The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake Catholic dulls Ironmen early
Temperatures that reached as high as 87 degrees on a hot, late summer afternoon at Cleveland Central Catholic’s Stefanski Stadium didn’t affect visiting Lake Catholic.
Dominating all three phases of the game and taking advantage of five Ironmen turnovers, the Cougars cruised to a 38-0 halftime lead and eventual 45-6 victory Sept. 1 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Lake Catholic didn’t have eye-popping offensive numbers, finishing with 211 yards of total offense, but didn’t really need them. The Cougars recovered a fumble in the end zone for one score, returned an interception for another and started five possessions in Central Catholic territory.
Nate Rieple, who also recovered a fumble on defense, led Lake Catholic with 46 yards rushing and two touchdowns on five carries. Matt Slowey completed 5 of 9 passes for 46 yards and one touchdown, on a late second-quarter toss to Christian DeMitro.
“I asked our guys this week to just focus on us and to get better,” Lake Catholic coach Scott O’Donnell said. “I just told them I thought we did that today. I thought it was a complete team victory. We improved in all three phases, and we still have a ways to go.”
Central Catholic (0-2) managed 144 yards of total offense, but the majority of that came in the second half against the Cougars’ reserves and with a running clock in effect. The Ironmen tallied three first downs in the first half, and four on its lone scoring drive in the fourth quarter.
Lake Catholic jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on a six-yard run by Rieple and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Liam Whalen.
The Cougars added 24 points in the second quarter to put it away. They made the Ironmen pay for two fumbles and an interception, cashing in on another Rieple scoring run, Slowey’s pass to DeMitro and a 37-yard field goal by Luka Zurak. Ben Lausin started off the frame with a 10-yard scoring run.
Lake Catholic did miss on a few open pass plays, and committed several procedure penalties in the first half, but those were the only negatives in the decisive triumph.
“Yes, absolutely,” O’Donnell confirmed in response to a question regarding things to work on. “Things that we’re not executing on, and we need to work on those. We have to cut out the penalties. Penalties can cost you a football game. They’re just like turnovers.”
Central Catholic, which will travel to Elyria Catholic on Sept. 7, hopes to get on track by eliminating mistakes and building on its resolve.
“We’ve got to eliminate the mistakes,” Central Catholic coach John Lundy said. “We knew Lake was a good team coming in, and against a good team you can’t make those kind of mistakes.”
Lake Catholic will be back in action on Sept. 8, hosting Youngstown Ursuline at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium at 7 p.m.