The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Injuries, Holy Name wear down Panthers
Elyria Catholic sees third-quarter lead slip away in two minutes
Elyria Catholic couldn’t overcome critical injuries and a tough Holy Name run game as the Panthers lost, 20-17, Oct. 7 to the host Green Wave in a Great Lakes Conference game.
The Panthers held a 17-7 lead through much of the third quarter, but after Bryce Hileman’s 40-yard field goal attempt was blocked, Holy Name scored 13 unanswered points in just over two minutes to close out the third with a three-point lead — its first lead of the night.
Holy Name’s Robert Sherrod entered the game with 4:52 left in the third quarter and provided the spark the Green Wave needed to grind out the win. The sophomore had 58 yards and a touchdown — a 22yard run on third-and-2 — in the third quarter and finished with 91 yards on 16 carries.
“(Sherrod) came in with fresh legs and ran the ball very well against us,” Elyria Catholic coach Dave Stupka said. “We played tough defensively pretty much the whole game except those couple series there. We let him break
some long runs.
“But the defense did its job to get us the ball back several times in the fourth quarter and we just couldn’t make that play to spark us, to get the ball moving downfield.”
Elyria Catholic’s Donovan Warfield left the game midway through the second quarter with an apparent shoulder injury, while Leighton Banjoff did not return in the second half after an undisclosed injury. Banjoff, the team’s leading rusher, finished with 33 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries before exitcatches ing, and Warfield had three for 62 yards and four carries for 25 yards.
With a handful of other minor injuries throughout the game, the Panthers’ bench was wearing thin and Holy Name (3-4, 2-2) took advantage of a weakened Elyria Catholic roster.
“Holy Name did an outstanding job,” Stupka said. “They knew we were depleted a little bit so they knew they could kind of jam the box and they did that. We hurt them a few times when they did do it, but it was really a case of just trying to get a positive play going and we just couldn’t do it.”
Quarterback Cameron Engrish finished 9-of-19 with 129 yards and Josh Miller had 30 yards and a touchdown on seven carries for Elyria Catholic (2-6, 1-3).
Hileman added a 32yard field goal in the second quarter to give the Panthers a 10-7 lead.
“We’re extremely proud of our team and the effort they gave tonight. It just wasn’t enough and Holy Name got the momentum there in the third quarter and we just couldn’t make a play to flip the momentum back over,” Stupka said. “It wasn’t because of lack of trying. Our guys who stepped in to replace (Banjoff and Warfield) did a great job. We just didn’t have enough to get the momentum to flip back over to us.”
Elyria Catholic hosts first-place Bay (7-0, 4-0) in GLC play Oct. 13.