Archbishop Moeller overcomes sluggish effort for 25-10 win over St. Ignatius

PARMA, Ohio – Sometimes the mark of a true champion is if they can still win a game when they don’t play their best. For Archbishop Moeller, that moment came Saturday afternoon in a 25-10 win over St. Ignatius.

Despite the win, the Crusaders played what could have been described as one of their worst games of this season as they led just 18-10 late in the fourth quarter and had to fend off multiple potential game-tying drives by the Wildcats.

“I thought we just weren’t playing our best ball,” Moeller head coach Mark Elder said. “I thought our defense played well down the stretch and came up with the stops to be able to get it done.”

After St. Ignatius hit a field goal to cut an 18-7 lead to 18-10 with 8:59 left in the third quarter, Moeller’s defense held them to three and out on the next series with negative yardage and then really had to get strong on the next two possessions.

Moeller’s offense turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions to allow the Wildcats to start drives inside Moeller territory. In those two drives, Moeller allowed six total yards and forced a punt and a field goal attempt that came up short.

And then when the St. Ignatius defense made a stop, Moeller punted and was able to down the ball at the 1-yard-line. That possession ended with a Rashad Glenn interception of St. Ignatius quarterback Joshua Papesh at the St. Ignatius 20.

On the next play, junior running back Jordan Marshall got free and scored a touchdown to make it 25-10 with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense played great today, they won us this game,” Marshall said. “They were out there way more drives than us working really hard.”

The story of the first half was turnovers forced by Moeller, specifically defensive back Matthew Seliga.

The senior had two interceptions in the first half – one that set up the first touchdown of the game for Moeller and another that stopped St. Ignatius from having a chance to score to end the first half.

After Seliga’s first interception set Moeller’s offense up at the St. Ignatius 25, quarterback Luke Dunn hit Eli Jacon-Duffy for a 4-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead.

And then with Moeller leading 18-7 late in the second quarter, St. Ignatius was driving and had the ball in Moeller territory before Seliga intercepted a pass in the endzone.

“Matty had the one that gave us great field position going in and then the one in the endzone,” Elder said. “Both of those were huge. Obviously giving us a short field and then stopping a touchdown, those things go different, who knows what the end result of this would be.”

Marshall led the Crusaders with 107 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns, while Alec Weeder added 105 yards on the ground.

Dunn added a second touchdown pass in the first half when he found Ryan Mechley for 13 yards midway through the second quarter. He finished the game with 125 yards passing.

Papesh threw for 215 yards for St. Ignatius and found Brandon Webster five times for 79 yards and the only Wildcats’ touchdown of the game to give them a 7-6 lead in the first quarter. Jonathan Merime also had five catches for St. Ignatius, with 65 yards.

Moeller is now 8-0 on the season but will make the nearly 4-hour trip back to Cincinnati knowing this wasn’t its best showing as a team. But even though the Crusaders know they can play better, a win is still a win, even if it isn’t an impressive one.

“This is probably the second game I thought we didn’t play our best collectively as a team, but we were able to pull out a win,” Elder said. “You want to go have an “A” execution day every week, but the reality is that may not be the case.”

His star running back took it a step farther.

“We needed to get punched in the mouth a little bit and shown that we’re not the best,” Marshall said. “We have to be better. We are taking people lightly. We can’t do that.”

Moeller won’t have to worry about taking its next opponent too lightly, as the Crusaders welcome St. Edward to Cincinnati next week in a Division I heavyweight matchup.  

Photo Gallery (photos by Jeff Harwell)