Football Game Preview: Elyria Catholic Panthers vs. St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish

The Elyria Catholic Panthers will face off against the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Vincent-St. Mary took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Elyria Catholic, who comes in off a win.

If St. Vincent-St. Mary heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Elyria Catholic took over last week. The Panthers came out on top against Padua Franciscan by a score of 21-14 on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Panthers.

Elyria Catholic found their leader in sophomore Jazear Terry, who rushed for 83 yards and one touchdown on only ten carries, and also caught one TD.

Elyria Catholic didn't let much get past them through the air: they limited Padua Franciscan to a completion percentage of just 29%. The team can thank Juelz Martin for the heroic effort on defense: he. Elyria Catholic wasn't nearly as limited: they posted one of 57.1%.

Elyria Catholic's defense didn't let Landon Hanover., get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for 3.5 sacks. Trent Merrell was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sacks himself.

Meanwhile, St. Vincent-St. Mary was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their 14th straight loss dating back to last season. They had to suffer through a 37-7 loss at the hands of Villa Angela-St. Joseph. While losing is never fun, the Fighting Irish can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio football rankings (they are ranked 219th, while the Vikings are ranked 78th).

St. Vincent-St. Mary's defeat dropped their record down to 0-5. As for Elyria Catholic, they picked up their first road victory, bumping their record up to 2-3.

Elyria Catholic didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against St. Vincent-St. Mary in their previous meeting back in September of 2024, but they still walked away with a 28-22 win. Will the Panthers repeat their success, or do the Fighting Irish have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.