PARMA, OHIO – Looking unstoppable in the second half, the Valley Forge Patriots did as they said they would, taking a big leap forward in the second half for their third win in 2017.
The end result was a solid 19-14 win over Elyria Catholic, a team that two seasons ago beat the Patriots 47-14, and in two meetings had soundly taken care of business against Valley Forge.
Thursday in Parma was different, as led by senior Mike Pappas, the Patriots completely dominated the second half, outgaining the Panthers 234-42.
They scored the only points of the second half, as they took the ball over with 11:43 to play in the fourth quarter, and took 6:04 off the clock with Pappas rushing for 62 yards in the drive and capping it off with a two-yard plunge to give Valley Forge a 19-14 lead with 5:39 to play.
The Patriots defense did the rest, as the Panthers went four-and-out, and when they got the ball back with one last chance, Panthers quarterback Cameron Engrish was the picked off by Patriots junior corner Dylan Magda ending the final Panthers drive.
Pappas was the dominating factor for Valley Forge, rushing for 206 yards on 31 carries, a 6.6 yards per carry average. He rushed for 163 yards in the second half as the Patriots took over the game.
Overall the Patriots ran over Elyria Catholic for 387 yards on the ground on 60 carries. Senior running back Louis Arena ran for 72 yards in 13 carries for Valley Forge.
The Panthers were led by running back Leighton Banjoff, who rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries, scoring one of the two first half touchdowns as they built a 14-13 halftime lead.
The first score came on the fourth play of the second quarter, as the Panthers pulled out a trick play, with Banjoff taking the handoff, and throwing a perfect pass to wide out Donovan Warfield for a 64-yard score to make it 7-0.
The Patriots came right back, going on an 9-play drive that covered 70 yards, with Nick Kuglar going in for six yards out to tie the game at seven with 6:17 to play in the first half.
Elyria Catholic marched down the field and went 11 plays, covering 70 yards, as Banjoff rushing eight times in the drive, including the last six carries. Bajoff went in from four yards out to make it 14-7 with two minutes to play in half.
Valley Forge put their two-minute drill in effect, as quarterback John Quinones led an outstanding 9-play drive that covered 80 yards.
Quinones hit Kugler from eight yards out with :31 seconds to play in the half, and with the blocked extra point the Panthers led 14-13 at the half.
From there it was all Forge, as they went on a 16-play backbreaking drive that covered 70 yards. Kicker Josh Kovach’s extra point was blocked and the Pats went into the locker room down 14-13.
The Panthers went three-and-out in their first drive of the second half, and the Pats started to overtake EC from that point.
They went on a long drive that took 9:17 off the clock, and covered 70 yards in 16 plays. They got down to the Panthers 25, but an attempt at a field goal on fourth down was blocked, and it remained 14-13 Panthers.
Again Elyria Catholic went three-and-out, and the Patriots this time were determined to get the necessary yards to score the winning touchdown.
Their winning touchdown drive went 85 yards in 12 plays, and with Pappas getting chunks of yards, they took another six minutes off the fourth quarter clock.
The key play in the winning drive was senior quarterback Quinones rushing for 15 yards on 3rd-and-15 a play where he could have been sacked more than once by the Panthers defense.
Pappas finally scored from two yards out to put the Patriots up for good 19-14 with 5:39 to play.
The Panthers had two chances, but in the first drive were stopped with a fourth down incompletion, and after the Patriots were stopped themselves on fourth down, they had one last shot.
That chance was stopped on a pretty interception down the Panthers sideline by Magda in the final two minutes to seal the huge Patriots win.
Valley Forge has won two straight games in the Great Lakes Conference, and are now 3-2 five weeks into the season. They won just one game last season.
The Panthers are still looking to get back on track, as they are now 1-4, and 0-1 in the Great Lakes Conference.
Valley Forge will play at Garfield Heights on Friday, September 29th at 7pm. The Panthers will look to improve on Friday the 29th as they host the Parma Redmen.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Elyria Catholic | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Valley Forge | 0 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 19 |
Player of the Game:
Valley Forge RB Mike Pappas
Pappas was the workhorse in the Patriots 19-14 win, carrying the ball an amazing 31 times for 206 yards and a touchdown in the Thursday win over Elyria Catholic.
The running back, coming off a game last week against Normandy in which he ran 25 times for 257 yards and three touchdowns, rushed against the Panthers for 206 yards on 31 carries and score in the five-point Pats win.
If you’re doing the math that’s 463 yards and four scores in the last two weeks.
What made his outing against the Panthers so special is that he had just 43 yards on 10 carries in the first half, meaning he put up 163 yards on 21 carries in the second half.
An outstanding performance by a bruising back that has led Valley Forge to a 3-2 record thus far in 2017.
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