by The Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions beat the Holy Name Green wave 27-20 in an exhilarating Thursday night football game.
It was Senior Night, and Homecoming tonight for the Holy Name Green Wave, as they hosted the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions for a North Coast Conference matchup. Both teams were on winning streaks tonight and looking to continue them. The Green Wave won the toss and chose to defer the ball to the Lions.
NDCL started their first drive of the night, beginning to establish their run game. Quarter back Brady Capel and running back Robby Lipowski rushed for two nice gains to convert the first first down completion of the night. Holy Name’s defense was ready, and stopped them on the next set of downs, and forced a punt.
The Green Wave looked to get their offense started in the air with a quick completion to running back Noah Wallace in the flat who took the ball for a short gain. After a run was stopped at the line, quarterback Luke Hudak looked to throw and was nailed during the throw, which allowed Robby Lipowski to intercept the ball and run it back for a 30-yard pick-six. NDCL led 7-0 after the made extra point with 8:41 left to go in the first quarter.
Holy Name looked to bounce back after the defensive touchdown by NDCL. The run game was not working for the Green Wave, who got stopped on three run plays in a row by Lion’s defensemen Joey Penny and Joey Velotta. This led to Hudak finding wide receiver Esdras Gonzalez on a short route, who fought his way through the secondary for Holy Name’s first first down of the night. After a first down by Kayden Parker, NDCL’s defensive line and sloppy penalties by the Green Wave forced a punt.
The Lions started this drive from their own 29-yard line. Brady Capel kept the ball for a quarterback keep, bounced to the left off of a pile off lineman, and found a massive hole created by his blockers, and took it into the endzone for an explosive 71-yard rushing touchdown. After a blocked PAT, NDCL led 13-0 with 2:41 to go in the first quarter.
Holy Name received the ball, and worked their offense through Esdras Gonzalez and running back Colt Troy. This took the game to the end of the first quarter with the Green Wave in possession of the ball and down by 13. The Lions were not budging defensively, and forced a punt from the Green Wave early in the second quarter.
During the punt, the returner bobbled the ball and the ball was recovered by Holy Name’s Thomas Ontko. This set up Holy Name on NDCL’s one yard line and in perfect position to score. Hudak lined up under center with three lineman in the backfield for an extra forceful tush push for a touchdown. This brought the Green Wave within a possession of the Lions with a lot of time left in the half.
With the ball back, the Lions looked again to Brady Capel on the ground again, where he broke off for a 59-yard scramble that was almost a touchdown, stopped by Kayden Prayter at the Holy Name 11 yard-line. This led to another Brady Capel rushing touchdown putting NDCL back up by a score with ten minutes to go in the half.
The Lions got the ball back very quickly after a forced three and out for the Green Wave. They looked to continue their dominance in the running game, but the Green Wave defense was prepared with big tackles by Colt Troy and Thomas Ontko.
Holy Name looked to return the kick when Thomas Ontko decided to take this game into his own hands, blocking the punt and returning the ball to the endzone to creep closer to NDCL. After a missed PAT with around 6 minutes left in the half, the score was 19-13 NDCL.
With the ball back, NDCL marched down the field with big plays to wide receiver Blake Dumermuth, and running back Robby Lipowski. After being stopped at and behind the line on back to back plays by linebacker Noah Wallace, NDCL decided to go for it on 4th down in the Holy Name red zone.
This play was stopped right at the line and Holy Name had the ball back with 2:41 left in the half. The trend of defensive stops continued, and after a few back and forth punts and an interception by Holy Name’s Patrick Kelley, NDCL kneels the ball out leading 19-13 going into halftime.
The third quarter started with a three and out punt from the Green Wave, and a string of bad offensive drives from both teams that led to the 3rd quarter being scoreless. NDCL had possession of the ball at the start of the fourth quarter at the edge of Holy Name’s red zone. Austin Otero was found over the middle for a completion on 3rd-down and had the Lions staring at a short first and goal.
After offsetting penalties, The Green Wave made stop after stop forcing a very short field goal to go ahead two scores. This is when Kayden Parker came off the left side in a flash and blocked the field goal, keeping the game at one possession.
Holy Name started their possession from their own 5-yard line and on 2nd down, Hudak was pressured and due to a forced throw was picked off again, giving NDCL possession in the redzone again. It looked like NDCL was going to score here with another trip to the red zone, but the Green Wave defense forced a fumble and the ball was recovered back by Holy Name’s defensive lineman MiAngelo Sanchez.
With 4:00 left in the game, Holy Name needed to make a statement and score on this possession. Hudak started to rely more on the passing game, and gained a huge pass interference call on first down, deep in their own territory. This turned into a Thomas Ontko toe tapping catch on the sideline, falling out of bounds and completing the pass for a huge first down. Holy Name was now in NDCL territory and looking for more.
The Lions were not going to let the Green Wave have an easy time on their side of the field, quickly forcing a fourth down. On a game saving play on 4th down, Luke Hudak evaded the incoming pressure and rolled to his right, finding Ontko again for a 35-yard touchdown pass in the back corner of the endzone through immense amounts of contact. This huge touchdown pass tied the game up for Holy Name in a game where they could not get much offense off. After the PAT was made, Holy Name led 20-19 for the first time all night with 3:00 minutes to go.
NDCL returned the ball to the 30-yardline, and with the help of a facemask, found themselves around midfield. The Lions worked to bleed the clock down and get closer for a potential walkoff score.
The Green Wave looked to make stops, but at every 3rd down Robby Lipowski was able to slip through the line and find himself on the other side of the first down line, giving NDCL a lot of life. This led to Brady Capel finding Robby Lipowski over the middle who turned up field and fought through defender after defender to get in the endzone. A wide open pass to tight end Drake Berschig in the end zone converted the 2-point try, and NDCL led Holy Name 27-20.
With a minute left, the Green Wave needed to score. A bad late penalty gave Holy Name decent field position on their own 42, and they looked to score. After almost losing the ball on a short 3rd down, Holy Name is looking at 12-seconds left. Hudak found receiver Gonzalez over the middle to get the team within 40-yards. With three seconds left, the Green Wave went for a hail mary, and a false start on the offense ended the game.
This game moves Holy Name to 3-2 on the season. They look to bounce back next week at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin move to 5-1 on the season and look to keep it up next week at their rival, Padua.
The player of the game for the NDCL Lions was quarterback Brady Capel, who had over 100 rushing yards, 2 TD’s, and a 2-PT conversion.
The player of the game for Holy Name was swiss army knife Thomas Ontko, who recovered a muffed punt, scored a defensive and offensive touchdown, and was involved with multiple stops in the backfield to slow down NDCL’s explosive run game.
