CLEVELAND, Ohio — The official road to a three-peat started Friday night for Glenville. Glenville (8-3), seeded fifth in Division VI, Region 13, defeated No. 12 Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (5-6), 47-20, in a first-round game of the OHSAA playoffs.
The Tarblooders will take on No. 4 Beloit West Branch in the regional quarterfinals, while the Lions’ season ends. The back-to-back defending champions have recorded dominating wins in the opening round the past two seasons: a 46-8 win over Napoleon in 2022, and a 44-0 win over Lima Bath in 2023.
This time around, it wasn’t smooth sailing at first. The Lions came out aggressive from the start with a 35-yard connection from senior quarterback Ryan Lipowski, to his fellow senior wideout, Nick Dietrich on the first play of the game. That series ended in a field goal, and that 3-0 lead was the Lions’ lead of the night.
They even caught Glenville off guard with an onside kick, though they didn’t recover. Glenville’s response to the aggressive start, and for most of the game, was simple: give the ball to Chris Newell Jr. and stay out of his way.
The senior running back ran on all of Glenville’s seven plays in their first series, gaining all 55 yards on the ground and ultimately scoring on a 3-yard run for a 7-3 lead. It was the run game that carried Glenville into finding its rhythm and wearing down the Lions. By late in first half, Glenville extended the lead to 26-3, with all four first-half touchdowns coming from the run g.
