by ARLIN FIELD MANSFIELD, OH— Upper Arlington and St. Edward have a history of meeting each other in big time playoff matchups. In 2014, the two basketball programs collided in the state championship game. This year, the Eagles faced the Bears in the hockey semis. Both games saw the green and yellow defeat the Golden Bears.
The two respected football teams would add another monumental meet up to their resumes, as the (14-0) Bears met the (13-1) Eagles this past Friday night. You could say the team from the Columbus area was searching for some postseason revenge.
Unfortunately for the Arlington hopeful, the St. Edward Eagles would advance to their fourth State Final in the last decade in a defensive slug fest, 16-10.
One player that was on Eagles head coach Tom Lombardo’s mind was tailback for the Golden Bears, Carson Gresock. Heading into the game this week he had a simple message for his defense, “we have to stop [him].” Number 33 has had video game-like numbers during his final campaign. 2,330 yards (166 per game) and 33 touchdowns definitely warrants a well-executed gameplan to keep him in check.
Lombardo’s message was received. His 11 men on defense answered the call all night long. As a unit, they only allow the opposition 68 yards on the ground. They carried that consistency and held Gresock to 14 carries for 36 yards. He has also been a threat in the passing game too but, he only had -1 yards receiving. The “Big Green Wall” earned that moniker tonight.
While one running back was held in check by a dominant defense, the Golden Bears normally stout group could not contain Ed’s star back Danny Enovitch. He literally and figuratively carried the offense all game. “Eno,” as the St. Edward fans call him, was that guy with 35 rush attempts for 180 yards and a touchdown. Anytime they needed a big first down he got it.
The run game accounted for 225 of the 286 total yards and its not hard to see why. Eno was an absolute beast in the trenches.
Besides a blocked a field goal by Upper Arlington not much happened until St. Ed’s final drive before the end of the first quarter. Senior QB Christian Ramos and the offense would strike first with a gorgeous feed to Rayshawn Manning Jr. for a 48 yard TD reception.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Golden Bears would respond right back. Sam Cannon, who has been the go to outside threat, played the role of the kick returner this time around and boy did he deliver. A 94 yard dash to endzone would know things back up in a matter of 15 seconds.
More back and forth defensive stops were the name of the game until the black and gold finally got in a rhythm right before the half. Man under center Simon Monnin and Cannon developed some nice chemistry.
However, Ed’s defense stepped up and halted them from getting six, stuffing Gresock at the goal line. It forced Justin Buttermore’s squad to settle for a field goal to go up 10-7.
St. Edward did a great job coming out strong to start the third after a bit of momentum from the opponent. Eno was spectacular on the opening drive. He bullied the front seven for 67 yards and 25 yard TD scamper that would come at the 7:29 mark.
With the Golden Bears facing some heat now, they needed a big time stand. Enovitch continued to punish the with his elusiveness and Ramos picked up a big 4th & 1 around midfield with about 3:02 left in the third. But, number 4 Doak Buttermore would drop number 4 Ramos for a loss of 5 that pushed the offense back to 40.
The fans loved the fight they showed and it gave the ball back to the Bears. More big plays would follow as Chris Mazzaferri would make a sensational grab over his defender for a 28 yard gain to close out another 12 minutes.
Things would come crashing back down though. Back to back negative pass plays for -3 and -4 brought out the punting unit.
Jumping ahead to 3:36 left in the ball game, Arlington would essentially get one more shot to go down the field and retake the lead. It started out solid again and the football crept close to the 50 yard line. More great work by Ed’s led to a dreadful 4th & 11. With both crowds on their feet, Monnin would drop back to pass.
He tossed across the middle and Jack Riley would leap up and intercept it with 2:13 left. It was an exhilarating play on the ball that effectively got the Eagles the victory.
Ramos would punt and he pinned the Bears on their goal line with 31 ticks remaining. The first play would go for a safety and give us a final of 16-10.
Both defense played up to the competition and brought it on every single drive. Both defenses held opponents to no more than 12 a game but, St. Edward was able to make a few more big plays down the stretch to just bet by a ferocious Upper Arlington team.
Eno was the catalyst on the other side of the ball and that lethal duo has the Eagles dancing to the State Final after a three year absence. The Golden Bear’s season comes to close but, they had a fantastic year. After going 3-5 some odd 365 days ago, they finish 14-1.
Game Balls: St. Edward: Danny Enovitch 35 carries 180 yards 1 TD
Defense: 1 INT 1 safety 10 points 132 total yards 3 sacks
Upper Arlington: Sam Cannon 94 yard kickoff return TD 5 REC 42 yards
OL for Ed’s deserves a lot of credit. Great article. My grandson is on Ed’s and I couldn’t make that game, but you painted a great picture. Thank you