INDIANAPOLIS
Roncalli’s 22-game regular-season winning streak came to an end Friday in a wild affair at Bob Tully Field that ended with the opposition giving the Royals a rare taste of their own medicine.
Cincinnati Elder, which has won a pair of Ohio state championships in its history, ran eight plays at the end while nursing a one-point lead, forced Roncalli to burn all its timeouts and gained just enough yardage to run out the clock in a 24-23 victory.
Roncalli (7-1), ranked second in Class 4A, rallied from a 17-0 second-quarter deficit by scoring 23 straight points and led 23-17 with 1:04 remaining in the third quarter. But two possessions later, Elder, which took over possession at the 50-yard line, completed a 49-yard pass play to the Royals 1. Luke Flowers’ 1-yard touchdown run tied it on the next play, and the ensuing point after gave the Panthers the lead with 8:18 to play.
The Royals appeared poised to take the lead back when they drove 45 yards on 10 plays to the Panthers’ 35, but the drive stalled there. Elder sacked Roncalli quarterback Arik Moyers on fourth down with 3:54 to play.
From there, Elder ran eight plays and gained a pair of first downs, forcing Roncalli to use all three of its timeouts. On fourth down from the Roncalli 30, the Panthers threw an incomplete pass high in the air and out of bounds as time expired.
“We pride ourselves on being fundamentally sound and physical, and we weren’t that at the beginning,” Roncalli coach Eric Quintana said. “Our guys bounced back in the second half, and we fought and we played hard, but that was on us. (Elder) played hard, I’m not taking anything away from them, but we lost that game because of Roncalli. We will not allow that to happen ever again.”
Indeed, Elder built its 17-0 edge largely on the strength of two Roncalli turnovers. The Panthers converted both into touchdowns. Meanwhile, Roncalli managed just 75 yards of offense in the first half.
But the Royals seized the momentum at the close of the first half with a 10-play, 64-yard touchdown drive to close the half and trim Elder’s lead to 17-9. A Charlie Elsener 17-yard touchdown catch from Moyers concluded the drive.
Roncalli got the ball to start the second half, and pieced together a vintage 15-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a Luke Hansen 2-yard touchdown run to cut the margin to 17-15 (the Royals failed to convert the two-point try).
On their next possession, a Hansen 66-yard run set up a 10-yard Hansen touchdown catch. The ensuing Dylan Koglin two-point conversion catch gave Roncalli a 24-23 edge.
“We were getting to those spots; they were just slipping off blocks late,” Quintana said of Roncalli’s first-half offensive struggles. “The turnovers, the mental errors were what got us. In the second half, we went to work. Unfortunately, time ran out.”
Hansen, after managing just 20 yards before the touchdown drive to close the first half, finished with 221 rushing yards. Moyers completed 5 of 7 passes for 51 yards, but two of those completions went for touchdowns.
Roncalli outgained Elder 279-237, but the Panthers benefited from superior field position to start drives. Elder’s average drive began at its own 38-yard line, while Roncalli started a typical drive at its own 21.
The Royals close out regular-season play next Friday at East Central, ranked fourth in 4A.
“This loss is going to burn,” Quintana said. “I could see it in their eyes. But we’re going to learn from it. We didn’t have a great week of preparation, and that’s on us.”
