Eagles Outlast Cleveland Heights in the First Round of Football Playoffs

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS — After opening their Division I first round playoff game against Cleveland Heights with a 25-yard run off right tackle by Dwayne Aaron, the  Eagles followed a simple recipe: lather, rinse, repeat.

Over and over.

The Eagles (8-3) ran 39 times and passed only once in a first half that separated the defending state champs from the upstart Tigers (9-1) by a score of 21-6.

Cleveland Heights kept St. Edward on their toes using the outstanding quarterback play of Bryce Jones, who also played admirably at cornerback, and pinned the Eagles back deep as the Tigers’ punter several times.

In the end, it was St. Edward pulling away with the win, 28-14.

“They’re a good team, and any way you can get from point A to point B to win the game, you do it,” said Eagles’ coach Rick Finotti in reference to the unbalanced St. Edward attack. “It was working, we found what works and we did it”.

“We let them hang around, and they did a nice job out there.”

The Eagles withstood a rally from the Tigers buckling down on defense in the second half, using the momentum Cleveland Heights gained on a touchdown with under 3 minutes to go in the first half, when Bryce Jones found Marcus Bagley on a long lateral pass, who then heaved the ball to a streaking Marcus McShepard, who found the end zone for the Tigers’ first score on the 54 yard strike.

After the half, Bagley rushed into the end zone from 12 yards out, and a two point conversion made it a one-score game with 9:34 to go in the third quarter.

A tense moment turned into a nearly 45 minute delay as Tigers linebacker was injured during the second quarter after ending up at the bottom of a mound of players. He did have movement in his feet, but was stabilized on a board and carted off to the hospital. No update was available during the game on Simmons’ condition.

Running backs Aaron and Kenny Butler did the heavy lifting behind the Eagles’ mammoth offensive line; Aaron finished his night with an impressive 205 yards rushing, Butler finished with 108.

Each finished with two touchdowns.

Though they did not need much in the way of help from the passing game, quarterback Ryan Fallon came up big when needed. 

Fallon did some running of his own on a few occasions, extending a drive with his quick feet for a 22 yard gain late in the third quarter. Fallon only attempted six passes in the contest, completing two of them, not including a long gain midway through the fourth quarter to Boston College recruit tight end Sam Grant that was called back due to a block in the back.

Penalties played a huge role in the game on both sides, particularly a critical offsides penalty on the Tigers, on a field goal attempt with only 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, which instead gave St. Edward a first down, and two plays later Butler rumbled into the end zone to cap the scoring and finish off Cleveland Heights.

The Eagles’ victory sets up a rematch of against the rival St. Ignatius Wildcats, who entered regional play as the No. 2 seed in Division I, Region 1.

The Eagles are quite content as the No. 6 seed.

“We’ll look at our notes from last week, watch the tape, and go from there. We’re looking forward to it, said Finotti, taking a the same business-like approach that his players did last night.

Good teams can run the ball and play tough defense to win in the playoffs, which holds true on every level of football. The Eagles will have to wait until next Saturday night to find out if they have found the winning recipe.