The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
LEC suffers tough setback
There were looks of stunned disbelief on the faces of many Lake Erie College players as the final seconds ticked off the clock Oct. 10 at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium.
The visiting Blue Knights of Urbana University were celebrating a come-from-behind, 33-30 victory.
LEC had won most of the statistical battles but couldn’t stanch a fourth-quarter rally by Urbana that decided a back-and-forth contest. Both teams started the picture-perfect fall with identical 1-4 records.
“Emotionally, we never showed up. We played flat,” LEC coach Mark McNellie said, his voice barely rising above a whisper.
“We tried to pull a rabbit out of our hat in the end. But they made some plays while we turned the ball over, missed tackles and hurt ourselves with penalties. Disgusting,” McNellie added, shaking his head.
Urbana coach Tyler Haines had an understandably different summary of the nonconference contest.
“This was a great team win for us,” Haines said. “Lake Erie College is a good team, but we hung in there just enough to get the job done.”
There were interlocking storylines in the game.
Injuries forced both teams to use back-up quarterbacks, John Banyasz for LEC and Eric Pelfrey for Urbana.
Banyazs, subbing for Mitchel Hokovar (foot), com- pleted 21 of 30 attempted passes for 210 yards. He also rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries.
Pelfrey, a wide receiver by trade, took over as Urbana’s starting quarterback two weeks ago when Cale Burdyshaw went down with a season-ending knee injury.
Hokavar, Burdyshaw and LEC tight end Anthony Kukwa were teammates at Perry High School.
Pelfrey was 14-of-21 for 170 yards and two TD passes. He rushed for another TD as the Blue Knights erased a 16-14 halftime deficit by scoring one touchdown in the third quarter and two in the fourth quarter.
“This guy finds a way to win. He has guts and the will to win,” Haines said of Pelfrey.
LEC halfback Anthony Bilal, a Division II AllAmerica candidate, rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.
Bilal was on his way to another rushing touchdown late in the first half when he fumbled at the 1-yard-line and Urbana recovered.
The same scenario unfolded for the Storm early in the third quarter. Kukwa gathered in a pass from Banyazs in the middle of the field and was powering his way into the end zone when the ball escaped his grasp, hit the ground and rolled through the back of the end zone for a touchback.
Those two lost scores proved costly in a tight game.
Kukwa sounded the same theme as his head coach when asked to assess how the Storm had been beaten on their home turf by a team LEC players expected to beat.
“Maybe we were overconfident, but we came out flat,” Kukwa said.
LEC finished with advantages in first downs (31-24) and total yards (497-424), Urbana dominated time of possession with an edge of nearly nine minutes.