GREEN, OH- The Louisville Leopards Football Team fell on the road against the host Green Bulldogs 49-24 Friday Night at Green Memorial Stadium. With the loss, Louisville drops to 0-7 on the season.
Senior runningback Connor Adelman ran the ball 13 times for 93 yards, scored a pair of rushing touchdowns, and threw a touchdown pass to lead the Leopards. Senior wide receiver Zack Seaman was the recipient of that touchdown pass and finished as Louisville’s leading receiver with 5 catches for 60 yards.
Green opened up the contest by marching 75 yards on 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs converted a pair of third downs on the drive and senior quarterback Trevor Van Horn scored from a yard out to break the ice.
The Leopards didn’t waste any time in answering back. After a holding penalty on their first play from scrimmage, junior quarterback Daveion Cruse found a seam through the middle of the line and broke free into the secondary for a 76 yard run before sophomore defensive back Alex Neff made a shoestring tackle at the Green 4 yard line. On the next play, Adelman took a direct snap and plunged through a number of defenders for a 4 yard touchdown run to tie the game up at 7-7.
The Bulldogs next score came when sophomore wide receiver Zachary Baglia took a hand off from Van Horn, ran to his right, and launched a 40 yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Trey Martin. The play came after a holding call had pushed Green back into a 3rd-and-20. The Bulldogs also converted a key 3rd-and-13 on a 20 yard pass play from Van Horn to Baglia earlier in the drive. The score put Green ahead 14-7.
Neither team scored on their next drive. Louisville punted after going three-and-out. The Bulldogs drove to the Leopard 23 yard line before junior linebacker Jacob Davide came through the middle unblocked for a 9 yard sack on 4th-and-4.
On the next play, Adelman made a defender miss in the backfield before running left down the sideline stiff arming more defenders on his way to a 48 yard gain to the Bulldog 20. Two plays later, Cruse tossed to his right to Adelman who stepped back and fired a 24 yard touchdown pass to Seaman in the endzone. Adelman threaded the needle and Seaman made his fifth touchdown reception of the season to cut the deficit to 14-13 with 11:18 left in the second quarter.
Sophomore Anthony Manderine shot in from the left side and blocked the extra point attempt to keep Green ahead by the slimmest of margins.
Both teams punted on their next possessions. Near midfield, Leopards senior left end AJ Lingenhoel dropped Van Horn for a 2 yard loss on second down and then sacked him for a 10 yard loss on third down forcing a punt on 4th-and-19.
Louisville squandered the opportunity on offense by going three-and-out. On 3rd-and-7, a low snap got past Cruse and resulted in a 16 yard loss back to the Louisville 14. Lingenhoel’s ensuing punt netted 31 yards and was fair caught at the LHS 45.
The Bulldogs needed just two plays to take advantage of the great field possession. Van Horn found Martin down the right sideline for a 42 yard completion to the Leopard 3 yard line. On the next play, Van Horn ran left into the endzone behind a block from senior tight end Vincent Galvin to put Green back in front 21-13 with 7:16 remaining in the second quarter.
The marathon continued as Louisville responded with an 8 play, 66 yard game-tying scoring drive. An encroachment penalty on the Bulldogs moved the chains on the first series of downs and Cruse ran to the left for 5 yards to convert a 3rd-and-4 to the GHS 41. Adelman took the handoff on the next play, made a defender miss, and was sprung by a downfield block by Seaman for a 20 yard gain to put the Leopards just outside the redzone.
Three plays later, Adelman ran untouched into the endzone from 8 yards out. The gaping hole Adelman ran through was paved by senior right tackle Cameron Brazek and junior right guard Trevor Eshler. With the swinging gate open, Adelman took a direct snap and ran behind Brazek and junior runningback Seth Anderson to run in the two-point conversion attempt and knot the game at 21-21 with 4:35 to go before halftime.
On Green’s ensuing drive, Van Horn went 5 of 7 through the air hitting his favorite target Martin three times. He first hit senior wide receiver Jack Schaal for a 9 yard completion that moved the sticks on 3rd-and-4 across midfield. Van Horn followed that conversion with completions of 8 and 13 yards to Martin to put the Bulldogs in the redzone.
After a Louisville timeout, Van Horn was flushed out of the pocket to his right. He then cut back left through an open lane in the middle of the field and into the endzone for an 18 yard touchdown scamper to put Green back in the lead at 28-21 with 2:45 to go.
The Leopards managed to cut into the deficit before halftime with a 21 yard field goal by senior placekicker Myles Lab. Louisville drove 71 yards on 12 plays leaving 5 seconds on the clock before Lab hit his first field goal of the year from the left hash.
Cruse found Seaman for a pair of first down completions to begin the drive. Later on a 3rd-and-13, Cruse found Mueller for an 18 yard completion to the Bulldog 25 yard line. Two plays later, Cruse connected with Mueller again for a 14 yard first down completion to the 11 with 24 seconds to go in the half. Cruse followed that with a 7 yard completion to the left to Adelman who was tackled at the 4 yard line. There was a scrum at the end of the play which took precious time off the clock, but Cruse was able to spike the ball with 5 seconds remaining to setup Lab’s boot.
The track meet appeared to slow down out of the locker room. Both teams started the second half with drives that featured a single first down before punting.
Louisville faced a 3rd-and-5 on the next drive and a pass to the left was picked out of the air by junior defensive back Cody Seward. He ran the interception back 25 yards for a pick six to give the Bulldogs their largest advantage of the game at 35-24.
The Leopards went three-and-out on their next drive courtesy of a tackle for a 5 yard loss by senior defensive lineman Jacob Reed on second down and a sack by Galvin out of his linebacker position on third down.
Green melted away the rest of the third quarter consuming 5:44 total while marching 74 yards on 13 plays in response to open up a 42-24 lead. The Bulldogs were aided by a Louisville encroachment penalty on 4th-and-1 from the LHS 30. Four plays later Van Horn tossed to Martin in the right side of the endzone for a 4 yard touchdown completion with 11:22 to go in the game.
While this would be his only touchdown pass, Van Horn finished 31 of 41 through the air for 312 yards to lead the GHS offense. Martin would finish as the game’s leading receiver with 8 catches for 145 yards.
The Leopards were gifted their best field position of the night on their next drive. Junior Brandon Jackson returned a squib kick 17 yards to the LHS 35 and drew a late hit our of bounds tacking on 15 more yards to midfield. However, Louisville only managed to go in reverse. A pair of incompletions with a catch for a 4 yard loss blown up in the backfield by Galvin in-between led to an LHS three-and-out.
The Leopards wouldn’t see the ball again until the final minute of the game when Van Horn ran in his fourth touchdown of the contest. Green went to the ground game on all 17 plays of their 80 yard drive that encompassed 9:44 of game time. Sophomore Josh Just ran the ball 15 times on the drive for 75 yards. Just would finish as the Bulldogs leading rusher with 21 carries for 99 yards.
Davide slammed the door on 3rd-and-goal from the 1, dropping Just for a 2 yard loss. However, Van Horn called his own number on the next play and pounded his way into the endzone for a 3 yard touchdown run with 40 seconds to go in the game. Junior kicker Eli Noirot made the extra point to finish 7 for 7 on point after touchdown attempts for the night and give Green a 49-24 advantage that they would hold until the end.
FOR MORE: https://louisvilleleopards.org/louisville-leopards-at-green-bulldogs-football-10-1-2021/
*WRITTEN AND CONTRIBUTED BY LOUISVILLELEOPARDS.ORG
