The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Early miscue hampers Elyria in setback
Elyria learned a big lesson when it comes winning football games in its 21-12 loss to Strongsville on Sept. 4.
All through summer training camp and in last week’s win over Elyria Catholic, the Pioneers’ coaching staff has preached the mantra of performance under pressure.
It’s easy to perform in practice situations when there’s no crowd and wins and losses aren’t riding on the outcome, Elyria coaches say. Football, however, can be a far different proposition when the lights come on and the games count.
Elyria didn’t perform on the second play of the game, and it set the tone for the loss.
Disaster struck when Strongsville linebacker Michael Novak batted a pass by Elyria quarterback Daylan Sharlow up in the air and then hauled it in and raced 26 yards for an early touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 44 seconds into the contest.
“Most of the guys put their head down after that,” Elyria running back Jaheim Atkinson admitted.
Strongsville coach Lou Cirino concurred the early score was huge.
“For sheer momentum, and I don’t care if it’s high school, college or the NFL, you score a pick-six early that way, that’s hard to overcome,” he said.
It proved too much for Elyria to overcome. The Pioneers didn’t help themselves with untimely penalties and dropped balls, either.
But it wasn’t like Elyria just quit.
Atkinson ran hard all night long and finished with 144 yards on the ground on 29 carries. His 5-yard scoring run in the first quarter cut Strongsville’s lead to 7-6.
“They battled,” Cirino said of Elyria’s effort “Coach (Devlin) Culliver is doing a phenomenal job, a much improved team and tough kids and they played hard. They were really playing hard.”
Elyria trailed, 7-6, at the half.
Strongsville increased its lead to 14-6 on a 2-yard touchdown run by Jack Crotty midway through the third quarter.
Strongsville relied on the tough running Crotty to move the ball. He finished the night with 78 yards for the Mustangs, who were playing their first game of the abbreviated season. Strongsville’s season opener against Benedictine was called off because of COVID-19 issues.
Strongsville quarterback Muddux Beard hooked up with receiver Ethan Geiss for a 31-yard catch and run touchdown for Strongsville’s third score.
And while Strongsville’s effort did not produce a perfect game, it was enough to satisfy Cirino.
“A win’s a win. I don’t care who you are, whatever it is, “Cirino said.
Sharlow spent much of his night avoiding a strong Strongsville pass rush. He ended up throwing for 164 yards on 14-of-27 passing and also ran for a 6-yard touchdown.
Elyria will look to get back on track when it plays Brunswick on Sept. 11. To reach that goal, practice must be perfect, or at least better than the effort this past week, according to Atkinson.
“It starts Monday. We’ll have a great week of practice. This week we were real flat in practice — that’s why we were flat in the game,” Atkinson said.