Lake Catholic Rallies From Early Deficit to Top Benedictine 35-17

By Tyler Stotsky

MENTOR, OHIO – The Lake Catholic Cougars rallied from an early 10-0 deficit with 21 straight points as they defeated the Benedictine Bengals 35-17 on Saturday (October 13) night at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium in a key North Coast League Blue Division matchup.

The Cougars improved to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the NCL Blue along with gaining some key computer points. The Bengals fell to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

“We knew it was going to be a battle with those guys, Coach [Carter] Welo does a great job coaching them,” said Lake Catholic coach Scott O’Donnell. “We have epic battles with them over the years and tonight was a huge win for us. We are taking the final three games, one game at a time. We got to 1-0 this week and we have to get to 1-0 against NDCL, who happens to be our rival.”

Benedictine took advantage of a bad Lake Catholic punt on their second drive as they scored first. Starting at Lake Catholic’s 40-yard line, the Bengals drove into the red zone but the Cougars’ defense forced a field goal. Ivan Shuran’s 23 yard field goal gave the Bengals a 3-0 lead four minutes into the game.

On the next drive, Lake Catholic fumbled the ball as Evan Tytko recovered the loose ball. Benedictine turned the fumble into points. Nick Demchuk found Andre Rodgers for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 1:13 left in the first quarter. Benedictine held a 10-0 advantage after one quarter.

The Cougars wasted little time in the second quarter as Aaron Leovic put Lake Catholic on the board with a 14-yard scamper on the second play of the quarter. They trimmed the lead to 10-7 less than 30 seconds into the frame.

After a Bengals punt, Lake Catholic drove down and took the lead. Matt Slowey opened the drive with a big 31-yard pass to Sean Fitzgerald and then Slowey ended it with a 12-yard touchdown run. Lake Catholic led for the first time, 14-10 with 8:16 to go in the first half.

Benedictine came up with a red zone stop on the Cougars’ as they stuffed a fourth and one play at the one-yard line late in the half. The Bengals could not capitalize as Demchuk was picked off by Logan Hyduke. The Cougars led 14-10 at the break.

Slowey added a second score as he found the end zone on the Cougars’ second drive of the second half. He capped a seven play, 53-yard drive with a 13-yard run to the house. Lake Catholic had a 21-10 lead with 5:43 left in the third quarter.

Demchuk led the Bengals down the field with a response drive. He found Andre Rodgers with a 32-yard touchdown pass less than two minutes later. Benedictine pulled within four at 21-17.

Nate Rieple pushed the Cougars’ advantage back to 11 with two big plays on the next Lake drive. After he busted through with a 44-yard run early on, he punched it in from 17-yards away for a touchdown. The Cougars led 28-17 after three quarters.

Late in the fourth quarter, Rieple put the game out of reach with a five-yard score. His second touchdown of the game put Lake Catholic ahead 35-17 with two minutes to go. That was the final score on Saturday night.

Lake Catholic outgained Benedictine 440-288 with a huge rushing attack. They ran the ball for 312 yards, including two 100-yard rushers.
Slowey finished 10-of-16 passing with 128 yards passing while he finished with 127 yards rushing on 13 carries and two touchdowns. Rieple led all players with 131 yards on 15 carries and two scores.

For Benedictine, Demchuk threw for 235 yards on 19 completions, one touchdown and one interception.

Benedictine coach Carter Welo added, “We lost to a good football team tonight, we give them a lot of credit. We needed a couple of big plays in the first half but we could not figure out a way to make it happen. We have to take care of business the last two weeks and make sure we can try to be in the position to make the playoffs.”

Lake Catholic will travel to rival Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin next Friday night while Benedictine will travel to Padua for NCL Blue matchups.

Player of the Game: Matt Slowey, Lake Catholic QB, 10-16, 128 passing, 13 carries, 127 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns