by Lonnel Cole
Considering the tough level of competition that they have played this season, you really have to throw out the records when the Cardinal Ritter Lions (3-4) host the CBC Cadets (4-3) in a Thursday night game (October 15) at 6 p.m. The host Lions have lost to a local state title contender DeSmet (49-48) and three nationally recognized programs from Nebraska, Tennessee and Virginia, while beating Naperville Central of Illinois and most recently, Missouri Class 3 state-runner-up the Lift for Life Hawks 30-22 last Thursday night at Ritter. CBC’s losses have been to out of state nationally recognized foes from Louisville, Tennessee and Georgia.
In beating Lift for Life, which also has a very deceptive record of 2-5 in losing its games to large school state contenders and out of state national foes, Lions coach Brennan Spain acknowledged it was no easy task.
“We’re going to get everybody’s best game,” said Spain. “Lift for Life finished finished second in state last year and make it to the semifinals the year before
Indeed, after a scoreless first quarter, Ritter opened the scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Rhylan Moore to Terrell Davis Jr., with just under five mutes to go in the half. However, Lift for Life countered on the ensuing kickoff as Seven Jackson scored on a 91-yard fake reverse handoff for a touchdown. Then when Ritter broke the third quarter 6-6 tie on a 9-yard pass from Moore to Terrell Davis Jr two minutes into the frame, Lift for Life responded a couple of possession later when linebacker Aiden Barber scooped up a 6-yard fumble recovery off a botched snap. Both teams also converted their two-point conversions to tie the game again, this time 14-14.
But Ritter’s signature score came on a spectacular 26-yard catch from Oklahoma-recruit Malahan Green with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Receiving a strike from Moore in the corner of the end zone, Green somehow held on to the ball with a Hawks defender clinging to him the whole time.
“That’s why he’s going to a program like Oklahoma ,” said Spain
The teams traded touchdowns and conversion points in the fourth quarter as Amir Tillman scored on a 2-yard run for Ritter and Marquise Elliot a 6-yard run for the Hawks, but Ritter was able to make the stops when necessary to never trail in the game.
“It’s hard to stop a team consistently , but all we’ve got to do is make enough timely stops to be in position to win the game,” said Spain. . “We’ve just got to play better all-around defense,. The offense has got to play better. Special teams has got to play better. We’ve got a week to do it, with CBC coming in here.”
Those Cadets are coming off a 49-35 win over Metro Catholic Conference foe Chaminade. The Cadets beat Cardinal Ritter 34-12 early last season at CBC. This season the Cadets primary weapon appears to be dual-threat, junior quarterback Daylen Austen-Harvey, who leads the club in rushing with 758 yards and also a team-high 14 touchdowns and has passed for 1,497 yards and 13 touchdowns.
While CBC will take on Cardinal Ritter on Thursday night, Lift for Life will travel to Chaminade for a 6 pm game Friday night (Oct. 16) to take on the same high-powered offense, which CBC just outlasted. But Lift for Life coach Tony Woolford does see a silver lining in his own attack, which has dealt with graduation losses, injuries and other attrition.
“I’m most excited to see we’re getting more explosive plays now,” said Woolfolk. “We’ve had problems with dropped passes, not finishing drives.”
But with just two weeks left in the regular season, only time will tell if the Hawks can regain their recently great pos-season form of making the semifinals and state championship game.
“Last year I drove myself crazy talking about making it to the final game of the year,” remarked Woolfolk. “This year we’ve just got to take it one game at a time.”
Lift for Life will close out its regular season on Saturday afternoon ( 1 pm) October 24, when the Hawks play host to Columbia Hickman at the Jackie Joyner Kersee Center Park. Cardinal Ritter, meanwhile , will close out its regular season on the road against, what is now 7-0 Jackson and ranked number 1 in the state of Missouri in Class 6, the state’s largest classification.
Photos: CBC dual threat quarterback Daylen Austen-Harvey (left) and Cardinal Ritter receiver Malahan Green will be among the featured standouts in Thursday night’s throwdown between state title contenders at Cardinal Ritter on Thursday night (Oct. 15). School social media photos.
