Central Catholic tops Whitmer in marathon football battle

It wasn't pretty, and that is an understatement.

But, after three hours and 15 minutes, 220 yards of penalties, numerous delays for players cramping on the field, and a short panic delay, Central Catholic emerged with a 27-17 victory over visiting Whitmer on Friday night in Toledo's premier high school football showdown at a packed Gallagher Stadium.

The victory was the 33rd in a row by the host Fighting Irish (2-0), and their sixth straight over Whitmer (1-1).

Irish senior back Tyler Morgan led the way, carrying 19 times for 158 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Junior back Anthony Sylvester added 105 yards on 20 rushes and a TD, as Central topped the Panthers 363-330 in total offense.

Whitmer senior quarterback Brady Ford was 19 of 37 passing for 267 yards and a score.

“It was very chaotic,” 25th-year Central coach Greg Dempsey said. “You knew the [90-degree] heat and humidity was going to cause some of those [cramping] delays tonight. The penalties? There was a lot of emotion in this game.

“You saw how bad each team wants to beat the other team. This is a great rivalry for northwest Ohio, and sometimes all of those outside influences can have an effect on how the kids see it. They were going back and forth and really wanted to beat each other. There were a lot of high emotions in this game.”

The panic delay turned out to be a false alarm, likely caused by a prior episode in this rivalry.

Two years after a Central-at-Whitmer game was ended early because of gunshots fired at exiting spectators just outside of Whitmer's Memorial Stadium, this game had a 10-minute delay when a large group of spectators beyond the north end zone began running toward the Whitmer side of the field, seemingly in a panic.

Order was restored, and Toledo Police confirmed to Central officials that there was a small altercation among fans, that there was no danger, and the game resumed.

“I didn't hear anything [unusual], so I didn't think much of it,” Dempsey said of the panic in the crowd. “The Toledo Police did a great job of getting on the field and saying, 'Hey, it was just a fight.' The kids went running and [the police] did a great job of getting that word out.”

Down 14-7 at the break, Whitmer parlayed a 48-yard pass from Ford to T.J. Hutchen down the right sideline to eventually set up Rayan Farhan's 36-yard field goal, and get the Panthers within 14-10 just 2:08 into the third quarter.

Central answered with a seven-play, 70-yard drive, which was capped on Sylvester's 6-yard touchdown run to increase its lead to 20-10 with 6:36 remaining in the third.

The Irish got an 8-yard scoring run from sophomore back Jeremiah Fuller for a 27-10 edge with 10:45 left in the game, and Ford guided a scoring drive that culminated in a 5-yard TD run by sophomore Jamon Holmes (13 carries, 56 yards) to get Whitmer within 27-17 with 8:02 to play.

“For a period of time in the first half, we let them get to us and get us out of our game,” Whitmer coach Ken Winters said of the Irish. “We got into the talking stuff, and the pushing and shoving, and we just can't do that.

“We preach it, but for whatever reason we lost our mind. But, we regrouped and came back, and if we don't fumble at the goal line, maybe it's a different game.”

The play Winters was referring to was Ford's fumble into the end zone, recovered by Central with 3:28 left in the third quarter and Whitmer down 20-10. Ford had run 9 yards to the Irish 2 before Kevin Arnold's hit caused the pivotal fumble.

“Everything was fixable,” Winters said of his team's mistakes. “The only thing I don't like is that there was a period of time in the third and fourth quarter that we didn't have the fight we needed to finish the game.”

The Irish capitalized on the second on two first-quarter turnovers by Whitmer to grab a 6-0 lead with 1:06 left in the opening quarter.

Ford was sacked from behind on a hard hit from Central's Anthony Lawrence, and teammate Dominic Spinazze recovered at the Whitmer 9. On the next play, Morgan ran for the touchdown.

Another sack on Ford, this one for a five-yard loss by Jermarihane Morgan, was compounded by a 15-yard Panther personal-foul penalty, eventually leading Whitmer to punt from its 11.

Taking over at the Whitmer 41, once again Tyler Morgan needed just one play to score, this time on a run around the left side.

When the Irish went for two points, QB Isaiah Fox (10 of 18 passing, 111 yards) fumbled into the end zone, where Tyler Morgan recovered to give Central a 14-0 lead 11:20 before halftime.

Midway in the second quarter, it was the Panthers scoring after a Central turnover, a Dayvion Sanders interception of Fox at the Whitmer 15.

From there, the Panthers marched 85 yards on eight plays, and scored on Ford's 25-yard TD pass to Isaiah Hayward to get Whitmer within 14-7 with 5:58 left in the half.

“On offense, we were able to get a running game going, which is something I was worried about against Whitmer's defense,” Dempsey said. “Through tempo, we were able to start wearing them down a little bit in the second half. That's huge when you can do that.”

Whitmer's last win over Central was 21-14 road victory in 2017.