CUYAHOGA FALLS — Walsh Jesuit secured a fourth consecutive victory in its high school football rivalry series with St. Vincent-St. Mary , cruising to a 52-0 blowout win on a rainy Friday night.
Walsh (3-0) had won the previous three meetings with STVM (1-2) in dominant fashion ( 43-13 in 2023, 41-14 in 2022 and 35-14 in 2021). And the trend of lopsided Walsh wins continued.
"We play for The Bell, so that was in our comments throughout the whole week," Walsh senior quarterback Keller Moten said. "This one means a lot to us. This one was definitely circled on our calendar. We played great."
In February 2023, St. Vincent-St. Mary halted "the Akron Holy War" series with Archbishop Hoban . However, there is no end in sight for STVM versus Walsh. The two programs will be part of the Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference beginning in 2026.
Kickoff occurred at 7 p.m. at Walsh's Conway Memorial Stadium. Here is how the game unfolded through our updates, with quotes from interviews added afterward.
Unbeaten Walsh will host St. Ignatius (1-2) on Sept. 13. St. Ignatius picked up its first win of the season Friday, defeating Dublin Coffman 35-21.
"I couldn't be more excited with how the season has gone so far," Walsh senior wide receiver and safety Aiden Henry said. "I mean, 3-0, that's the perfect place to be. We have a chance to be 4-0. But with Ignatius coming here next week, we haven't played them in a while, they're a big Division I opponent and we're excited to go after them. We've heard a lot about them."
St. Vincent-St. Mary has suffered back-to-back shutout losses after winning its season opener. STVM will visit Warren Harding (1-2) on Sept. 13.
STVM coach Doran Grant said he decided to start freshman quarterback William Adamson in place of junior Anthony Felding because Felding is out with ankle injury he suffered last week in a 17-0 loss to Perry. Adamson threw two interceptions against Walsh. Grant said STVM also lost senior starting running back Donald Johnson Jr. for the rest of the game to an ankle injury he suffered with 5:50 left in the second quarter.
"We've got to come back to the drawing board and keep working," Grant said. "We had some adversity this week, and we've just got to overcome it. We've got a lot of young guys out there. We had a freshman quarterback, freshman center, offensive guard, two freshmen receivers, freshmen on defense, defensive end, safeties. We're just grinding. We're grinding and transforming this program little by little."
Grant explained STVM has been dealing with adversity beyond being hit with injuries to key players.
"Some kids decided not to play, and, hey, these guys just felt good about today and just wanted to keep going," Grant said. "Just dealing with that in their head, had a leader step out on them and they just kept going. So I'm behind them a hundred percent."
With Walsh rolling, sophomore quarterback David Ternosky and other Warriors backups started the second half. And with about 6:30 remaining, Ternosky broke loose for a 41-yard rushing touchdown. Sophomore John Vitatoe made the extra-point kick to give Walsh a 52-0 lead.
With a running clock and about five minutes left in the third quarter, junior running back Carlos Smith rushed for a 1-yard touchdown and Vitatoe made the extra-point kick to give Walsh a 45-0 lead over STVM.
How thoroughly did Walsh dominate? Late in the first half, coach Nick Alexander pulled Moten out of the game and gave him the rest of the night off. He went 4-of-6 passing for 56 yards and a touchdown and rushed six times for 26 yards and a touchdown.
With 33 seconds left in the second quarter, Ternosky replaced Moten and handed off for the final play of the first half.
Then Walsh went to its locker room with a 38-0 halftime lead.
After Walsh registered a defensive stop and forced STVM to punt, Walsh scored another touchdown late in the first half.
Junior Marty Tobin finished a five-play drive by rushing for a 13-yard touchdown, and junior Freddie Marcell made the extra-point kick to boost Walsh's lead to 38-0 with 2:13 left in the second quarter.
Walsh sophomore Emmett Tobin blocked a punt deep in STVM territory, and junior Chase McKenna recovered the ball. With a penalty enforced on the return, Walsh took over at the STVM 22-yard line with 8:23 remaining in the second quarter.
The subsequent possession ended with Marcell making a 29-yard field goal to give Walsh a 31-0 lead with 6:33 left in the second quarter.
A third STVM turnover led to another Walsh touchdown.
Walsh took over at the STVM 49-yard line after senior cornerback Dominic Romanini intercepted a pass by Adamson.
Five plays later, senior running back Lucas Weaver rushed for a 7-yard touchdown with 9:50 left in the second quarter, and Walsh extended its advantage to 28-0 with Marcell's extra-point kick. Weaver finished with nine carries for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Walsh dominated the first quarter, scoring on the game's opening kickoff and turning two takeaways into touchdowns. Walsh led STVM 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
"Complementary football," Alexander said. "It started with a big kick return. We blocked a punt tonight. We played great defense. We had a lot of three-and-outs. We bent but didn't break. They did some good things getting the ball out to the back.
"But complementary football. We were able to run the ball. We threw the ball a little bit, and we didn't know what to expect with this weather. And another thing I really enjoyed about our team was how excited they were to play with each other. It was our first game here at home. Our energy on the sidelines was great. We take a lot of pride in that."
STVM's second possession ended with Walsh junior safety Grant Blascak intercepting a pass from Adamson.
