by It may have not been pretty, it may have taken every single finger nail chewed off of nervous North Olmsted Eagles fans, but my goodness, what a thrilling first win of the season for these Eagles! They have been through the injury ringer and have had to face so much adversity, but Friday night at Elyria Catholic they reminded everyone, that where there is heart there is a way with a 19-17 victory! The Eagles earned their first victory of the season and also revenge on the Panthers who ended their win streak last year, and chase for the GLC Championship.
The Eagles struck on the first play of the game as backup quarterback Mitchell Kurtz launched a 69-yard touchdown pass to Collin Willard who is now back at full speed. It was the start of a 19-point first quarter that saw them take a 19-0 lead after one. The other touchdowns came from a Tommy Horsfall pass to Michael Passafiume from 19 yards out, and a Passafiume touchdown run later in the quarter.
After missing two extra points in the first quarter, the Eagles special teams’ woes continued in the second quarter however as the Panthers Mason Haliburton returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown right before half.
The Panthers began the second half playing catchup. A Sean O’donell field goal allowed them to creep closer at 19-10 gave them life with 3:21 to go in the third. The score remained 19-10 until the Panthers scored again only 90 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 19-17.
The Eagles had 10 minutes to survive, and did so with the key plays coming on Brady Haug interception to stop a Panther drive. Then, with the clocking winding down under two minutes, the Eagles had a dramatic fourth and 1 stop, to seal the win!
Next week, the Eagles travel to Fairview and the Panthers look to bounce back as they host the red-hot Rocky River Pirates.
