St. Edward football blows by rival St. Ignatius 48-6

PARMA, Ohio -- St. Edward played classic football, running the ball hard before throwing over the top time and again to rout St. Ignatius 48-6 in Cleveland’s biggest football rivalry game.

“I don’t think we saw that coming, I mean we played our best game tonight,” St. Edward coach Tom Lombardo said.

On their opening drive, the Eagles ran the ball methodically, putting together a 15-play drive to get within the Wildcats five-yard-line.

Junior quarterback Casey Bullock saw his target in the endzone, but the ball was tipped by three different players before ending up in the hands of junior St. Ignatius defensive back Sean Martin.

But the Eagles defense held the Wildcats to a three-and-out capped off by a sack from junior Troy Regovich to get the ball back in Bullock’s hands.

A botched punt set him up with a short field, and Bullock didn’t waste a second, finding junior Brian Sullivan for a 22 yard touchdown and the first score of the game.

“I don’t think we were ever down, because we knew we drove it down the field 75 yards or something,” Bullock said. “So we were really confident that we could do what we wanted to do.”

For the rest of the half, St. Edward’s offense was balanced, running over the St. Ignatius defense and opening up the passing game even further for Bullock.

Aside from his interception, Bullock was incredibly efficient, completing six of his nine pass attempts for 185 yards and three touchdowns.

“(Bullock is) showing that he’s maturing,” Lombardo said. “Showing that he is gaining the poise that a quarterback needs, and that’s a great thing to see.”

Following Sullivan’s score, Bullock found Kyan Mason twice in the endzone. Mason only had two receptions on the night, but both went for 20-yard touchdowns.

The passing success by the Eagles was set up by a consistent and hard running game led by senior running back Marvin Bell, who rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

“We had a really efficient offensive game,” Lombardo said. “We kind of ran the ball in chunk plays and then the play action really worked well.”

St. Edward’s offensive line was formidable, creating openings in the running game for both Bell and Bullock and keeping the latter clean whenever he dropped back to pass.

Also carrying the ball for the Eagles were senior Joshua Gribble with 10 carries and 46 yards and a touchdown and junior Joshua Groudle with 14 yards and a score.

“The O-line did great,” Bullock said. “All week they studied film really hard, they were going (hard) every day in practice. And you know, today the holes opened up wide and all we had to do was run through ‘em.”

St. Ignatius was able to get its only score of the night late in the first half, when sophomore quarterback Quinn Woidke ran in a nine yard touchdown.

Woidke filled in after starter Joshua Papesh went down with an injury and managed to give the Wildcats some life with his legs.

He had 48 yards and a touchdown on eight attempts, and threw for 51 yards on 7-of-14 passing.

The Wildcats’ fortunes did not turn around in the second half, as they started the half with a three-and-out capped off by two dropped passes. The ensuing punt was blocked and recovered in the endzone by St. Edward senior Wyatt Gedeon for a touchdown.

That score put St. Edward up 41-6 and started a running clock.

The punter was not the only Wildcat under pressure, as the Eagles’ defensive line consistently met St. Ignatius’ backfield at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Gedeon recorded a sack along with his touchdown, and the first catch of his high school career.

Regovich recorded a game-high two sacks.

St. Edward dominated up front on both sides of the ball, and Lombardo credited that to the level of competition his lines have played every week.

“I think the schedule that we’ve played is paying off,” he said. “We’ve played one of, if not the toughest schedule in the state. I think its showing now, and as the year goes on and the weather changes a little bit we are gonna start imposing our will on teams.”

The game might be the final time legendary St. Ignatius head coach Chuck Kyle coaches against St. Edward, as he is stepping down at the end of the season after 40 years at the helm.

"We have some really great football games over the years," Kyle said. "Obviously we will just continue the rivalry without me. So what if I’m not walking around on the sidelines? It will still continue on."