BEREA, OH - Coming off a 1-2 road trip, this past Friday the Saint Ignatius Wildcats (1-5) looked to get back in the win column against the Toledo Central Catholic Fighting Irish (5-1). The Cats came into play off back-to-back tough losses against a couple of Division II powerhouses in Walsh Jesuit (6-0) and Archbishop Hoban (5-1).
The Cats, who have battled injuries all year, would be without junior quarterback Daniel Chalhoub. This meant sophomore Dane Donovan would be under center for the Cats, making his first varsity start.
The Irish came into play 4-1, and after losing their 33-game win streak in Week Three against Detroit Central Catholic (MI) 21-7, the Irish have managed to rattle off back-to-back wins, outscoring their opponents 78-6 in those two games. The Irish have talent all over the board. Most importantly, they had their Senior captain under center Isaiah Fox, who has completed over 70 percent of his passes this season.
Central Catholic also has running back Tyler Morgan, who came in with just under 500 yards on the season and six yards a carry. Lastly, the Irish have a pair of Power Five talents in Victor Singleton and Preston Fryzel.
The Fighting Irish won the toss and elected to receive, meaning the Cats would start out on defense and get the ball to start the second half. On their first drive, the Irish used the pass game very effectively, as Fox completed a pass to three different receivers on the opening drive, including a 27-yard screen pass to Jerome Davis, which went for a touchdown. A successful PAT capped off a three-minute scoring drive for the Irish with 8:51 remaining in the first.
On the Cats' first offensive drive, a good return from junior Owen Colwell set up the offense at the Wildcat 41. From there, senior running back Grant Washington showed why he is committed to Minnesota, as he had a couple of carries for 15 yards while gaining 22 yards on a swing pass from Donovan. On only the drive's fourth play, Colwell got to the outside and found paydirt for a 22-yard score. With 7:27 remaining in the first, the score was tied at seven.
The Cats then started to take control of the game. After a bad snap set the Irish back on their second drive, TCC got pushed back even more after a sack by sophomore Luke Votypka. After a penalty on fourth down by the Wildcats, junior Marcus Tekancic was able to put together an excellent return, which set the Cats in phenomenal field position in Fighting Irish territory.
From there, the Cats only needed one play to get into the end zone, as Donovan found junior Luke Simms deep over the middle for a 42-yard touchdown, which made it 14-7 in the first with 4:55 left. It would be Donovan's first varsity career touchdown pass.
The next drive for the Cats saw Washington and even Donovan use their legs to get them downfield. The Cats were put into enemy territory after a 12-yard touch pass to Colwell. Two plays later, Donovan found Tekancic on a quick slant over the middle, and Tekancic did the rest of the work from there. A 49-yard catch and run put the Cats up 20-7 after the PAT was unsuccessful with 9:48 to play before half.
The Wildcats had scored 20 unanswered points. On their next drive, Toledo Central Catholic put together a long 12-play drive, which included ten carries by Tyler Morgan. He would finish the night with 36 carries and 223 yards, including the two-yard touchdown run on this drive. The Cats' lead shrank to 20-14 with 5:21 remaining in the second quarter.
The Cats' next drive was set up by a 26-yard QB keeper by Donovan, who put the Cats in field goal range. However, the 35-yard kick was wide right, and the score remained 20-14. Another thing worth mentioning is that early on, there were overcast skies but no rainfall. As the game progressed, sporadic heavy rain and strong winds affected the play on the field, especially in the second quarter leading into most of the second half.
The Fighting Irish had a minute and two timeouts to get points on the board. The drive started from their 20, and some big runs by Morgan and Fox, along with a big completion from Fox to Fryzel, got the Irish all the way down to the goal line for an untimed down after a defensive holding call. However, the Irish got stood up after junior linebacker Nick Rivera came in and tripped up Morgan at the line of scrimmage. At halftime, the Cats led 20-14.
The Cats got the ball first to start the second half, and after a promising drive stalled out, Schaffer was able to pin the Irish back at their own ten.
Following was a 15-play, 90-yard drive that comprised more than half of the third quarter. In the end, the Irish faced a fourth and one from the Wildcat 27, and it looked like Morgan was stood up at the line, but he managed to break away from a group of Wildcat tacklers and find the endzone for the 27-yard score. It was Morgan's second score of the night.
The PAT was no good, and the score was tied at 20 with 2:36 remaining in the third. The Cats next drive gained some traction but would carry over into the fourth quarter. After three quarters, both teams were deadlocked at 20.
The fourth quarter started with a crucial third and four play for the Cats at their 37. Then, disaster struck. The Cats ran a toss play, and Washington fumbled the pitch by Donovan, allowing Junior Zanaje Liggons to pick up the ball for the Irish and put them in prime field position at the Ignatius 17-yard line. From here, Fox was able to find Fryzel for the 14-yard touchdown pass. After a successful PAT, the score was now 27-20 with 11:08 left to go in the ball game. This time, it was Toledo Central Catholic who scored 20 unanswered.
The next drive for the Cats was a three and out, and Toledo Central Catholic got the ball back up a score with only 10 minutes left in the game.
The Irish got the ball down to Wildcat's 34-yard line for fourth and five, but a big pass breakup by junior Jayshon Thomas gave the Cats the ball back with 6:40 remaining. The Cats put together an 11-play 46-yard drive, aided by multiple defensive penalties. The drive saw a lot of runs, particularly with Colwell to get downfield. In the end, Colwell punched it in from a yard out to make it a one point game with only 1:17 remaining. Now, it was decision time for the Cats.
Disaster struck again for the Cats. After lining up to go for two, the Cats broke the huddle with 12 guys on the field. After the flag was initially waved off because Toledo Central Catholic called a timeout, the flag was thrown back onto the field. The Cats sent the offense out at first but called a timeout and elected to kick the extra point from the eight. The kick was wide right. No flag was thrown despite TCC's Victor Singleton running into the kicker.
After an unsuccessful onside kick, TCC won 27-26 in Berea, a heartbreaking loss for the Cats.
Despite the loss, there were some positives from the game. Sophomore Donovan was 7-of-13 passing for 154 yards and two touchdowns while having four carries for 31 yards in his first start. There were some other young guys we haven't heard from a lot this year who also showed out. Luke Votypka had a sack, and sophomore linebacker Dillon Baker racked up six unassisted tackles.
In addition, the Cats played an excellent Toledo Central Catholic team down to the wire. Ultimately, the Wildcats fall to 1-5 on the season and look ahead to a huge rival game next week against the 3-3 St. Edward Eagles. SIBN has audio-only coverage, and FanVu will have video coverage.
