by North Olmsted, OH
It was all Panthers tonight as they prowled past the North Olmsted Eagles 42-21 in a total team effort. They were once again paced by the incredible Levi Ellis who rushed for 210 yards on 25 carries with two touchdowns on the ground, and one on defense. The “kid” is the real deal! He even threw a pass for 23 yards as the Panthers improved to 7-1.
Panther quarterbacks Hector Garcia and Brady Cook both had touchdown passes. Garcia went 6 of 8 with 159 yards passing. Thomas Nierdest was the strongest threat in the air with 4 catches for 85 yards. Tony Grasso had 2 catches for 46 yards with a score while Connor Petrus also had a touchdown catch of 44 yards.
For North Olmsted it was another strong effort by Collin Willard who had 7 catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Jared Kelley caught 5 passes for 63 yard with a score. Kelley also ran for 25 yards on the ground. Brady Haug hauled in 3 passes for 30 yards while Logan Dangerfield caught 3 balls for 38 yards.
Quarterback Xavier Balson threw for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns on the night. Sadly for Balson and the Eagles, most of that came after they trailed 28-0.
After both teams saw their first possession go nowhere, the Panthers took over again at their own 31 and went to work. It was the Levi Ellis show as he threw a pass to Tony Grasso for 27 yards to get it going, and then took off for a 44-yard touchdown to open the scoring at 7:01. The game would eventually move to the second quarter by that same score.
Collin Doud recovered a Jared Kelley fumble from the 15 and had a nice scoop and score moments into the second quarter to extend the Panther lead to 14-0. This was crucial because the Eagles had just stopped the Panthers on a fourth and long.
The Eagles, down 14, got moving on their next drive that started from their own 10-yard line. Balson had long connections to Willard twice, and then Haug to get it going. This was also assisted by a 15-yard personal foul on the Panthers. It would eventually stall and be a turnover on downs.
The Panthers, already up 14-0 took over with 3:43 to go in the opening half. After converting a fourth down near midfield, they went to the air show. It was Hector Garcia airing it out deep to find a wide open Connor Petrus for a score. He was wide open because the two defending Eagles slammed into each other.
The Panthers forced an Eagle punt to start the second half and then went right back to work. It wasn’t much longer after that until they found the endzone again when Brady Cook threw a touchdown pass to Tony Grasso to extend the Panther lead to 28-0.
Brady Haug had some nice catches on the next Eagle drive to move the chains. It led to the positive momentum the Eagles needed to move inside the Panther 10-yard line. They would finally strike paydirt moments into the fourth quarter with a Balson to Willard touchdown pass in the corner of the endzone to cut into the lead 28-7 with 11:06 to play.
The Eagles kept hope alive by recovering an onside kick that was recovered by Mitchel Bub . On the very next play, North Olmsted scored again, this time Jared Kelley took a slant 47 yards to the house to make it 28-14 as they scored twice in 9 seconds with 10:53 left to play.
The Panthers would put it away for good on their next drive however with a 4 plus minute drive that resulted in another long touchdown run by Levi Eilis. This time Ellis took it in from 37 yards out to make it 35-14 Panthers an end the Eagle rally.
On the next possession Balson got hit and fumbled as the ball was scooped up by the Panthers Levi Ellis who’s big night continued with another touchdown to make it 42-14 Elyria Catholic with 6:45 to play.
Balson and Willard would hook it up yet again on the next Eagle drive for another touchdown combination to slice into the lead at 42-21. Collin Willard has been on an impressive tear the last three weeks finding the endzone multi times each game.
The Eagles will look to bounce back next week as they visit Rocky River. The Panthers will attempt to stay hot as they host Bay Village.
The North Olmsted player of the game was Collin Willard with 7 catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
The Elyria Catholic player of the game was Levi Ellis with 210 yards on the ground, 13 in the air, and a scoop and score on defense for 3 total touchdowns.
