The North Royalton Bears will face off against the Padua Franciscan Bruins at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 46-13, which was the final score in North Royalton's tilt against Nordonia on Friday. The Bears were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 32-7.
Despite the loss, North Royalton saw an underclassman step up: Rory Hannah rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown. Hannah got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 62 yards.
Meanwhile, Padua Franciscan got themselves on the board against Elyria Catholic on Friday, but Elyria Catholic never followed suit. They put the hurt on the Panthers with a sharp 21-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Bruins, who have now won three matches by 21 points or more so far this season.
Roderick Love was a one-man wrecking crew for Padua Franciscan as he rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 104 receiving yards. Another player making a difference was Nick Barker, who rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Padua Franciscan was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 234 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
North Royalton's defeat was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 1-4. As for Padua Franciscan, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
North Royalton came up short against Padua Franciscan in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 27-20. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Love, who rushed for 254 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.5 yards per carry. Now that North Royalton knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
