STAMBAUGH STADIUM Lakewood holds off late rally to down Ursuline

The Irish, who reached the Div. IV state semifinals last season, fell 37-28.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Kyle Skoczen ran for two touchdowns and threw for another score in his first varsity start as the Lakewood St. Edward Eagles defeated the Ursuline Irish, 37-28 Friday at YSU's Stambaugh Stadium.
"Kyle had a gutsy performance for us today," Eagles coach John Gibbons said. "He replaced the graduated Shawn Carney and had an excellent first game under center.
"He did a great job of running our offense for us."
The Eagles were coming off a 10-2 mark and a Division I playoff appearance last season. The Irish, 8-6 in 2002, a Division IV playoff participant and winners of four of their last five outings.
Despite their offensive numbers, the teams were anything but sharp.
"I thought that we played well tonight as a unit," said Dan Murphy, Ursuline's second-year coach. "Both teams made some errors but we'll just have to work through those.
"I feel like we are heading in the right direction, but must improve as we prepare to face a tough Steubenville squad next week."
Early lead
It didn't take Skoczen long to get his team on the board. On just the second series of the game he scored on a 14-yard scamper and after Joseph Kleinsmith added the placement, the Eagles went on top 7-0.
They would never trail in the game.
Ursuline's senior quarterback Daryll Clark was arguably the most impressive player offensively. With 4:42 remaining in the opening quarter, he connected with Derrick Stewart for a 76-yard scoring strike but the placement failed and Ursuline trailed, 7-6.
Skoczen then found Kevin Reese from two yards out with 1:15 remaining and the Eagles took a 14-6 lead into the second quarter of play.
A Kleinsmith field goal gave St. Edward a 17-6 lead at the 9:31 mark, but when Clark hooked up with Stewart again, this time from 20 yards out, the Irish cut the Eagle lead to 17-12. Clark then found John Butler with the two-point conversion as the Irish pulled to within 17-14.
"I can only say 'Wow' when I think of Clark's performance tonight," Gibbons said. "We'd hit him and he seemed to find a way to get loose. When we applied pressure, he hurt us by running the ball. He's an excellent quarterback."
Back and forth
It took just 58 seconds after the Ursuline score for St. Edward to take back the momentum. A four-yard run by Ryan Bailey then gave the Eagles a 24-14 lead, but on the ensuing kickoff Ursuline's Walt Lacey raced 87-yards for the score to cut the Eagles' lead to 24-21 at halftime.
After intermission, Lakewood's Ryan Adkins hit paydirt from two yards out but the snap was bobbled and the Eagles had to settle for a 30-21 lead.
When Ursuline running back James Allen scored from two yards with nine minutes remaining, and David Rhodes added the placement, the Irish cut the Eagle lead to 30-28.
Skoczen then closed out the scoring with a three-yard run at the 1:24 mark to preserve the Eagles' 37-28 victory.
Clark completed 24 of 34 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns for the Irish (0-1), adding 33 yards on 14 carries as the team rushing leader as well. With 69 rushing yards on 27 carries, the Irish rolled up 340 offensive yards.
Skoczen was 5 of 17 passing for 50 yards and a touchdown for St. Edward. He also ran for two rushing touchdowns while gaining 63 of his team's 164 ground yards as the Eagles had 214 total offensive yards on the night.