Lakeview vs Mentor

Gallery

The Cougars advanced to
the Division III state semifinals with a 28-13 victory.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

SOLON — As the final minutes ticked away Friday night in the Division III Region 9 championship game at Stewart Field, the Lakeview High student section began chanting the names of the Bulldogs’ senior football players.

The recognition seemed a fitting tribute to a group that sparked Lakeview to its best playoff performance and a Trumbull Athletic Conference championship, two feats that few thought the Bulldogs could accomplish when the season began in August.

Though Lakeview’s 10-3 season ended Friday in a 28-13 loss to Mentor Lake Catholic, coach Tom Pavlansky couldn’t have shown more pride.

“I am so proud of our kids and so proud of our coaches,” he said. “They really stuck together, they stuck to the foundations of the program and they believed. And that’s the reason we’re here. Unfortunately we just fell a little short.”

The Bulldogs dispatched Aurora and Walsh Jesuit to reach the regional final, and gave Lake Catholic (9-4) all it could handle.

“More than anything it’s a mindset and we believed in ourselves,” Pavlansky said about Lakeview’s playoff success, which some considered unlikely. “We believed we had a chance and I think our effort showed it. And the way the game went tonight showed our kids believed and that’s all that matters, that we believed.”

After five touchdowns were scored in the first 21 minutes, the contest settled into a defensive battle. As is often the case in such games, turnovers played a key role. The Bulldogs suffered two interceptions and lost a fumble.

“Unfortunately we had a couple things that bit us that we didn’t do for the last part of the year,” Pavlansky said. “The turnovers were critical and unfortunately we had a couple that hurt us.”

Both teams relied on the ground game. The Cougars ran for 271 of their 330 yards and Lakeview netted 161 of its 177 total yards on the ground.

Despite that, the first score of the game came on a 26-yard pass play from Lake Catholic’s Matt Lender to running back Randy Greenwood on the Cougars’ first possession.

Greenwood, who ran 19 times for 111 yards in the game, gained 36 yards on three carries on the first drive as Lake Catholic moved from its 20 to the Lakeview 26.

When Lakeview passed on the ensuing possession, Justin Clark was picked off by Lender whose 21-yard return took the ball to the Bulldogs’ 14.

Greenwood scored two plays later from nine yards out.

Lakeview responded when Ben Moody broke a 49-yard touchdown run on the next possession. The Bulldogs already had one first down on the drive when Moody broke a third-and-three run off the right side and went the distance.

However, three snaps later Greenwood ran for a 47-yard score and the Cougars led 21-7 with 15 seconds still remaining in the first quarter.

After giving up 153 yards and three scores in one period of play, the Bulldogs were not about to give up.

“We knew there was a lot of ballgame left and our kids wanted to play,” Pavlansky said. “Everyone on the sideline knew, the game wasn’t over yet. Our kids kept on playing, they upheld the Lakeview tradition.”

After that quarter, Lakeview held Greenwood to a net of 13 yards in 12 carries.

“I think we just tackled better. Our kids kept on playing,” Pavlansky said. “We’ve got some tough kids who wanted to do the job and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Lakeview cut the lead to 21-13 when sophomore Te Elias rambled 60 yards for a touchdown with 3:02 remaining in the first half.

The Bulldogs’ defense came up with turnovers on two consecutive Cougar possessions in the third quarter, but Lakeview was unable to do anything with the opportunities.

Michael Graham recovered a fumble for Lakeview at the Bulldogs 45 with 4:12 left in the third. But the Bulldogs fumbled the ball back to Lake Catholic three plays later. Dave Petrosky then recovered another fumble for Lakeview and this time the ‘Dogs had the ball at the Lake Catholic 40.

On fourth-and-2 at the 32, Elias was stopped a yard short of the first down marker and Lakeview gave up the ball. After that, the Bulldogs were plagued by poor field position, especially when a Lake Catholic punt rolled dead at the two with 6:30 left in the game.

On third down from the six, Jon Biehl’s pass was deflected then intercepted and the Cougars had the ball at the Lakeview nine. Two plays later Sweigert scored from eight yards out to all but seal the verdict with 4:08 remaining.

Elias finished with 86 yards on eight carries for Lakeview and Moody had 69 on seven tries.