The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake enters playoffs with resounding win
Cross Nimmo and Patrick Radigan crept up behind coach Marty Gibbons, carrying a bucket of ice water.
In the next instant, Gibbons was drenched, to the cheers of the Lake Catholic team looking on.
The Cougars were in a celebratory mood on Oct. 21 at Mentor’s Osborne Stadium after capping their regular season with a resounding, 42-14 defeat of archrival NDCL.
A balanced offensive attack, which racked up 432 yards and 22 first downs, with six touchdowns in eight possessions, was too much for the visiting Lions.
Lake Catholic finished the regular season 8-2 overall and 2-1 in the Crown Conference to finish in second place. The Cougars will enter the Division IV, Region 13 playoffs on October 27 as the No. 2 seed, hosting No.15 Field at North High School in Eastlake.
“We have a really good running game and that allows us to set up the pass,” junior WR/DB Ace Peterlin said. “So it’s kind of like a two-way street, we’re good at both.”
As Peterlin alluded, Lake Catholic was effective both running (232 yards) and passing (200 yards). Senior Josh Styles powered his way to 177 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, and picked up another 80 yards on four receptions.
Junior QB Frankie Trinetti, already The NewsHerald area’s leading passer, completed 12 of 17 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. The first of those scoring tosses, a 34-yarder to Peterlin, set a Lake Catholic school record of 30 touchdown passes in a season, breaking Pete Jelovic’s record of 29, set in 1992.
“I never thought (this would happen),” Trinetti said of setting the record. “Last year I had 15 touchdowns and thought, ‘Wow, 29 is a lot.’ But now I have (31), and I’m grateful to have it.”
NDCL (4-6, 0-3 Crown) needed to win to make the playoffs, and despite missing several key starters with injuries, came in with a solid game plan and energy to knock off the Cougars.
THE SCORE
The Lions sought to keep the potent Lake Catholic on the sidelines with lengthy, time-consuming drives that resulted in scores.
That strategy was working early, thanks to junior RB Brayden Buell, who ran for 54 yards on 9 carries, including a 16-yard scoring run, and took a shovel pass 42 yards for a touchdown.
Those two scores, sandwiched around a 4-yard TD run by junior D.J. Sears for Lake Catholic, had NDCL in front, 14-7, early in the second quarter.
“They possessed the football,” Gibbons said of the Lions’ approach. “They let the clock go down to one second on the play clock. It was smart. Our offense is pretty potent, so that was their best bet in this game. It made it tough for us.”
But the Cougars’ defense began to get a few tackles for lost yardage, and started to force NDCL into punting situations. Meanwhile, the Lake Catholic offense didn’t stop scoring.
Trinetti’s touchdown strike to Peterlin tied the game, 14-14, and was followed by the Cougars’ lone punt of the game. But Trinetti scrambled 14 yards for a touchdown on Lake Catholic’s ensuing possession, and took a 21-14 lead into halftime.
The Cougars scored on their first three drives of the second half, on Trinetti’s second touchdown pass, 2 yards to junior Cross Nimmo, and both of Styles’ scoring runs.
Buell did not play in the second half for NDCL. The
Lions were able to move the ball into Lake Catholic territory a couple times in the second half, but turned the ball over on downs. NDCL also lost a fumble near midfield, recovered by Cougars sophomore LB Marty Loncar.
Junior James Koenig passed for 116 yards and ran for 50 for the Lions. Senior Caleb Cirino added 45 on 5 catches and 56 yards on the ground.
“Early on, I felt really good about the game plan, but credit to what they can do on offense,” NDCL first-year coach Anthony Baldesare said. “We knew we were going to be in a fight to keep up with them. They’re leading the Crown Conference and the area in yards and points, and they have a special quarterback.
“Unfortunately, we just fell a little short in critical moments. We had some injuries that impacted the run game, Brayden in particular, and it just kind of slipped away from us.”
Peterlin finished with four receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown, and is two catches shy of tying Leo Wood’s school record of 63 receptions in a season, set in 2003.
Lake Catholic’s 8-2 mark is its best since 2011, when the Cougars went 9-1. Gibbons was in his freshman season at John Carroll that year.
“We’re in a good place right now, and we’re just getting started,” Gibbons said. “We kind of broke the season into three parts. Weeks 1-5 is the first part, then weeks 6-10, and now weeks 11-16. Hopefully it goes a long way for us.”