From the first possession till the final horn, Ben Coffaro was there to guide the Panthers to victory over the Winton Woods Warriors. For the night Coffaro had 350 all-purpose yards (90 rushing, 137 receiving, and 130 return yards).
New starting quarterback Ben Gramke started the Panthers off on the right foot with a 4 yard TD pass on their first possession to grab a 6-0 lead. The tide began to turn a little after this with Winton Woods scoring 13 unanswered points to take a 13-6 lead halfway through the second quarter. Not to be undaunted, Coffaro and the Panthers began to slowly take over the game towards halftime. Gramke threw a short pass to Coffaro and he was able to weave through a few Warrior defenders for a 50 yard TD run. As the clock hit triple zeros at Nippert Stadium in the second quarter Elder trailed by just one, 13-12.
Elder head coach Doug Ramsey did a great job of preparing his team for a strong second half. The Panthers received the opening kick and made good use of great blocking up front. Coffaro scampered 99 yards for another Elder touchdown. This was the longest kickoff return for a TD in Panther history. A record that stood for 32 years was broken on a night that Coffaro will never forget.
The rest of the Panther scoring consisted of two Gramke TD passes of 58 and 17 yards, along with a 43 yard run by junior tailback Cody Fox. Winton Woods was able to muster only one more touchdown on the night when it cut the Panther lead to 24-21. After the Panther lead was cut to just a FG, Gramke continued the offensive attack by generating two more scores to take a commanding 38-21 lead. After Fox's TD run put Elder up 17 the scoring stopped and Panther nation felt comfortable with a 38-21 win over a talented Winton Woods team.
The Panthers moved up to number two in the city rankings and will face number one Colerain in week two at "The Cage" on Cheviot Road. That will be a tight game that could very easily go either way. Elder last year defeated Colerain at the Pit on ESPN, but TV or no TV the Cardinals are definitely out for some revenge.
Here is a box score I found from GCLsports.com of the game:
Winton Woods Elder
1st Downs 9 13
Total Yards 248 370
Passing Completions 4 12
Passing Attempts 9 19
Passing Yards 96 261
Passing Average 10.7 13.7
Rushing Attempts 43 27
Rushing Yards 152 109
Rushing Average 3.5 4.0
3rd Down Eff. 2-13 5-10
4th Down Eff. 2-2 0-1
Penalties 6-48 4-28
Turnovers 1 1
Possession 27:07 20:48
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