Ohio City - Saint Ignatius, under the direction of Hall of Fame Head Coach Chuck Kyle '69, and the Elder Panthers of veteran Head Coach Doug Ramsey have met on the gridiron four previous times.
The most recent encounter took place on November 29th, 2008, when the Wildcats turned back Elder, 28-20, in the OHSAA Division I State Championship Game at historic Canton Fawcett Stadium, now known as Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. That victory by the 'Cats was the 10th of their record 11 big-school state football championships.
Elder and Saint Ignatius had their first football matchup on Halloween of 1998 and the Wildcats came away with a 21-20 triumph in overtime. The Panthers won the next two meetings, 23-7 in 2001 and 45-35 in 2002.
Nearly nine years after their state championship matchup of 2008, Saint Ignatius and Elder will test each other's will for a fifth time in one of Ohio's games to watch this coming weekend. Saturday's kickoff from Elder's storied venue "The Pit" will be 2 PM.
While Saint Ignatius has taken its 4-0 start to the top ranking in the Associated Press Division I State Poll and National and Midwest Regional prominence in USA Today's rankings, Elder is coming off its first setback after a 3-0 start.
And it was a loss that many of the Panthers' faithful are still shaking their heads over.
After defeating then back-to-back Division I state champion St. Edward at The Pit in 2016, 15-9, Elder agreed to a rematch with the Eagles in 2017, which took place this past Saturday night at Bedford's Bearcat Stadium.
Dominating all phases of the game, St. Edward, 4-0 and currently ranked fourth in the AP Division I State Poll, rode three rushing touchdowns and a TD pass by quarterback Zach Kincaid and a smothering defense to a 40-7 victory over the Panthers. The Eagles totaled 372 yards of offense and limited the Panthers to a total of 177 yards.
Elder quarterback Danny Nieman completed 10 of his 21 passes for 102 yards, as the Panthers' ground game was almost non existent. The team from the Queen City avoided a shutout thanks to a 30-yard touchdown reception by versatile back Luke Massminster early in the fourth quarter.
On Saturday in The Pit, Elder will be facing one of the most complete defenses the Buckeye State, or the entire Midwest for that matter, has to offer in the "Linebacker Legion"- led Wildcats of Saint Ignatius.
After the loss to St. Edward, the Panthers are ranked 11th in latest AP Division I State Poll.
Things don't get any easier for Elder after Saturday's encounter with Saint Ignatius, as the Panthers travel to defending Division I State Champion St. Xavier on Friday, September 29th and host Archbishop Moeller on Friday, October 6th. St. Edward, Saint Ignatius, St. Xavier and Archbishop Moeller. Yes, I would say that's a demanding four-game stretch.
HERE IS A LOOK AT THE ELDER PANTHERS COURTESY OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL COACH IN THE AREA - MR. CHUCK KYLE: "We played a good fourth game of the year and so did St. Eds," Coach Kyle said of the Wildcats' impressive 38-7 victory over Detroit Catholic Central, the 2016 big-school state runner-up in Michigan. "Things are kicking into gear, you can see.
"Eds came out and was very patient," Coach Kyle continued. "It was the 5-yard gain and the 6-yard gain, boom, boom right down the field. I think that sort of shocked Elder a little bit. We have a task ahead of us, playing in The Pit on an afternoon that is supposed to be in the high 80s down there. They (the Panthers) obviously are going to be fired up. They were ranked in the top 10 in the state and then had that happen to them.
"Defensively, I think they will probably be adjusting a few things, because they were giving up some big runs," said Coach Kyle. "Maybe they will take a look at the run and see if their safeties can help a little bit there. We'll have to take a look at that. When you're blocking guys in the box, it's kind of hard to block the safeties that are coming up. That's a concern."
As for the other side of the ball, Coach Kyle said the Panthers were missing a running back and that this season the run seems to be a little more pronounced in Elder's offense. He added that he thought the Panthers' short passing game was pretty effective.
In previous seasons, Elder featured a passing game led by quarterback Peyton Ramsey, Coach Ramsey's son and a redshirt freshman at Indiana University.
"I think there is just a little change in the flow of their offense," added the man who has been guiding his alma mater's football program since 1983. "They're well-schooled, their technique is good and they pass block well. They'll do a lot of unbalanced line and move the backs around. They're creative in that area and our kids have to recognize it. All week we've been working on formation recognition."
As several coaches in the Queen City have said, Elder comes at you with a plethora of formations.
AT THE CONTROLS: Coach Kyle said senior Daniel Alexander will be his starting quarterback on Saturday, pointing to the big plays Daniel made in the second half versus Detroit Catholic Central on Byers Field last weekend.
SOME NUMBERS TO CHEW ON: As they did during their 2016 Division I state runner-up season with Jimmy Andrews '17 and Mark Bobinski '18, the Wildcats are coming at defenses this fall with the 1-2 punch of Bobinski and junior Jahadge "Bo" Floyd. Mark has rushed for 380 yards and four touchdowns and has seven receptions for 42 yards. Jahadge has 233 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries, including last weekend's 72-yard TD run versus Detroit Catholic Central. "Bo" also has a 29-yard reception on the season.
Senior wide receiver Sammy Snyder checks in with 25 receptions for 407 yards and three touchdowns, and senior Michael Drobnick has 10 receptions for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, senior outside linebacker Logan Joyce has 28 tackles, including 9.5 for a loss of 27 yards. Logan also has two fumble recoveries. Relentless junior linebacker Tommy Eichenberg has 24 tackles, including 5.5 for a loss of 22 yards. Hard-nosed, flying-to-the-ball senior safety Matt Viancourt has 18 tackles, including three for -minus 8 yards, an interception and a fumble recovery. Junior cornerback Jett Elad, who this corner looks upon as one of the true underrated performers in the area, has 13 tackles, five key pass breakups and an interception return for a touchdown of 26 yards.
Last, but certainly not least, this corner's "Chairmen of the Board" in the defensive secondary, senior safety and Captain Justin Sands and senior Cameron Toppin, who is among the best of the best when it comes to man coverage cornerbacks in Ohio, have numbers that show Justin with 14 tackles, two interceptions, a sack and two other tackles for losses, and Cam with 18 tackles and three interceptions.
ANOTHER BIG GAME IN THE QUEEN CITY THIS WEEKEND: St. Xavier (4-0), ranked second to Saint Ignatius in the AP Division I State Poll and ranked 20th in USA Today's "Expert" Super 25 Rankings, will face Archbishop Moeller (3-1) at Lockland Field on Friday night. Moeller is the state's 12th-ranked Division I team. The Crusaders' only setback came to nationally ranked Louisville Trinity.
Friday's game will feature two of the top quarterbacks in the state, St. Xavier's Chase Wolf and Archbishop Moeller's Miles McBride. The Crusaders haven't beaten the Bombers since 2014. The last three regular-season meetings between the two have been decided by a total of 17 points.
Have a great rest of the week and weekend, and we will see you at the Freshmen Game versus Glenville on Thursday at 4:30 PM on Bump Taylor Field and in The Pit on Saturday afternoon.