Published Sunday August 31, 2008 The Enquirer
Aquinas 35, Elder 24
By Tom Ramstetter
tramstetter@enquirer.com
St. Thomas Aquinas brought stellar athletes north from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., including Ohio State recruit Duron Carter, but it was Elder’s inability to hold on to the ball that sank the Panthers in a 35-24 loss to the Raiders Saturday afternoon in the first game of the Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series at Paul Brown Stadium.
Elder turned the ball over seven times and squandered a 10-0 first-quarter lead as the Raiders
“A couple of them were forced,” Elder coach Doug Ramsey said of the turnovers. “They’re a pretty physical team and ran around and made some plays. But I told the kids we all made mistakes today, from me on down. If we can limit our mistakes, we can be pretty good.”
Aquinas senior quarterback Ryan Becker found senior receiver Dwyane Difton down the left sideline on the first official play of the second half for a 90-yard touchdown pass to cap the run. The play occurred on a first-and-20 after a holding penalty on Aquinas to start the half.
“We were in good position,” Ramsey said. “They had a great throw and catch. And that’s the difference between teams that are really good and athletic and some other teams.”
Elder pulled to within 11 twice, but could get no closer and fell to 1-1 on the season. Aquinas, the defending Class 5A champion in Florida, is 1-0.
“Just do the things we’re supposed to do on defense,” Ramsey said. “We made a couple mental errors and things that we should have been doing we didn’t do. You try to tell these guys you may get away with a mistake against some of the teams we play, but when you play against some of the athletes that they had and you make a mistake, then it turns into a big play.”
Elder was the big-play team in the first quarter. Panthers junior quarterback Mark Miller was 5-for-5 passing on a first-quarter 87-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 5-yard scoring strike to senior Josh Jones in the right side of the end zone as the clock ran out on the first quarter to give the Panthers a 10-0 lead.
Junior kicker Tony Miliano had capped a 40-yard game-opening drive with a 42-yard field goal to give the Panthers the early lead, 3-0.
But the rest of the game, and specifically the second quarter, belonged to the Raiders.
Aquinas answered Elder's first touchdown with a seven-play, 80-yard drive, capped by an 8-yard TD run by Ronnie Kennedy to make the score 10-7 in Elder's favor.Becker hit Carter over the middle for a 60-yard touchdown pass with 1:53 left in the first half and the Raiders took their first lead of the game. Carter beat two Elder defenders on the play.
“We felt at the beginning of the game that we could get open deep,” said Carter, the son of former Ohio State and Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter. “It’s just coming together, it was our first game, and in the first quarter we were getting a little more chemistry. In the second quarter we found sort of a groove. Our quarterback Ryan Becker played a great game and it all started with our (offensive line) blocking.”
Becker then found Beau Bucci out of the backfield for an 18-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left and the Raiders had a 21-10 lead at halftime after the Panthers turned the ball over for the third time in the game with less than a minute remaining in the first half. Miller was picked off on a third-and-nine play when it seemed the Panthers were content to just run out the half.
Elder had outgained Aquinas 157-35 in the first quarter, but the Raiders outgained the Panthers 183 to minus-1 in the second quarter. For the game Aquinas outgained the Panthers 418-297. The Raiders gained 283 yards in the air and Elder was held to just nine yards rushing.
“We didn’t really know what to expect when we first came out there,” Elder offensive lineman Austen Bujnoch said. “We practiced against so many fronts we didn’t know what they were going to throw at us. (They were) very physical, really big, strong, quick on the outsides. We just got to continue to work hard and win the battle up front.”
Ramsey replaced Miller under center with senior Joe Hetzer, but it was only to get a look at Hetzer. Miller was 11-for-18 for 161 yards, a touchdown and an interception and Hetzer was 14-for-24 for 127 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
“Told Joey he’d get some playing time,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got two guys that can make plays for us.”
Elder senior running back Nick Gramke left the game in the second half with a turned ankle, but Ramsey said he’d be ready for Friday night’s home-opener against Oak Hills.
St. Thomas Aquinas 0 21 7 7 --35
Elder 10 0 7 7 --24
E-Miliano FG 42
E-Jones 5 pass from Miller (Miliano kick)
STA-Kennedy 8 run (Hopfinger kick)
STA-Carter 59 pass from Becker (Hopfinger kick)
STA-Bucci 18 pass from Becker (Hopfinger kick)
STA-Difton 90 pass from Becker (Hopfinger kick)
E-O’Conner 6 pass from Hetzer (Miliano kick)
STA-Becker 1 run (Hopfinger kick)
E-Welch 2 pass from Hetzer (Miliano kick)
Records: STA 1-0, E 0-1.
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