'It was a great experience' | Elder defeats host Withrow 28-6 in season opener

Doug Ramsey has coached countless quarterbacks over his 28 years as the Elder head coach.

So what does Ramsey say to first-year starter and sophomore Kaden Estep prior to Thursday night’s season opener?

“I just give him crap,” Ramsey said with a smile. “You scared? You scared? I just think you got to loosen him up a little bit. That’s why we ran him on the first play of the game. Get hit, you’re going to be fine. Get the nerves out and ready to roll. And then he went off and did some things.”

Estep was 8 of 11 passing for 96 yards including two touchdown passes to senior wide receiver Christopher Paff as Elder defeated host Withrow 28-6 Thursday night during the season opener for both teams. Estep also rushed for 85 yards on 15 carries.

“He had a couple of opportunities down the field, kind of hurried the ball a little bit,” Ramsey said. “You look at his night and he had almost 100 yards rushing and 8 for 11 passing in your first start as a sophomore against a good team — that’s not bad at all.”

Senior linebacker Maddox Arnold scored two rushing touchdowns for the Panthers (1-0). The University of Toledo verbal commit hadn’t played in the backfield since his freshman year.

“It was a great experience,” Arnold said. “Coach Ramsey trusted me to put me in at running back, scored two touchdowns. It was an amazing thing to do.”

Thursday night was the first meeting between Elder, a Division I program, and Withrow, a Division II team, since 1998.

“We played like we were very inexperienced,” Ramsey said. “I thought we did a lot of good things. It’s a good team. They’re scary. I told (Elder defensive coordinator) Jay (Roden) after the game I couldn’t watch when they had the ball because you feel like they can score on every single play. I thought our defense played really well tonight.”

Withrow had 104 yards rushing and 126 yards passing. Elder had 284 yards of total offense including 188 yards on the ground and 96 yards in the air.

“Withrow is a really, really good team,” Arnold said. “We came out prepared for them. Some great wide receivers, some great running backs. A really good team and we just came prepared.”

Elder turned the ball over on downs on its first possession in the first quarter. The Tigers took advantage. Withrow senior Quintin Simmons, a University of Kentucky commit, scored on a 92-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead at the 6:27 mark of the first quarter.

Arnold’s 2-yard touchdown run nearly four minutes later along with senior Max Crawford’s extra point gave the Panthers a 7-6 lead.

Elder went ahead 14-6 early in the second quarter on Estep’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Paff. Arnold and Paff scored second-half touchdowns, too.

Senior linebacker George Guidugli had a game-high 10 tackles, according to the Elder statistics. Arnold had seven tackles including two sacks.

Withrow sophomore defensive back Mark Madden had a team-high seven tackles (six solo). Senior linebacker PJ Roberson had six tackles including one sack.

"We have to do a better job finishing and capitalizing," Withrow coach Anthony Berry said. "Today was a growing moment for a young team that's coming together versus a great opponent out of the gate. We will be fine. Withrow has to control Withrow. If we do that we are in good shape. Get back to the drawing board, clean up some things and on to Alter."

Elder, which has seven home games this season, plays host to West Catholic (Mich.) Aug. 30. Withrow plays at Alter (at Kettering Fairmont) Aug. 30.

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