Strongsville 'Didn't Take Advantage of Opportunities' in Season Opening Loss

Evan Gormley scored his third touchdown of the night with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter to spell the difference in a 21-15 win over host Strongsville Mustangs in the season opening high school football game for both teams.

Gormley raced around right end for 23 yards to allow the Lake Catholic Cougars to rally from a 15-13 deficit after holding a 13-3 lead at the intermission.

The Cougars were able to hold on when a Strongsville drive that started at the Mustang 21, ended when Richie Miller intercepted an Aaron Pritchard pass and brought it out to his eight.

Strongsville forced a punt with 20 seconds left and took over at the Lake Catholic 45 with 20 seconds left, but the Mustangs were unable to do anything with their final chance.

Strongsville, which forced a pair of third-quarter turnovers, scored on a 5-yard reverse on a third and goal to cut the Cougar lead to 13-10 and got even when Mike Moran kicked a 27-yard field goal after Jake Dasher intercepted a pass from Cougar quarterback Mark Baniewicz and returned it to the Lake Catholic 4.

“We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities,” said Strongsville head coach Russ Jacques. “We were unable to get it in from the 4 and that turned out to hurt us. We made too many mental mistakes.”

The Mustangs, who play next Friday near Columbus at Gahanna Lincoln, then pushed the Cougars back to their 2 on a punt and took a 15-13 lead on a safety on the first play of the Lake Catholic possession with 1:05 left in the third.

An exchange of punts then gave the Cougars the ball at their own 47 with 8:30 left in the game.

After being limited to 15 yards on the ground while committing two turnovers in the second half, the Cougars made the best of their late opportunity.

“We went to what worked earlier,” said Cougar head coach Mike Bell, whose team is home next Saturday to host Ravenna.

That was Gormely and Baniewicz running the ball on five of six plays, with Gormely getting the 23-yard touchdown that was the difference.

Lake Catholic overcame an early fumble by Aaron Phillips on a punt return in the first quarter that resulted in a Strongsville field goal with a pair of rushing touchdowns from Gormley for a13-3 lead at intermission.

Gormley capped a 9-play, 55-yard drive with 1:36 left in the first quarter and added the extra pointfor a 7-3 Cougar advantage.
The Cougars went back to work after Aaron Phillips picked off Strongsville quarterback Austin Pritchard at the Lake Catholic 22 on the first play of the second half.

Gormley concluded a 15-play, 78-yard drive with his second score on an 8-yard run with 6:11 left in the half. This time Gormley’s extra point was blocked by Strongsville’s Jake Dasher to leave the Cougars with a 10-point advantage.

Strongsville had their opening drive stall at its 28 only to see Lake Catholic’s Phillips fumble the punt when he looked right into the setting sun at Pat Catan Stadium.

The Mustangs recovered at the Lake Catholic 30 and reached the Cougar four before settling for a 21-yard field goal from Mike Moran with 5:44 left in the opening quarter.

The Mustangs looked to cut into the 13-3 Cougar lead, reaching the Lake Catholic 12 with the key play -- a 47-yard pass from Pritchard to Joe Monahan -- only to have a hold stall the drive that ended with a punt to the Cougar 2.

Lake Catholic was able to run out the final 1:46 with a first down on a 12-yard pass from Baniewicz to Richie Miller on third and five from the seven with just over a minute left on the clock.