by Team of the Year
Elyria Catholic Panthers
After a 3-2 start, the Elyria Catholic Panthers took off, winning their next 7 straight games. This tear allowed them to advance all the way to the Regional Championship game. With Brady Cook, Levi Ellis and Jack Kenneally at the helm on offense, it’s no wonder that this team was able to get on the roll they did.
Going into this past weekend, Cook had 2189 yards with 21 TD passes in the regular season. Cook also ran the ball 122 times for 478 yards and 2 touchdowns while Tavion Thomas toted the rock 83 times for 469 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Levi Ellis went off for 1,674 yards and 28 touchdowns on the ground. He actually went 3 of 3 on halfback passes with a touchdown and 102 yards as well. He also caught 18 balls for 202 yards and a touchdown.
Cook had plenty of weapons to share the ball with to go along with Ellis. Jack Kenneally finished with 48 catches for 868 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns. Colin Ginley had 37 catches for 570 yards and 6 touchdowns. Alex Caradang had 34 catches for 458 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Head coach Brian Fox kept them flourishing on both sides of the ball. Not only did Levi Ellis and Tavion Thomas have the bulk of the carries on offense but then they stepped up and led the team with tackles as they had 133 each.
Leading the Panthers in sacks was Travis Merrill with 12 while Hayden Gerhart and Aiden Knepshield with 8.5 each. Leading the team in interceptions was Jack Budinger with 4 while Ellis had 3. Another tremendous defensive standout was Tony Grasso with 110 tackles, 22 for a loss, 14 quarterback hurries, 6 sacks, 2 picks and 3 defensive touchdowns.
While Rocky River may have won the head to head battle on the Mack Massad walk off field goal, the Panthers went further into the postseason. This allowed them to edge the Pirates out, just so slightly to win the award.
