On a chilly evening inside First Federal Lakewood Stadium, the St. Edward football team was able to beat the St. Ignatius Wildcats in a defensive battle, by the final score of 7-3. Both teams went into the locker room scoreless at halftime, but each team had a chance for a field goal. In the second quarter, St. Edward was set up for a field goal, but Coach Corcoran and the special teams unit attempted a fake, but were stopped well short of the first down marker.

Several minutes later, the Wildcats marched down the field and were set up for a chip shot, but missed it, ultimately ending the first half. Halfway into the third quarter, St. Ignatius scored the first points in the game from a Declan Mangan 49 yard field goal. The game went into the fourth quarter just 3-0, with each team punting several times throughout the game. However, 1 minute into the fourth quarter, Joey Formani scored a touchdown on a 6-yard run. With that and a successful PAT attempt, the score came to be 7-3, in favor of the Eagles. Later in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats eventually had one more chance to win the game and were set up to try a 2 minute drill on their own 32 yard line. After a first down, St. Ignatius quarterback Griffin Hanna threw a game ending interception to senior safety Richard Johnson. The interception sealed the victory for St. Edward.

The St. Edward Eagles improve to 6-1 on the season, while St. Ignatius falls to 3-4 and on the brink of playoff elimination. The Eagles will take on upset-minded Clarkson-Football North (Mississauga, Ontario) this Friday night at 7:00 PM inside First Federal Lakewood Stadium. This week’s game won’t be a cake walk for the Eagles, as Clarkson-Football North proved they could hang with the Northeast Ohio powerhouses. Earlier this year, the all-Canadian squad lost to Mentor 28-15 and also completed one of the greatest upsets in recent OHSAA football history; beating St. Ignatius on a last second Hail Mary. Football North is the equivalent of a Division 2 or 3 program in Ohio and their starting quarterback is committed to Old Dominion, a division 1 school in Conference USA. Friday night’s game should be an interesting test for the Eagles, who are coming off a big win against the Wildcats.

Diego Palko ’20