Lima Senior’s Zaveon Garner (13) and Aaryion Manley bring down Toledo Central Catholic’s Ty’waun Clark during Friday night’s game at Spartan Stadium. See more high school football photos at LimaScores.com.
Jackelyn Johnson | The Lima News
LIMA — If there is one thing Lima Senior is not going to miss in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference is playing Toledo Central Catholic in football. Toledo Central Catholic downed the Spartans 56-0 in the final conference clash between these two teams Friday.
This marks Lima Senior’s third straight loss as the Spartans fall to 3-3 on the year and 0-3 in the TRAC. TCC improves to 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in conference play. This marks TCC’s 28th straight TRAC victory.
Despite the loss, Lima Senior head coach Alphonso Townsend said he saw some progress and positives from the Spartans.
“We still had some positives and that is what we’ve been working on and need to keep working on,” Townsend said. “We played a great team but we still did some things that helped with our confidence.
Since joining the TRAC in 2011 Lima Senior has not beaten the Irish and after tonight, TCC outscored the Spartans 500-167. This marks the first time the Spartans have been shutout this season and the Irish were the last team to shut out Lima Senior when they did it in 2020.
Including this game, TCC has beaten Lima Senior by an average margin of 34 points and this marks the ninth time in 11 games the Irish have scored 40 or more points on the Spartans and the fifth time in 11 tries the Irish have put up 50 or more points.
Behind a solid running game and timely pass plays, the Irish scored on four of its first five possessions to open up the big lead. TCC missed a late 29 field goal on its sixth possession.
Irish running back Chris Edmonds carried the ball 18 times for 113 yards and four touchdowns. Edmonds scored on runs of 14, 2, 3 and 7 yards.
TCC quarterback Tywaun Cerk was 5 of 11 for 89 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Spartan Zaveon Garner made the pick-off.
The Spartan defense held tough for a half, limiting TCC it 14 points in the first quarter, but the Irish’s ground attack wore down Lima Senior and TCC scored twice more in the second quarter to own a 28-0 lead at halftime. Two more touchdowns by the Irish in the third quarter put the running clock in play and soon the junior varsity teams took to the field.
For the game, TCC had 363 total yards with 274 of those coming on the ground.
Spartan standout Anthony Mosley recorded a sack.
As has been the case the last three games, the Spartan offense was inconsistent. Even though they drove the ball in the first half twice to within the Irish 30 yard line, Lima Senior failed to finish off the drives and gain any type of game-changing momentum.
For the game, Lima Senior was limited to 122 total yards and had minus three yards on the ground.
Spartan quarterback Aiden Howard finished the night 11 of 18 for 93 yards. Spartan receiver Kaden Hampton made three catches for 48 yards.
“We did some things right but we just have to execute,” Townsend said. “If you don’t stop them in all three phases this is what happens.”
Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.
