Delphos St. John's knocks off Lima Central Catholic

DELPHOS - It all came down to running the football.

Delphos St. John's did when it counted. And Lima Central Catholic struggled to sustain sizeable drives.

Delphos St. John's knocked off LCC for the first time in football, winning 20-0 Saturday at Stadium Park.

"Our defense rose to the occasion and our offense did a great job in a couple of tough situations. We're excited to have a win," St. John's coach Todd Schulte said.

Since 1958, LCC now leads the series, 8-1. The series picked up last year for the first time since 1985.

Sophomore Jordan Leininger helped the Blue Jays to a 13-0 first quarter when he rushed for 62 yards on five carries with a touchdown. But a right shoulder injury sidelined him for the final three quarters. Evan Burgei took over and ran for 125 yards on 14 carries with a 65-yard score.

The Blue Jays recovered an LCC fumble at the visitor's 43 on the T-Birds' opening drive. St. John's then went 43 yards in three plays for the score. Leininger pounded out the entire damage, racking up carries of 30, 2 and an 11-yard touchdown.

That gave the Blue Jays a 7-0 lead with 8:43 left in the first quarter. Jordan Rode connected on field goals of 32 and 27 yards to give the Blue Jays a 13-0 lead after the first quarter.

With Leininger out, it was Burgei in the backfield. Even though he lost two fumbles, Schulte stuck with him and Burgei responded.

Burgei's 65-yard sweep around the left side for a touchdown pushed the lead to 20-0 with 3:30 to play.

"On the second fumble I told him, ‘You don't have a choice. You're going to carry the ball, so you might as well hang on to it,'" Schulte said. "And he did that and protected it."

The Blue Jays' defense made several key second-half stands and held LCC to 97 yards rushing. Michael Lombardo led LCC with 36 yards on eight carries. Freshman quarterback Tyler O'Conner completed 10-of-25 for 79 yards. He also had two interceptions.

LCC lost three fumbles, while St. John's lost two.

"Give them credit. They played really well," LCC coach Jerry Cooper said. "We didn't play very well and turned the ball over five times and had a blocked punt. We weren't very good. The problem wasn't the freshman quarterback.

"We didn't sustain blocks on the offensive line and I didn't think our backs ran that hard or blocked for each other, and we dropped six or seven balls. They are all correctable. Evaluate this team after 10 games."

Also in Saturday action, St. Henry edged Marion Pleasant 14-13. No other details were available.