by Auburn Township, Ohio – Behind a strong defensive effort, and despite two starters going down, the Padua Bruins overcame adversity to hold off NDCL, 16-14, in Crown Conference play Saturday afternoon.
The game was scheduled to take place Friday evening, but mother nature had other ideas. At about 8:45pm, the decision was made to postpone the game to Saturday afternoon.
It was a far nicer Saturday afternoon weather wise.
After exchanging punts, the Padua offense looked to make their move on their second possession.
Tyler Tusai hit Marquise Hall for a 57-yard touchdown reception off a screen play, but a holding penalty took the touchdown off the board. The Bruins later had to punt.
One drive later, the NDCL defense came up with an interception by senior Matt Ferrell. The offense switched things up a bit, going into a wildcat formation.
Senior running back Ashton Gotham took a couple of snaps, and got a few big gainers out of them. These runs helped to put NDCL in striking distance.
However, the Padua defense held the Lions out of the end zone, and came up with a blocked field goal to keep the Lions off the scoreboard entirely.
It became clear after the first quarter, that the game would be a battle of the defenses.
The Lion defense came up with another big play not long after. Junior defensive lineman Simon Paulic picked off a Tusai pass and took it to the house, giving NDCL a 7-0 lead.
Despite throwing two interceptions, Padua sophomore quarterback Tyler Tusai bounced back in a big way.
Tusai marched down the field and capped off a drive with a four-yard touchdown toss to Freddie Borkey. Marquise Hall added the two-point conversion, and Padua took the lead, 8-7 with 5:46 left in the second.
NDCL would march down the field into field goal range, but junior kicker Gianni Spetic missed a 39-yard field goal that would have given them the lead.
The Bruins would capitalized off this missed field goal to add to their lead.
With 1:19 left in the second quarter, Tyler Tusai found freshman wide receiver Roderick Love for a 58-yard touchdown reception. Love followed up with a two-point conversion to increase the lead to 16-7.
NDCL tried to counter with a late drive of their own.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Newton found senior wide receiver Ryan Niksa on a long gain, but the Padua defense came up with another big stop to close out the half.
In the fourth quarter, NDCL senior running back Matt Ferrell scored on an eight-yard touchdown run. This cut the Lions’ deficit to 16-14 with 11:23 left.
Each defense came up with big stops in the fourth quarter. The Lions stopped a touchdown reception via a deflection by Ryan Moskal. Moskal picked off a pass in the third quarter.
Padua came up with a big stop on fourth-and-short, thwarting an attempted run by NDCL when they were on the cusp of field goal range.
The Lions had one last chance to win, but junior defensive back Lamont Davis picked off a pass to seal it up for the Bruins.
NDCL (4-4, 0-2 Crown Conference) hosts VASJ next Friday to continue Crown Conference play. They sit 14th in Division III, Region 9, according to JoeEitel.com.
Padua (7-1, 2-0 Crown Conference) hosts Walsh Jesuit next Friday to continue Crown Conference play. They sit 3rd in Division III, Region 10, according to JoeEitel.com.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Padua freshman WR Roderick Love
The freshman shined in a big way, with a 58-yard touchdown reception and two-point conversion. The sky is the limit for this young man!
NDCL secondary
Despite coming up short, the Lions defense picked off quarterback Tyler Tusai three times.
