St. Edward ends regular season with road win over Archbishop Hoban
AKRON, Ohio – St. Edward took its only lead of the game late in the fourth quarter on Friday night, but it was enough for a 14-7 win over Archbishop Hoban.
Sophomore running back Brandon White found a hole up the middle and scampered 12 yards for a touchdown with 3:39 left in the game to give the Eagles the 14-7 lead.
St. Edward, who came into the game ranked No. 4 in the SBLive Ohio Power 25 and No. 13 in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 nationally, held Hoban to just 123 yards of total offense and the defense shut out the Hoban offense.
“Our defense just played outstanding the entire game,” St. Edward head coach Tom Lombardo said.
The biggest stop of the game for the St. Edward defense came with the game tied 7-7 as the second quarter was coming to an end. With 21 seconds remaining and Hoban out of timeouts, Knights quarterback Tylan “Juice” Boykin ran it three yards to the St. Edward 1 on third down, and the Knights sent the field goal unit out to try to take a lead into the half.
But Hoban ran a trick play with Boykin running from one side of the formation and taking the snap. As he tried to sneak in from the 1, the Eagles defense was ready and kept him out of the end zone.
“I told (Boykin) if it's not there (on third down), throw the ball away,” Hoban head coach Tim Tyrrell said. “It's just a young kid trying to make a play. (Then) we're trying to hurry up and get a field goal and he's again trying to make a play and obviously he's trying to QB sneak it. That's what you learn from and we'll get better at it.”
The Hoban offense, however, was short-handed, as the Knights were missing three offensive lineman and also starting running back Caleb Jones.
Hoban’s only score came on the first offensive possession of the game for St. Edward, as Hoban linebacker Eli Lee intercepted a pass and took it six yards for a touchdown.
St. Edward got on the board in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run by Nate Gregory on fourth-and-goal.
The teams traded empty possessions in the second half until St. Edward just put the ball in the hands of its running game behind the offensive line led by University of Michigan commit Ben Roebuck and Ohio State University commits Devontae and Deontae Armstrong.
“That's what we're made of,” Lombardo said. “It might take a little while but once we get going on that, then we become awfully tough.”
St. Edward football coach Tom Lombardo watches as his team warms up prior to a game. (Photo: Jeff Harwell)
Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
With that game plan called the “inside run drill,’ the Eagles offense marched 90 yards in 11 plays, capped by the White touchdown.
“The physicality at the end there, we just went right at them,” said Lombardo, who picked up his 100th career win as the head coach of St. Edward with the victory.
It wasn’t just the offensive linemen blocking for the Eagles, either.
“(There were) big holes,” White said. “We went back to our two-back (set) and even our receivers, you don't see a lot of outside receivers blocking downfield but they block downfield, and they push the pile. The one play where I was still up just driving they pushed me like an extra 10 yards.”
The Eagles were not without injury concerns of their own, as starting quarterback Casey Bullock left the game after the first half after tweaking his knee. Thomas Csanyi stepped in and played the second half. It’s the second time this season Csanyi has subbed for Bullock, including a start in the loss to Massillon.
“It's unfortunate what happened with Casey,” Lombardo said. “He's a tough kid and he's going to give everything he has to go do it. But you know, it's next guy up. (Csanyi) wasn't getting as many reps in practice so he had to come in kind of cold again. And when he had his reps, he was doing a good job.”
The Hoban defense was good as well, allowing just 142 yards of offense before the 90-yard drive that gave St. Edward the lead.
“(It showed) we could physically play with anybody, so that's the key,” Tyrrell said. “That was what I wanted out of the whole game and Tom (Lombardo) wants the same thing. We know how physical this game always is. And we were able to do it. They were able to do it. They just came out with more points than we did.”
White, who ran for 262 yards a week ago against Archbishop Moeller, finished the game with 130 yards on 25 carries.
St. Edward finishes the regular season 9-1, while Hoban, who entered the game No. 3 in the SBLive Ohio Power 25, suffers its first loss of the year and wraps up the regular season at 8-1.
Both teams will host for the first two rounds of the OHSAA playoffs, which begin on Friday, Oct. 27.
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
