After two easy wins against Collinwood and Southview, Elyria Catholic wanted to show people they could hang with the top teams.

They got their chance Friday night against Cardinal Mooney, who beat the Panthers 59-14 last season, but once again Cardinal Mooney proved to be too much for Elyria Catholic as they rolled to a 49-20 win.

Offensively the Panthers were improved as Alex Alicea rushed for 100 yards and scored a touchdown, Danny Reaser threw for 136 yards and Josh Russ had 7 catches for 70 yards.

The problem was the defense could not stop the running game of Cardinal Mooney, led by Braylon Heard.

Heard, who has committed to play football at the University of West Virginia, rushed for 192 yards on just 11 carries. Overall Cardinal Mooney rushed for 278 yards.

If the Panthers want to be considered one of the best teams in Division IV, they will have to shore up their defense.

The Elyria Catholic Panthers will take the field Friday night against Collinwood without some of its top players.
Starting receiver/defensive back Josh Russ, starting tailback Alex Alicea, Mike Betka, Joe Dempsey, Cory Campbell and Buddy Davila will not be allowed to play in the game.
Panthers coach Ben Malbasa said the players violated team rules, but did not elaborate on details as to what the players actually did.
I don't think this will affect the outcome of tonight's game (EC should win by a lot), but it still doesn't look good for Panthers' image.
Yeah coach Malbasa is doing the right thing by sitting these guys out for the first game, but would he have sat these same players if the Panthers opened against Cardinal Mooney rather than Collinwood?
These players have to understand that they, just like pro athletes, are held to a higher standard in their high school because they play athletics.
Hopefully these guys have learned their lessons and Elyria Catholic will put the incident behind them and have a successful season.