh Jesuit next week at home. The Notre-Dame Cathedral Latin Lions will venture to play Howland in week 6.
UNOFFICIAL SVSM Stats:
Rylan Hunley: 13/15 passing (87%)- 200 passing yards - 1 passing TD / 3 attemps - 59 rushing yards - 1 rushing TD
Donald Johnson JR: 13 attempts - 111 yards - 3TD
Danny Wildman: 3 catches - 45 yards - TD
SirCharles Gordon: 5 receptions - 59 yards
400 total yards of offense (200/200)
UNOFFICIAIL NDCL Stats:
James Koenig: 4/11 passing (36%) - 49 yards INT / 5 attempts - 84 yards