Royals control ground game in 28-21 victory – News-Herald

Lake Catholic’s Brady Moran recovered a fumble early in the fourth quarter against Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, the Cougars’ third forced turnover of the contest, sparking hope for their offense.

Liam Coyne connected with Guy Dominick on the ensuing offensive drive and cut the Royals’ lead to a one-score game with under five minutes left.

But the Royals were able to grind out the clock with an 11-play drive to seal a 28-21 victory.

Lake Catholic fell to 5-1, while CVCA remained undefeated at 6-0.

“CVCA kind of kicked our butts at points,” Cougars coach Marty Gibbons said. “For us, creating big plays and trusting each other is important. So I’m proud that the kids continued to battle but give CVCA credit, they outphysicaled, played and coached us.”

Both sides established the running game in their first dives, as both attempted just one pass. The Royals opened the game with a 77-yard drive, capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Charley Levak to Brayden Harris.

The Cougars had a similar drive, going 75 yards capped by a Danny Zmorowski three-yard run. The junior had 35 yards on their opening drive.

But CVCA responded two plays later, with Levak finding Harris again, this time for a 59-yard strike. The Cougars went three-and-out but got the ball back on the Royals’ next offensive play as Marty Loncar recovered a fumble at the Royals’ 37.

Zmorowski again found the end zone from two yards out to cap a 12-play drive. But again, the Royals responded with a five-play drive ended with a Joey Kopec 41-yard touchdown around the left side of the line.

The Cougars’ offense showed flashes but were unable to sustain enough drives to take the lead going into the half.

With two minutes to the half, the Royals took a shot downfield but Joey Nagy held on for the interception, the Cougars’ second forced turnover.

Coyne found Dominick for a 43-yard gain to get Lake Catholic inside the 25, but the drive stalled out and ended in a turnover on downs.

“We talked about it going into this game with the kids: Establishing ourselves early in the game is important,” Gibbons said. “We didn’t do that, but they did. We aren’t a team that plays from behind. It’s not that we can’t, but it gets really challenging in that situation.”

Lake Catholic came out of the half with a turnover on downs that set CVCA up inside the Cougars’ side of the 50. Six plays later, Kopec had his second score of the game, this on a two-yard scamper.

The Royals didn’t pass the ball at all in the second half, earning all 117 yards in that half on the ground.

“They’re a different style of offense,” Gibbons said. “You go in one week to prepare for that, it’s particularly challenging. There’s no panic button for us, but there’s a sense of urgency for us to get better. You can say scheme and all that stuff, but the reality is that we got outphysicaled.”

Kopec had 102 yards on 16 carries as the Royals totaled 240 yards on the ground. Lake Catholic was led by Zmorowski totaling 93 yards and two scores, while Dominick had 56 receiving yards and a score.

Both sides continue NCC play as the Cougars head to Elyria Catholic on Oct. 3, while CVCA travels to Holy Name on Oct. 4.