Lake Catholic's Ground Game Chews Up Padua

Some might look at ’s toolbox and see only hammers, but when they come crashing down like they did against Padua, you don’t need much else to build a victory.

Lake Catholic racked up 235 yards on the ground and ruined the Bruins homecoming game with a 48-26 trouncing for the Cougars largest offensive output of the season on Friday night.

Senior running back Evan Gormley had three touchdown runs of 35, 6 and 2 yards for the Cougars and Richie Miller had a 59-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Lake Catholic improved to 7-1 and 3-1 in the North Coast League, while Padua fell to 1-7 and 0-3 in the NCL. Lake Catholic is sixth in the Associated Press Division III state poll.

The Cougars had an unusually explosive offensive evening as the team averaged almost 21 points per game heading into Friday’s contest.

Gormley finished the evening with 113 yards on 13 rushes after gaining 21 yards on 11 carries with no touchdowns against Notre Dame Cathedral Latin last week. Gormley has 10 rushing touchdowns on the season.

“I know at halftime, he had seven touches for about 70 yards. We knew the average was high. We had to keep giving him the ball in the second half,” Lake Catholic head football coach Mike Bell said. “We decided the ground game was best for us in the second half, and of course, he was a big part of it. He responded well for us.”

Junior quarterback Mark Baniewicz had 91 yards on 18 carries with a rushing touchdown. Mike Tutolo and John Stepec each had 1-yard TD runs.

The Cougars defense as Aaron Phillips and Ryan Fyffe also had one pick each and raised Lake Catholic’s total to 19 interceptions through eight games.

“Richie Miller picked one and took it to the house which is always exciting when the defense scores. Ryan Fyffe had a tremendous interception on an attempted screen pass. It was just a phenomenal one-handed grab. And Aaron Phillips had the other.

“I think it’s a combination of a number of things, but ultimately it’s those guys playing hard and being where they’re supposed to be,” Bell said.

Lake Catholic hosts Archbishop Hoban (1-7) on Friday night at 7 p.m. and faces its second consecutive one-win team, but Bell will look to get his squad in the right mindset.

“They had a big win tonight against NDCL (7-3). The record they have, we certainly can’t let that fool us. We know they’re a very talented football team, well coached. We’ve got to make sure come Monday with these players we’re doing the right things and be ready to play on Friday,” Bell said.

Lake Catholic  14  20  7  7  48

Padua                0  13  7  6  26

1st Quarter

Lake Catholic - Gormley 35 run (Korb kick)

Lake Catholic - Miller 59 INT return (Korb kick)

2nd Quarter

Padua - Hughes 1 run (kick blocked)

Lake Catholic - Gormley 7 run (kick failed)

Lake Catholic - Baniewicz 1 run (Korb kick)

Padua - Wozniak 43 pass from Kornowski (Bahnij kick)

Lake Catholic - Gormley 3 run (Korb kick)

3rd Quarter

Lake Catholic - Tutolo 1 run (Korb kick)

Padua - Baumer 53 Pass from Wozniak (Bahnij kick)

4th Quarter

Lake Catholic - Stepec 1 run (Korb kick)

Padua - Hughes 1 run (kick kailed)