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Linsly falls in home finale to Louisville

WHEELING – Records can prove quite deceiving.

Case-in-point: the Louisville Leopards.

The Northeast Ohioans visited Linsly School Saturday afternoon bringing with them a 1-8 mark. Some of those losses came at the expense of big-school powers North Canton Hoover, Massillon Perry, Canton Glen Oak, Uniontown Lake, Green and Barberton.

Louisville, however, was also coming off its lone win of the campaign, a 28-27 nod over Alliance. The Leopards used that momentum, and two fourth-quarter touchdowns, to slip past the Cadets, 20-14, at chilly, muddy and overcast Fawcett Field.

The hard-to-swallow loss dropped B.J. Depew’s charges to 5-4 on the season, with the other three setbacks coming at the hands of powers Dover, Steubenville and St. Clairsville.

Linsly drops the curtain on its season Friday at Hollidaysburg, Pa.

“We knew Louisville was much better than its record indicated. Like us, they play a very challenging schedule,” Depew said. “They were big and physical and stuck to their game plan.

“They made the plays when they had to. I give them credit,” he added. “We had our chances but we made too many mistakes. Now we must get focused and ready for a team better than the one we played today.”

Louisville trailed 14-7 heading into the final quarter but tied the issue with 8:08 to play following a short Cadet punt. The Leopards used a 7-play drive, capped by a 1-yard run by workhorse Connor Adelman. He added the PAT for a 14-14 reading.

Linsly responded on its ensuing possession, driving deep into Louisville territory. However, Adelman, who excelled all day on both sides of the ball, pilfered a Cadet pass at the five.

The visitors subsequently embarked on a 10-play drive with the game-winning score coming on a 10-yard pass from Caleb Miller to Chase Mueller with just 22.2 seconds left in the contest. The PAT was blocked.

Adelman rushed 27 times for 160 yards. Miller completed 17-of-21 passes for 194 yards.

Louisville drew first blood at the 11:23 mark of the second panel on a 34-yard pass connection from Miller to Zack Seaman. Adelman booted the PAT.

Linsly evened the affair on the following possession on the strength of an 8-play, 66-yard drive. Quarterback Luca DiLorenzo found Maltie Feil on a 29-yard scoring strike. Mateo Dimitrioski was true on the PAT.

The Cadets took a 14-7 lead into halftime thanks to a 62-yard aerial connection from DiLorenzo to Jy’Leik Johnson. Dimitrioski again delivered the conversion kick.

DiLorenzo completed 11-of-18 passes for 172 yards. Linsly was limited to 88 yards on the ground, topped by sophomore standout Alex Taylor’s 51 stripes on nine totes.

Johnson hauled in five of DiLorenzo’s passes for 93 stripes.

Several Linsly defenders turned in yeoman efforts, including Taylor, Brodie Selmon, Felix Reitter and Raymond Kovalesky.

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