By LOWELL SPENCER

Sports Correspondent

WELLSVILLE –The rescheduled game between the Catholic Central Crusaders and the Wellsville Tigers on Saturday night at Nicholson Stadium featured two legendary coaches in the area. However, they would be the first to tell you that the game is all about the kids as the Crusaders captured a hard-fought 26-15 victory over the Tigers.

“We knew what they were going to do, and they knew what we were going to do,” Tigers head coach Jim Tsilimos said.

“When I was the head coach here and he was at Lisbon, that Wellsville-Lisbon battle was fierce.” Crusaders head coach Eric Meek said. “But we are very good friends, and we have mutual respect for each other.”

In his first season at Wellsville, Tsilimos knows that this is a building season. His team will learn and grow from the disappointing experience.

“They grew up a lot tonight,” Tsilimos said. “Going into tonight, I had some concerns because I knew they (Crusaders) have some nice-sized defensive linemen. We stopped them, and we marched right down the field on them.”

With both teams breaking in a lot of new starters this season, the game was filled with miscues and unforced errors. The teams combined for 17 penalties, with most of them being pre-snap infractions. The Crusaders also fumbled the ball six times, losing two of them while the Tigers threw an interception.

“Those hurt,” Tsilimos said. “You can’t give a good football team like Catholic extra five yards with jumping offside and that kind of stuff. That is something we have to work on.”

“We are a young team. We made some mistakes offensively and defensively,” Meek said regarding his team of just seven seniors. “But I think we did well with moving the ball on the ground. Both teams played hard.”

It was the Tigers who grabbed the early lead in the contest as senior fullback Leland Monte raced 30 yards for a touchdown on their first possession. A Ryder Culp extra point conversion gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead at the 7:53 mark of the opening frame.

Unfortunately, the Tigers were unable to take advantage of a Crusaders turnover on their ensuing possession, resulting in the Crusaders getting a second life in which they seized the opportunity on a 1-yard run by their fullback Kyran Busic plus a two-point conversion to take the lead at 8-7 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

Following a 53-yard run by Crusaders quarterback Matthew Sprochi to the Tigers’ 1, Ryan Halzworth scored on a 6-yard run two plays later. That gave the Crusaders a 14-7 advantage with 6:20 left in the second quarter following a missed conversion.

The Tigers’ defense came up with a big stand just before halftime to keep it a one-score contest when the Crusaders drove down to the Tigers’ 5 with just over a minute remaining. However, the Crusaders committed their second turnover with Culp pouncing on the loose ball.

The Tigers looked to tie the game up with an impressive drive to start the second half as they traveled 36 yards on 10 plays. However, Tigers quarterback Jeron Jackson was stopped a yard short of a first down on a fourth-and-7 run, turning the ball back over to the Crusaders at their 14.

The Crusaders sealed the game early in the fourth quarter as they added 12 points on an 8-yard run by Sprochi, and a 35-yard pass interception return by DaMyus Rambsel to make it 26-7 with 7:46 remaining in the game.

“That pass that we threw that they scored, Jeron just needed to get a little more air on it, but he will come back, work hard, and he is a great kid. It could have been a lot closer,” Tsilimos said.

The Tigers fought to the end, once again putting together an impressive drive as they went 51 yards on 11 plays. Monte raced into the corner of the end zone with just 49 seconds remaining in the game. He added a two-point conversion run to cut final deficit to 11 points.

“They played hard,” Tsilimos said about his young Tigers. “We shot ourselves in the foot too many times. We have just three seniors; we are a really young team, and they are finding out what high school football is all about.”

The Tigers will look to bounce back when they travel to East Canton on Friday night in their next game.

The Crusaders will look to keep the momentum going on Saturday when they host the Strasburg-Franklin Tigers in their home opener.

SC: 0-14-0-12–26

W: 7- 0-0- 8–15

SCORING

W-Leland Monte 30 run (Ryder Culp kick)

SC-Kyran Busic 1 run (Kyran Busic run)

SC-Ryan Holzworth 6 run (kick failed)

SC-Matthew Sprochi 8 run (kick failed)

SC-DaMyus Rambsel 35 interception return (kick failed)

W-Leland Monte 3 run (Leland Monte run)

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SC W

First downs 12 10

Total Yards 216 212

Rushes-yards 36-191 38-211

Passing 25 1

Comp-Att-Int 2-3-0 1-6-1

Punts 1-45 4-12

Fumbles-Lost 6-2 0-0

Penalties-Yards 7-30 10-50

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Steubenville Central, Matthew Sprochi 15-96, Ryan Holzworth 9-63; Wellsville, Jeron Jackson 14-97, Leland Monte 10-72, Ryder Culp 14-42.

PASSING–Steubenville Central, Matthew Sprochi 2-3-25-0-0; Wellsville, Jeron Jackson 1-6-1-0-1.

RECEIVING–Steubenville Central, Matty Jones 1-16, Kyran Busic 1-9; Wellsville, Ethan Morris 1-1.

INTERCEPTIONS-Steubenville Central, DaMyus Rambsel.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES – Welllsville, Ethan Morris, Ryder Culp.