Triad’s Awesom Mitchell (20) brings down a Springfield Catholic Central ball carrier Friday evening. The Cardinals lost, 20-0. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Springfield Catholic Central, which may be the surprise football team in the Ohio Heritage Conference this fall, upped its record to 4-0 Friday evening.
The Irish did so with a 20-0 victory over Triad.
SCC has been putting a ton of points on the board.
The Cardinals, however, limited the potent Irish offense to just two touchdowns.
Springfield Catholic Central’s final TD of the night came on a pick six in the fourth quarter.
Triad was without head coach Dylan Wears, who was ill and not in attendance at the contest.
Assistant coach Demetrius Susi took over the team, but declined to comment after the game.
The Irish controlled field position and ball possession during the opening period.
Their second drive of the game resulted in their first TD.
The Cardinal defense stopped SCC on downs during the game’s opening series.
Triad couldn’t capitalize and punted after three plays.
SCC quarterback Ty Myers directed a possession that ran 12 plays in marching down to the Cardinal three-yard-line.
Myers was assisted with the Irish ground game by running back Tyler Young.
The first quarter ended with Young taking the ball down to the three.
SCC needed only two plays into the ensuing stanza to score.
Myers was stopped for no gain.
Tyler Mays blasted through for Springfield Catholic’s first touchdown.
Daniel Kamara kicked the extra point with 11:14 left until halftime.
The conversion gave the Irish a 7-0 margin.
The Cardinals shot off one toe when they lost possession on a fumble during their ensuing possession.
The Irish took over on Triad’s 31-yard line.
Myers connected on passes to DeShawn Martin and Lonnie Brown as SCC wasted no time going through Triad’s defense.
The toss to Brown gave the Irish the ball on the Cardinal five-yard-line.
Ashton Young then smashed through the Triad line for another score.
Kamara’s PAT pushed the visitors out to a 14-0 lead.
The teams swapped punts during their next possessions.
Triad then lost the ball on downs with 20.7 ticks left until halftime.
SCC ran two plays before the halftime break.
The Cardinals opened the second half with a nice drive deep into SCC territory.
Hayden Simpson did most of the heavy lifting on the ground.
The Cardinals, however, shot themselves in the foot a couple of times during the series.
A chop block call and a holding infraction slowed the possession to a crawl.
Triad lost the ball on downs, but quickly got it back after Simpson recovered an Irish fumble.
Once again, the Cardinals moved deep into SCC territory.
Catholic Central’s defense rose to the occasion and began pushing back on Triad’s offensive surge.
Quarterback Derek Bails experienced a fierce pass rush and threw the ball away.
He was called for intentional grounding.
That resulted in a loss of down and put the ball way back on the Irish 33.
Triad couldn’t do anything else with the pigskin.
Neither could the Irish as their ensuing series moved into the fourth quarter.
SCC’s drive stalled at the Triad 17-yard-line.
Kamara attempted a 34-yard field goal, but the ball sailed wide left.
Simpson picked up some key yardage during Triad’s next series.
Bails also connected with Kane Bailey on a pass that moved the Cardinals to their own 41.
A pair of running plays by Simpson netted only four more yards and Triad faced fourth-and-seventh.
Bails went back to pass and sent the ball in the air.
Ashton Young of SCC, however, intercepted it near midfield.
He turned on the jets and didn’t stop running until he had crossed the end line with a pick six.
Kamara’s PAT failed.
However, with 2:46 left in the game, the Irish took a 20-0 advantage.
Once again, Triad moved the ball well against the SCC defense.
Good luck, however, continued to elude the Cardinals.
Simpson picked up some tough yardage as it appeared Triad (2-2) would manage a consolation touchdown.
He got down to the SCC one-yard-line as the clock raced to less than 10 seconds.
The Cardinals (who will travel to Greenon on Friday) could not get another snap off before time expired.