ELYRIA, Ohio — St. Edward overcame a slow start that included three first-half turnovers against Perrysburg and kicked the offense into gear in the second half to earn a 40-22 win on Friday night in the Division I, Region 1 semifinals.
The No. 7 Eagles (8-5) set a date with top-seeded Mentor (13-0) for next Friday in the region final at a site yet to be determined.
It wasn’t the start St. Edward head coach Tom Lombardo drew up for his team, turning the ball over three times in four possessions, but the Eagles overcame the adversity of the rough start and turned a negative into a positive later in the game.
“It’s mental toughness at this stage,” Lombardo said. “We’re 3-0, there’s 56 teams left in the state at 3-0, so you’ve got a chance to win a region here.”
The game started on a positive note for the Eagles on defense with a stop of the Yellow Jackets (10-3) down near the red zone. However, the good feelings on the Eagles’ sidelines were short lived as a backward pass ended up on the turf and was picked up and scored on by the Yellow Jackets.
Surrendering a score before the offense could get going, the Eagles defense once again did its job with a quick stop. But, once again, that good feeling on the Eagles sideline quickly faded after a mishandled snap gave the ball right back to the Yellow Jackets.
Before the defense could get any rest on the sideline, the Eagles trotted back on the field without skipping a beat and didn’t allow the Yellow Jackets to use the turnover as a momentum-building opportunity.
“We talked all week about trusting ourselves and trusting our teammates and some things don’t go our way, but we just have to trust in each other,” senior running back Bradley Eaton said. “I think we showed that tonight that even when a play goes wrong, we can still lean on each other and get out of a bad situation.”
Eaton had a big night behind his bulky offensive line, but it took a spark from the receivers to really get the offense into a rhythm. On the game’s longest pass play, junior Joe Saffold took a short pass behind a blocking convoy of his fellow receivers for a 48-yard gain.
A couple of plays after that Eaton got the edge near the goal line for a short score to tie the game at 7-7.
A wintery mix crept into the air around Ely Stadium, not any heavy precipitation, but enough to add to the Eagles’ problems. As the defense came off the field after another successful stop, a muffed punt cost them and gave the already overworked defense another assignment with a short field.
The Yellow Jackets got a field goal, but it still felt like a win for the Eagles despite trailing 10-7 near the midpoint of the second quarter.
“We knew what we had to do and know that defense wins championships, so we knew we had to turn up,” senior defensive tackle Colin Crocker said. “We had a couple of bad plays and we fixed them. Then, the defense can come out and take over.”
Putting aside the turnover issues to open the game, the Eagles offense got back on track by passing the ball well to a host of receivers. Senior Luke Hess broke out in the second quarter with a couple of big grabs, but the biggest came in the red zone on a difficult one-on-one matchup Hess won for a 10-yard score from senior Thomas Csanyi, giving the Eagles a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
Despite stopping the Yellow Jackets for much of the first half, the Eagles defense still wasn’t happy without getting a turnover.
That’s where Crocker made his presence felt.
The hulking interior defensive lineman had every big man’s dream game with an interception and a strip sack, both of which turned into points for his team.
Csanyi looked sharp in the blustery conditions to make another big play before the half with a 24-yard score to Saffold to open up the lead to 21-10.
The Eagles received the second half kick with a goal in mind of six more points. Eaton was prepared as the sleeting conditions picked up and called his own number for a beast-mode type run on which he wouldn’t be denied.
“Everyone’s gotta make plays, sometimes you’ve got guys in front of you to make plays, sometimes you’ve just gotta step up yourself and get something out of nothing,” Eaton said of his 49-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. “Just trying to do the best for my team.”
With the score pushed to 27-10, the Eagles kept the foot on the gas and didn’t let up on offense or defense.
After the big Eaton run, Crocker got right into the backfield for a strip sack that he mugged off the Yellow Jackets’ quarterback to set up a short drive that ended with a Nate Gregory score.
The Eagles were able to put the game away, but afterward gathered for a long chat as a team near midfield about correcting the mistakes they made with a regional championship on the line next week.
“We can’t make the mistakes that we made tonight, clearly,” Lombardo said. “We know their quarterback is big time and everything, with some great offensive weapons and their defense sounds like they’ve been playing really well lately.”