For the past two seasons, the Elder Panthers have faced Colerain and walked away with victories both times. Colerain wanted to make sure that history did not repeat itself this time around. A standing room only crowd will witness one of the worst losses in Panther history.
From the first drive to the final horn, Colerain worked its game plan to perfection. Colerain QB Tyler Williams got the scoring started with a 12 yard TD run to put the Cardinals up 7-0 with 9:36 left in the opening quarter. Elder responded quickly with a Josh Freidel 8 yard TD reception four minutes later, but once again like in the previous week Elder was unable to convert the extra point. Just as Elder was building some momentum from the quick touchdown, Williams was able to take the Cardinals to the house again. This time Williams busted through the Elder defense for a 77 yard TD run just 13 seconds after the Elder score. To the dismay of Elder nation, this was not the last time Colerain would put some points on the board in the first quarter.
Colerain built the lead to 20-6 when fullback Curtis Jester took a Williams handoff 60 yards for the score. For the second time this season Elder trailed at halftime, but this time by a wider margain and against a superior opponent than Winton Woods. Down 14 at half, Coach Ramsey probably felt that if his team could sustain some long drives, forcing Colerain to pass on 3rd down, and creating a few turnovers then they could get back into this game in a heartbeat.
Elder started off the second half as a team on the verge of a comeback. Elder QB Ben Gramke hooked up with Max Mazza on a 12 yard TD pass to cut the Cardinal lead to 8. The Panthers failed on the two point conversion, but more importantly it was now a one possession game at 20-12 with 10:27 left in the third quarter. Colerain QB Tyler Williams responded to the Panther TD on the next drive with his own TD. Williams broke through the Elder secondary for a 27 yard TD run and just about eliminated all hope of a Panther victory. Elder would not score the rest of the game, but Colerain was able to add on 17 more points. The final on this matchup of Number 1 and 2 would be: Colerain 44 Elder 12.
I did not attend the game, but it seemed to me that Colerain's offensive line controlled the tempo of the game. If they are able to control the clock and work the option to its potential then they are one of the hardest teams in probably the country to beat. Elder was led by Ben Coffaro once again. He rushed for 90 yards on 15 carries and also had 4 receptions for 40 yards. Elder QB Ben Gramke's stat line was as followed: 18-28 143 yards 2 TDs and 2 INTs.
Next up for Elder is an away game at Louisville Trinity. This will be a definite test for the Panthers. Trinity is always one of the best teams in the top class in the state of Kentucky. Good Luck to the Panthers, hopefully they can defeat them as easily as they did last year at Elder.
Here are some team statistics from the Colerain-Elder game courtesy of gclsports.com.
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