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| Ben Walpole/Community Press |
St. Xavier ran fewer plays on offense and held the ball for a shorter amount of time than did Elder, but the Bombers rallied for a 21-6 win over the Panthers Friday night at St. Xavier behind a sack-happy defense in a Greater Catholic League slugfest.
It was the 92nd football game between Elder and St. Xavier. Elder leads the series 48-38-6.
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Elder ran 70 plays to St. Xavier’s 48 and outgained the Bombers 237-227. The Panthers held a 26:45-21:15 advantage in time of possession. But that wasn’t enough.
“I’m not a big stat guy,” St. Xavier coach Steve Specht said. “I tell our kids the final score is the only stat that matters to us.”
One stat that did matter was the 11 sacks the Bombers defense recorded, stifling drive after drive with seven of those coming in the second half.
“That’s made possible by all 11 guys,” St. Xavier senior defensive lineman Bryson Albright said. “If someone gets a sack, it’s because everyone else did their job.”
St. Xavier took the lead for good with a three-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Griffin Dolle with 3:57 to play in the second quarter after Elder controlled much of the first half.
The Bombers (4-2, 1-1 GCL South) then put the game away with a one-yard touchdown run by senior running back Conor Hundley with 8:36 to play in the fourth quarter and a 40-yard touchdown run by Hundley with 3:10 to play as St. Xavier snapped a two-game losing streak. Hundley finished with 131 yards on 23 carries and Dolle added 72 yards on 11 carries.
Elder (2-4, 0-1) has now lost four straight.
The Panthers opened the game with a 12-play, 65-yard drive and took the early lead on a two-yard run by Cody Fox, but Sam Williams’s point-after was blocked.
“They punched us right in the mouth,” Specht said. “I told our kids everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face and that’s what they did. It’s a test of character if you can bounce back from that and fortunately we were able to bounce back.”
The Panthers were stout on the ground in the early-going, rushing for 56 yards on 11 runs during the opening drive and converted two fourth-down plays to keep the drive alive. Elder held a 168-89 advantage in total yardage through the first half, including a 103-89 advantage on the ground. Fox ran for 65 yards on 17 carries in the first half and finished with 96 yards on 23 carries. White finished with 53 yards on six carries.
Gramke completed 14 of 25 passes for 139 yards.
“We always like to start with the run first and just build off that,” Fox said. “It really opens things up in the pass game most of the time.”
St. Xavier was forced to punt on its first possession and the Panthers started moving the ball again. A couple fortuitous events – a penalty on a punt that extended the drive and a first-down run after a fumble behind the line of scrimmage -- had Elder in position to take a two-score lead.
“Plays like that are back-breakers,” Albright said. “The key is to bounce back.”
The Bombers did bounce back and finally got the ball back when Gramke’s fourth-and-two pass from the St. X 26 fell incomplete.
“We had a bad sack and that kind of killed the drive,” Fox said. “We have to step up there and get a 13- or 14-point lead early.”
St. Xavier then went on a 14-play, 75-yard drive to take the lead on Dolle’s run.
“I thought the 14-play drive we put together in the second quarter was big for us,” Specht said. “It showed our guys we could pound the ball too and just trade punches.”
Elder (2-3) entered having dropped three straight games to defending state champions after a 2-0 start to the season with losses to Kentucky’s Louisville Trinity, Ohio’s Lakewood St. Edward and Miami, Florida’s Central.
St. Xavier had dropped two straight coming into the game to Trinity and Moeller.
