Ursuline dominates Liberty in second half

By Kevin Connelly

kconnelly@vindy.com

Warren

To begin the second half of Saturday’s Division V regional semifinal, Ursuline head coach Larry Kempe did something he’s never done before.

He replaced a defensive lineman with a speed rusher on the edge to contain Liberty quarterback Lynn Bowden. He also played man coverage in the secondary and dared the sophomore phenom to beat the Irish through the air.

The adjustments limited Bowden to zero net rushing yards in the second half and the Irish slowly squeezed the life out of the Leopards to advance to a regional final with a 23-7 victory at Warren’s Mollenkopf Stadium.

“It was in the back of my mind the whole day,” Kempe said after the game.

The replacement was Deion Edwards. He recorded a pair of second-half sacks and Bowden will have nightmares of No. 8 chasing him around the backfield.

“[Bowden] said that we couldn’t stop him and we stopped him,” Edwards said. “We had a good game plan.

“We just had to do what we had to do.”

The adjustment was coupled with a 78-yard touchdown run from quarterback Vito Penza on the first play of the second half to put the Irish up two scores. Not only did Penza show off his breakaway speed on the long run, but he broke free by hurdling Bowden in the Leopards’ secondary.

“We knew coming out at halftime we needed a real good spark,” Penza said. “There’s nothing better than scoring on the first play to set the tone for the second half.”

Kempe was asked after his team’s win if he thought that was a statement play coming out of the locker room.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We have a very nice ball club, as they do. What we needed to do was establish what we’re capable of doing offensively.”

The Irish (8-4) made plenty of statements in the game’s second half. With the Leopards (10-2) threatening to set up good field position on a punt return, the elusive Bowden was hit hard and coughed up the ball in Ursuline territory.

Edwards recovered for the Irish, setting up a 3-yard Penza touchdown run to put the game out of reach.

“The better team won tonight, no question about it,” Liberty coach Kevin Cylar said.

“They were better than us, they deserved to get the win and hats off to those guys.”

The Leopards’ home run hitters, Bowden and wideout Ben Phillips, ended the game on the sideline after taking a beating for most of the night. The two were able to connect with a pretty 73-yard touchdown when Bowden hit Phillips in stride down the sideline to tie the game at 7.

However that was the lone excitement —that counted anyway.

Bowden had a jaw-dropping 97-yard botched punt run for a touchdown — on which he eluded a tackle by every player in a Ursuline jersey and then some — that was for naught because of a block in the back.

“I feel like if we had another chance we would’ve done better,” Bowden said. “But you only get one chance.”

The two teams combined for 32 penalties for 290 yards — 195 on the Irish. The majority of them were post-whistle personal fouls, which wasn’t lost on Kempe afterward.

“Undisciplined,” Kempe said.

“You’ll think we’re at the Racino on Wick Avenue now, because anybody who gets a penalty has to run. And I’m not happy with the dumb penalties.”

Penza was running plenty on Saturday night, finishing with 157 yards. Kimauni Johnson wore the Leopards down in the second half with 122 yards on 24 carries.

Ursuline plays unbeaten Canton Central Catholic next week in the regional final. The site will be announced this afternoon.