Box Score CINCINNATI – It took a year and an extra day for Elder and St. Xavier meet again in the OHSAA football playoffs. In a game postponed from Friday to Saturday morning due to a persistent lightning storm, St. Xavier doubled Elder, 56-28.

Charles Kellom and Brogan McCaughey led the St. Xavier ground and air attack.  Kellom collected four touchdowns – two rushing, two receiving – and McCaughey collected five touchdown strikes en route to the win. 

St. Xavier owned a 28-14 advantage at the half.  Back-to-back touchdowns by Elder tied the game with 8:45 left in the third quarter, at 28-28. From there, the Long Blue Line responded with 28 unanswered points en route to its fifth straight win.

"We battled Coronavirus. We battled the rages of the gods last night and came back today," St. Xavier coach Steve Specht said. "Nothing's normal, but we're one of eight (teams) left. As long as we keep working hard, keep being the best that we can be, that's going to be enough for us."
Kellom caught three passes for 37 yards and added 78 yards on 12 carries.

Once again, McCaughey flourished for the Bombers completing 17-of-25 for 345 yards, including touchdown passes of 65, 63, 24, 8 and 22 yards.

After missing his first two passes, McCaughey completed a 65-yard touchdown to Patterson deep down the sidleline a mere 23 seconds into the game to unleash the Bombers' aerial assault.

Elder responded on a drive that culminated with a Drew Ramsey 1-yard plunge to level the score, at 7-7.  Ramsey finished with 51 yards on 19 carries, including a pair of touchdowns.  Ramsey also notched five catches for a game-high 141 yards.  He also completed 2-of-3 passes for 46 yards. 

McCaughey came right back finding Clifford for a 63-yard catch at run.  On a short pass, Clifford outran the Panthers' defense to make it 14-7 with 7:10 to go in the opening stanza.

By quarter's end, the Panthers knotted the score on a 10-yard run to make it 14-14.

"Our offense is playing well right now," said Specht.  "I think our defense played well, too.  You don't shut an Elder offense down. If we can contain them, we had a chance.  Elder does so many different things offensively, it's hard to get a bead on them."

On the first play of the second frame, Max Klare completed his inspirational return with a 24-yard touchdown pass reception.  After missing multiple games, Klare's first score of the year made it 21-14.

In his first game of full service, since the season opener, Klare posted touchbacks on 8-of-9 kickoffs.  Placekicker Mason Rohmiller was a perfect 8-of-8 PAT attempts.

With 2:37 to go in the first half, Kellom capped capped a 10-play, 94-yard drive for St. Xavier with a six-yard run over the left tackle to make it 28-14.

The Bombers allowed Ramsey a four-yard touchdown, then a McCaughey screen pass was deflected and returned 21 yards to level the score, at 28-28.

"I've said all year that we want our kids to be their individual best," said Specht.  "If we score fast, fantastic.  If we score slow, fantastic.  The whole goal with high school kids is to see them grow and develop every day.  I'm awfully proud of these kids and this senior class.  It won its last home game.  It won every game at home and almost beat the GCL South twice.  There are eight -- Division I -- teams left in the state of Ohio.  We're one of them.  I love these kids."

Max Bonner's recovery on the ensuing Elder onside kickoff gave St. Xavier great field position.  A timely 39-yard pass to Lucas Cates on 3rd and 11 set up Kellom's second touchdown, an 8-yard score to Kellom to regain the lead.  

With 2:17 to go in the third quarter, Luke Vrsansky burst through from five yards out for a touchdown and padded the Bombers lead, at 42-28 . With only 10 seconds to play n the third quarter, McCaughey hit Kellom in the corner of the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown pass and the lead ballooned to 49-28.

Following a Sam Buerkle sack that led to another Elder punt, Kellom needed two plays to carry the ball 44 yards to set the final count at 56-28.  Buerkle made six tackles a sack and a fumble recovery. 

Leading the Bombers' defense, Matthew Devine notched a game-high 12 tackles, including a sack.  Eli Kirk totaled nine tackles.  Grant Lyons and Giovanni Albanese both collected seven tackles and a quarterback sack. 

Along with his regular long snapping and back up quarterback duties, the versatile Ryan Nolan found his way into six tackles.

The Long Blue Line defense finished with eight tackles for loss that included four sacks. 

"We talked last night about what championship teams do to overcome,"  added Specht.  "This team has had to deal with a pandemic.  A lightning storm is nothing in the grand scheme of things over the last six months.  Adversity sets in, but they pulled in and got after it."

St. Xavier moves on to play Lakota West in the Division I, Region IV Final, on next Friday,  Oct. 30. The winner advances to the OHSAA Division I state semifinal round.