by The St. Ignatius Wildcats have had 10 plus months to stew over a very tight double overtime loss to the St. Xavier Bombers in the 2016 State Title Game. They came within a Patrick Ryan stumble from winning the title.
One week off a crushing loss to Cincinnati Moeller, the Wildcats had a lot on their mind but took out all of the aggression on a Bomber team that simply couldn’t keep up. The Wildcats walked away with their revenge tonight from Byers Field by a score of 28-14, in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score may seem.
10 minutes into the first quarter, the game was scoreless when St. Ignatius finally broke through and knocked the lid off the scoring. Bo Floyd took a handoff 67 yards to pay dirt to put St. Ignatius up 7-0. They wouldn’t look back the rest of the night!
From there it was one of the top connections in the state striking again as quarterback Dan Alexander found his favorite target Sammy Snyder for a touchdown strike midway through the second quarter to put the Cats up 14-0. The combination of Alexander to Snyder has proven to be unstoppable this season. St. Edwards will have their hands full next week trying to stop that combo.
St. Xavier managed to score before the half, but missed the extra point. Thus, the Wildcats took a 14-6 lead into the break. Holding a tight lead after the break, the Wildcat defense which has been dominant all season long stepped up again. This time it was the 6 foot 3 Middle Linebacker Thomas Eichenberg forcing a bomber fumble just moments into the second half.
The St. Ignatius Wildcats took advantage of the short field with another quick score to go up 21-6. Minutes later, it was another Wildcat pounce. This time a Dan Alexander scamper that found pay dirt and put St. Ignatius up 28-6 in the third quarter.
St. Xavier would score one more time before the game was over, but it wasn’t nearly enough as St. Ignatius captured the 28-14 victory to move to 8-1 for the season. They travel to Lakewood next Saturday for the showdown with their rivals, the 9-0 St. Edward Eagles. The loss was the first of the year for the 8-1 St. Xavier Bombers.
