Mogadore, OH- Wildcat Stadium was the home on Friday night for a premiere matchup between the John F. Kennedy Catholic Eagles and the Mogadore Wildcats. Both teams came into the week at 5-0 looking to stay undefeated.
It was a very fast start for the Modagore offense. Quarterback Zeke Cameron got his first completion of the night to Mason Williams for an eleven yard gain. After a flag and no gain on the run by Williams, the Wildcats had to lean on the arm of Cameron and he shows it off.
Cameron would connect with Wide Receiver Devin Graham for a 42 yard pass and this would help get a first down inside JFK’s 30. But a few incompletions and penalties by the Mogadore would slow down the offense and result in a turnover on downs after failing to pick up the first down while going for it on fourth down.
Two plays into the drive, JFK’s offensive line gave up the pressure and quarterback Caleb Hadley would fumble the ball while running out of the pocket.
The Wildcat defense recovered the football and was able to return it all the way back to the end zone to give Mogadore an early 7-0 lead.
JFK would take over on offense after the kickoff and it looked like it could be a promising drive at first for the Eagles. But on the second play running back Antonio Smith picks up the first down but fumbles the ball and Mogadore would take over.
Set up with a second and ten from the JFK 24, Cameron drops a dime to Williams for the long touchdown and the Wildcats take advantage of the turnover by taking a 14-0 lead just mid way through the first.
Down two scores already, JFK knew they needed to put a drive together and they did just that. It was all about the run game on this drive and protecting the football on this drive for the Eagles.
After six straight runs totaling 27 yards, running back Thomas Easton took it to the house on a 59 yard touchdown run to put JFK on the board. The Eagles would unfortunately miss the extra point after to make the score just 14-6.
JFK kicks off and it just gets worse for the Eagles as Mogadore gets a huge return to set up 1st and goal at the 8.
After a 10 yard pass from Cameron to Nick Coffman to set up 4th and goal at the 1, the Wildcats punched it in with Williams to make it a 21-6 game.
JFK receives the ball back and still struggled on offense. Finally, Hadley throws a 30 yard pass to wide receiver Devonte Taylor and this would get the duo going as the first quarter comes to an end.
Within the first minute of the second quarter, the Eagles turn it over on downs and the Wildcats take over at their own 27.
The drive speeds up drastically with a 39 yard pass from Cameron to Devin Graham and it sets up Mogadore for the rest of the drive.
Facing a third down from the 14, Cameron rolls out to his right and finds Graham for the touchdown as the Mogadore offense keeps on rolling.
This would be Cameron’s second and last touchdown of the game putting the Wildcats up 28-6 with 4:45 left in the half.
The rest of the first half would go by quickly as the JFK offense would continue to struggle to get going and ended the half with Hadley throwing his first interception of the game.
JFK looked to get off to a hot start in the second half but the exact opposite happened. The offense struggled out of the gate and was forced to punt. The punt also got blocked and recovered by Mogadore.
Fortunately for the Eagles, Mogadore was unable to do anything with the good field position and are held to a turnover on downs.
The Eagles offense comes back out with just over 6 minutes left in the quarter and they immediately get a huge break with a face mask call on the Wildcats.
This would give JFK some momentum and they would get a drive going. With nowhere to go under pressure, Hadley makes an amazing throw across his body to Taylor who comes back to make the play for the 30 yard gain.
Hadley tops off the drive with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Taylor as the duo just starts going off.
With the missed extra point earlier in the game, JFK has to go for two here and they get it as Hadley finds Aidan Rossi on what was an amazing drive for the Eagles offense.
Mogadore gets the ball back with 2:09 left in the 3rd and the JFK defense needs to get a stop fast if they wanted a chance to win this one.
After giving up a few big runs, the defense gets exactly what they need when Cameron drops back to pass and is intercepted by Taylor who is having himself a night for the Eagles.
The quarter came to a conclusion with the duo of Hadley and Cameron hooking up again.
That would be the only bright spot for the JFK offense as they would be forced to punt after three straight incompletions from Hadley.
Mogadore would then just take over and continuously run the clock down, rotating between Collin Lehner, Austin Constantine, and Williams. Up two scores already, the Wildcats don’t need the field goal and they end up turning it over on downs with just 3:17 to play.
With one last chance for JFK, Mogadore's defense holds up and JFK ends up turning it right back over on downs. That would do it for the Eagles, as the Wildcats would run the clock down and take a knee to end this one.
Both offenses had some bright spots tonight. Mogadore quarterback Zeke Cameron finished with 134 yards passing and 2 touchdowns. While the JFK duo of Caleb Hadley and Devonte Taylor connected 6 times for 95 yards and 1 touchdown.
The 28-14 win for the Wildcats puts Mogadore at 6-0 on the season while JFK falls to 5-1 on the season.
Mogadore coach Matt Adorni gave his thoughts after the big win.
This game recap is brought to you by Daystar Ford in Garrettsville.
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