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The Shoremen saw their dreams of another trip to states shattered tonight as they fell to Toledo Central Catholic 35-7.  Three interceptions, one lost fumble, and nine penalties made it impossible for the Shoremen to overcome a superb performance by Dane Sanzenbacher of the Irish. He caught four passes for 113 yards and two TD’s, and added 2 interceptions on defense.  His second interception was a one-handed grab that he returned some 97 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.  Chris Rau led the Shoremen attack with 110 yards rushing and two TD’s and Scott Nealon wrapped up a great senior year with seven catches for 50 yards.

Avon Lake kicked off to start the game, and TCC ran off three first downs before the defense stiffened and forced a punt.  The Shoremen  exchanged punts with the Irish, then started an 11 play drive that got as far as the TCC 25. But Sanzenbacher made his first interception at the Irish three yard line and returned it to the 28.  Three nice runs by Chris Willis sandwiched around a nine yard completion from Kevin Jansen to Chris Dominiak moved the ball to the A.L. 47.  From there, Jansen flipped a short pass to Sanzenbacher on a crossing route and he raced 47 yards to put TCC ahead 7-0.  The other first half touchdown for the Irish came after Avon Lake muffed a punt at their own 14 and it was recovered by the Irish.  Five plays later Willis crashed in from the one to make it 14-0 at the half.

Andy Peterson came on to quarterback the Shoremen early in the second half as starter Brian Pettys suffered a concussion.  It looked like they would make a game of it as they marched 70 yards in 9 plays on their second possession of the third quarter.  Chris Rau broke a tackle at the line on  a counter off jet action and raced 17 yards for the TD to make it 14-7.  But it only took three plays for the Irish to push the lead back to 14 points as Sanzenbacher caught a pass for 39 yards and then the Irish cashed in on a 35 yard run by Kevin Boyle.  They added two more Sanzenbacher TD’s in the fourth on a 15 yard pass from Jansen after an interception gave TCC the ball at the A.L. 14,  and the other on that spectacular length-of-the-field interception return.  Rau scored the last Shoremen touchdown on a seven yard run to cap a 12 play, 79 yard drive late in the fourth. 

 

Notes: 

·       The Shoremen seniors end their varsity career with a record of 41-2.  They never lost a regular season game, and their playoff record was 11-2.

·       Kicker Johnny Lyons, holder Chris Nealon, and long snapper Scott Davey completed a perfect season, converting on all 57 tries this year.  Overall, John hit his last 63 in a row.

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Avon Lake

0

0

7

7

14

TCC

0

14

7

14

35

 

 

 

TCC

 

A.L.

First downs

 

12

 

19

Rush Yds

 

101

 

152

Pass Yds

 

113

 

127

Passes att-comp-int

 

11-6-0

 

24-13-3

Fumbles-lost

 

0-0

 

1-1

Penalties

 

6-55

 

10-70

 

 

 

 

 

TCC – Sanzenbacher 47 pass from Jansen (Wagener Kick)
TCC – Willis 1 run (Wagener Kick)
AL – Rau 17 run (Lyons Kick)
TCC –Boyle 35 run (Wagener Kick)
TCC – Sanzenbacher 15 pass from Jansen (Wagener Kick)
TCC – Sanzenbacher 97 interception return (Wagener Kick)
AL – Rau 7 run (Lyons Kick)