St. Edward rallies to defeat Ursuline

By Joe Maxse

The Plain Dealer

lakewood

Too bad there won’t be a rematch.

Lakewood St. Edward and Youngstown Ursuline, two tradition-rich football programs from different divisional spectrums, put on quite a show on Saturday night at Lakewood High Stadium.

When all the touchdowns were counted, including a pair of St. Edward school records, and the penalty flags picked up, the Eagles had a 45-21 victory.

However, it was anything but a leisurely West Side walk for the No. 2 team in The Plain Dealer Top 25 and third-ranked club in the Associated Press Division I poll of Ohio schools.

The Irish (3-2), ranked No. 7 in the Div. V poll, gave as good as they got for much of the night.

It took a school-record 94 yard interception return by senior linebacker Ryan Davis midway through the fourth quarter to finally put to rest thoughts of a disastrous upset.

Trailing 31-21, the Irish had driven from their 11 to the St. Edward 1 and faced fourth down. Senior quarterback Chris Durkin rolled right, but was pressured by St. Edward senior defensive back Domenic Abounader and threw a desperation pass that landed in Davis’ hands to put him off on a solo run the length of the field.

“Their running back was yelling, ‘Toss me the ball, toss me the ball,’ ” Davis said. “I just reached up. I wasn’t tired until I tossed the ball to the ref. Then I got mobbed.”

That gave the Eagles (5-0) a 38-21 lead that they padded in the final minute with another score.

It also erased the memory of trailing, 14-3, in the first quarter and 21-17 at halftime.”

Both clubs had some fight in them as a total of 19 penalties were called, 10 on the Irish for 101 yards. Ursuline had two players ejected late in the game and at one point had three 15-yard penalties flagged on one play.

“I’d call it a gut check for us,” said St. Edward coach Rick Finotti. “We have some young guys and seniors stepping up. Credit goes to Ursuline.”

That was definitely the case early as the Irish put put together ball-control drives of 65 and 64 yards in the first quarter, getting good push from its offensive line to open up lanes for senior running back Tramain Thigpen.