H.S. Football: Elyria Catholic doomed by terrible start

MAYFIELD VILLAGE — The final notes of the national anthem were still echoing through the stands and Elyria Catholic already found itself trailing by a touchdown. That's what kind of night it was for the Panthers. Mayfield senior J.D. Sega returned the opening kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown and Elyria Catholic never recovered as the Wildcats pulled away for a 28-13 win in a non-league game. Elyria Catholic's first drive resulted in a three-and-out. Mayfield (2-0) then took the ball on the Panthers 43 and eight plays later extended its lead on a Dario D'Agostino-to-Jayden Haynes 11-yard touchdown pass that put the Wildcats up 12-0 with 5:44 left to play in the opening quarter. "I feel like when we talk about the opening kickoff we always say you've got to be ready to go," Elyria Catholic coach Chase Farris said. "We had some young guys in there, they just weren't ready to go. It is what it is." The Panthers (0-2) responded with a 10-play, 72-yard drive that ended in a 12-yard Zion Castillo touchdown run that was followed by a Benjamin Essenmacher PAT kick to cut the Wildcats lead to 12-7. On that drive Elyria Catholic sophomore quarterback Robbie Duray made a couple of big plays to extend the drive. First, he connected with his favorite target, Connor Mattea, on a 7-yard pass on third-and-1. Then faced with fourth-and-8 on the Mayfield 21, Duray tucked the ball and ran 9 yards to pick up the first down. After another 49-yard kickoff return by Sega, Mayfield took advantage of the short field to make it 19-7 after Haynes caught his second touchdown, this one from 14 yards. Haynes was the game's leading receiver with eight catches for 116 yards and three touchdowns. Over the final three quarters self-inflicted wounds kept Elyria Catholic from getting back in the game. A 14-play second-quarter drive stalled after a pair of 15-yard penalties. Donovan Shumpert scored a 1-yard touchdown to make the score 22-13 with 1:05 to go in the half. Haynes intercepted a Duray pass midway through the third quarter to set up Aiden Sanelli's field goal. On the Panthers' final possession they turned the ball over on downs after a 13-play drive came to a screeching halt inside the Mayfield 20. Castillo was the game's leading rusher with 56 yards on 18 carries. Elyria Catholic has allowed 83 points in its first two games. The good news for the Panthers is after allowing over 580 yards of offense in their Week 1 loss to Bishop Hartley, their defense held Mayfield to 238 yards. "We'll learn from this game, we'll go watch the film and we'll get better," Farris said. "The players have to play. At the end of the day the coaches coach and the players have to play. The coaches need to do better and the players need to execute. It's on both ends." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.