High school football: Elyria Catholic can't overcome early turnovers, falls 54-7 to Glenville in regional semifinals

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Elyria Catholic's self-inflicted wounds were fatal Saturday in its 54-7 loss to Glenville in a Division IV, Region 14 semifinal at North Ridgeville High School. The fourth-seeded Panthers turned the ball over three times in the first 12:27, leading to three Tarblooders' touchdowns that buried the Panthers in a hole they would never be able to climb out of. Top-seeded Glenville (12-0) built a 26-0 lead early in the second quarter. While the Panthers (10-3) were able to put together a 19-play, 82-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard Levi Ellis touchdown run, the Tarblooders added a 45-yard touchdown pass from Deonte Rucker to Shawn Williams late in the second quarter to take a 34-7 lead into halftime. Glenville, which will play Van Wert for the Region 14 title next week, rolled up 228 yards of total offense in the first half, while the Panthers could pick up just 81 total yards. But the three turnovers were the story. "It changed everything we wanted to do," Elyria Catholic coach Brian Fox said. "You saw glimpses of what we were capable of and what we could do. ... We just came out not ready to play the game we needed to play." Things didn't get better for Elyria Catholic after halftime. The Panthers lost a fumble on the second-half kickoff and Glenville cashed it in with a 5-yard touchdown run by J'Vaughn Goodson, and the running clock rule kicked in with the Tarblooders enjoying a 40-7 lead. Glenville added a pair of late touchdowns to seal the deal. Ellis, who needed 120 yards to break former Columbia standout Brandon Coleman's career Lorain County rushing record, carried 23 times for 77 yards. Ellis said the 19-play drive in the second quarter was critical. They even recovered an onside kick following Ellis' touchdown, but failed to convert it to points. "That was an important drive and we wanted to send a message that we weren't laying down," Ellis said. "We wanted to score before the half and take the momentum into the second half. Some mistakes at the beginning of the second half really ruined that. "That's a great team and you've got to play perfect against guys like that. We didn't and they capitalized. They took the momentum and ran with it." Ellis ended up with 5,098 career rushing yards, first on the school's all-time list. Despite the loss, Fox said he will always be grateful to the 15 seniors who played their last football game for the Panthers. "They mean everything to me," he said. "They set an incredible tone and an unreal standard of what is expected of this program. When they came here we were three days a week in the weight room, and they made it six days because that's what they decided they wanted. "I will never be able to thank them fully. They built this program." Contact Mike Perry at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Glenville 54, Elyria Catholic 7 Elyria Catholic&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp; &emsp;7&emsp;&emsp; 0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;7Glenville&emsp;&emsp; &emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;22&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;7&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;54 Scoring G — D'Shawntae Jones, 33 run (kick failed)G — Arvell Reese, 16 interception return (pass failed)G — Shawn Williams, 12 pass from Deonte Rucker (Williams pass from Rucker)G — Jermaine Foster, 37 pass from Rucker (pass failed)EC — Levi Ellis, 2 run (Nicholas Phillips kick)G — Damarion Witten, 45 pass from Rucker (Jones run)G — J'Vaughn Goodson, 5 run (kick failed)G — Micquan Gravely, 45 run (Witten kick)G — Gravely, 5 run (Witten kick) Team statistics&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;EC&emsp;&emsp; GFirst downs&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 12&emsp;&emsp; 11— by rushing&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp; &emsp;8— by passing &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 3&emsp; &emsp; 2— by penalty&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 3&emsp;&emsp; 1Yards rushing&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;78&emsp;&emsp;186Yards passing&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;73&emsp; 142Total offense&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;151&emsp;&emsp;328Passes att./comp.&emsp;&emsp;26/11&emsp;12/7Intercepted by&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 0&emsp; &emsp;2Fumbles/lost&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;3/2&emsp;&emsp;0/0Penalties/yards&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 4/50&emsp;&emsp;12/102 Individual statistics RUSHING—(EC) Levi Ellis 23-77, Tavion Thomas 4-2, Tony Grasso 1-0, Aiden Knepshield 1-0, Brady Cook 5-(-1). (G) D'Shawntae Jones 10-86, Micquan Gravely 7-66, J'Vaughn Goodson 4-34.PASSING—(EC) Cook 11-24-73-0-2; Thomas Niederst 0-0-0-0-0, Ellis 0-0-0-0-0. (G) Deonte Rucker 7-12-142-3-0.RECEIVING—(EC) Colin Ginley 6-42, Grasso 2-16, Mason Haliburton 1-7, Niederst 1-5, Sam Krese 1-3. (G) Jermaine Foster 2-55, Shawn WIlliams 2-17, Damarion Witten 1-45, Jaylind Carter 1-7, Arvell Reese 1-1.