Walsh took control at its 45-yard line with 7:28 left in the first quarter and produced a three-play scoring drive. Moten threw a 31-yard touchdown pass on second-and-1 to junior fullback Vinnie Courtad. Marcell made the ensuing extra-point kick to give Walsh a 21-0 lead with 6:16 left in the first quarter.
Moten's TD pass had some razzle-dazzle elements. He handed off to Weaver. Then Weaver pitched the ball to Henry. A moment later, Henry flipped the ball back to Moten, who launched a pass from the STVM 43-yard line. Courtad was wide open in the end zone and made the catch.
"It was second-and-1, and there was some talk on the headset of, 'Are we about to have a big negative and be in third-and-long?' And then it was, 'Trust it. Let's go,'" Alexander said. "It did work out the way we practice. Actually, one time we practiced it this week, our scout team gave us a look where they picked it off, which scared us off a little bit. But we knew that the rain was coming. We knew for us to run that play, it had to be early, so we got our shot off."
Alexander, Moten and Henry pointed out how happy they were for Courtad because Courtad is more a blocking fullback than a player who is targeted often with passes. Courtad is playing a larger role for Walsh after junior fullback Cade Romanini suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier this season, Alexander said.
After STVM gained two first downs with passes from Adamson on its first possession, the Irish committed a turnover. Walsh senior defensive tackle Anthony Bernard recovered a fumbled snap at the STVM 41-yard line with 10:29 left in the opening quarter.
Six plays later, Walsh extended its lead to 14-0 when Moten rushed for a 7-yard touchdown on first-and-goal and Marcell made the ensuing extra-point kick.
"It's good to get things rolling, get the momentum and our offense did what they do," Bernard said. "We expected it."
Henry returned the game's opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown. Walsh took a 7-0 lead with 11:47 left in the first quarter when Marcell made the extra point.
"All week we were expecting that kickoff deep left look from St. V," Henry said. "So we talked about it all week. We practiced it a lot. We put a lot of emphasis on our special teams, and we got the look we wanted, exactly how we drew it up, and took it down our sideline."
It was Henry's first career kickoff return for a touchdown.
"When a senior captain like Aiden Henry gets that ball and houses it, it shows that, like, 'OK, we're here,'" Alexander said. "Everyone's nervous, myself included. Going into any game, if you're not nervous, you're not doing it right. So it kind of allows us to take that deep breath and then go kick it off, and we got them down inside the 20. We kind of just built on that as it went. So it was contagious tonight."
Here is some pregame information.
Will the Walsh Jesuit and St. Vincent-St. Mary football game start on time or be delayed by weather?
The game began on time.
There was inclement weather in the Friday night forecast for much of Northeast Ohio, including at the site of the game between Walsh and STVM.
It rained for nearly an hour at Walsh prior to kickoff. Rain fell during the game, too.
Who were the Week 3 captains for STVM and Walsh Jesuit?
During the pregame coin toss, senior defensive end/running back Mekhi Madison, senior fullback/linebacker Drew Knight, senior defensive end/fullback Logan Henderson and senior running back/cornerback Donald Johnson Jr. represented St. Vincent-St. Mary as captains.
Walsh's coin toss captains were senior wide receiver/safety Aiden Henry, senior quarterback Keller Moten and senior linemen Matthew DeSciscio and Kodey Kish.
What is all-time series record between St. Vincent-St. Mary and Walsh Jesuit football?
STVM entered Friday with a 24-23 edge in its series with Walsh. But Walsh tied the series 24-24.
Fascinating story about Walsh Jesuit QB: Keller Moten was once feared to have no heartbeat. Now he's Walsh Jesuit football's heartbeat
Who are the head coaches of Walsh and STVM football?
Nick Alexander is now 41-19 in his sixth season as Walsh's head coach. He played quarterback at Mayfield High School and Capital University. At the helm of Walsh, Alexander has gone 4-1 against STVM.
Doran Grant is now 1-2 in his first season as St. Vincent-St. Mary's head coach. He starred at several positions for the STVM football team before becoming a cornerback, captain and national champion with Ohio State. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Grant in the fourth round in 2015. As a STVM player from 2007-10, he went 2-2 against Walsh.
Before this season began, Grant told the Beacon Journal he expected more competitive games from STVM in 2024 and specifically mentioned its blowout loss to Walsh in 2023.
“I'm expecting a pretty solid season, to be honest,” Grant said. “I'm expecting a little better than last year. I'm expecting a little bit more fight. … Like that Walsh Jesuit game last year [when STVM lost 43-13 in Week 6]? I do not expect that type of result moving forward.”
How did St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and Walsh Jesuit High School do in football in 2023?
Last season, STVM went 5-6, including 0-1 in the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs. Walsh went 12-2, including 3-1 in the playoffs. Both teams occupy Division II, Region 5 .
More on STVM coach Doran Grant: Former NFL player carries lessons from great coaches into his new job at the helm of St. Vincent-St. Mary
What did Walsh Jesuit football do in its first two games of the 2024 high school season?
Walsh won 37-35 at Youngstown Ursuline in Week 1 and 47-21 at McDowell (Pa.) in Week 2.
What did Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary football do in its first two games of the 2024 high school season?
STVM won 21-14 at Mansfield Senior in Week 1 and lost 17-0 to visiting Perry in Week 2.
Walsh's Nick Alexander highly respected: These local coaches were voted the best football minds in the Greater Akron-Canton area by their peers last season
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: OHSAA football scores | Walsh Jesuit vs St. Vincent-St. Mary high school football recap
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