Herald Staff reports

ä Kennedy Catholic 20, Conneaut Valley 8 — At Butala Stadium, the host Golden Eagles ended a 2-year drought.

“Oh, you just don’t know what this means ... I am so happy for the kids,” Kennedy head coach Joe Kenneally confided.

After a winless, 9-loss ’07 season, it was the Golden Eagles gridders’ 1st victory since a 41-14 rout of Saegertown in the District 10 Class A quarterfinals, Nov. 10, 2006.

Richard Ellebie enabled the Golden Eagles to ease to 294 yards rushing as the 260-pound sledgehammer posted a career-best 26-carry, 157-yard, 2-touchdown performance. He was complemented by Matt Furey’s 15-carry, 78-yard, 1-TD effort. Furey spelled Marlon Davis, who rolled his right ankle 73 seconds into the 2nd stanza after rushing 6 times for 35 yards.

After a scorless 1st frame Furey fashioned a 5-yard TD run after taking Danny D’Onofrio’s option pitch, culminating a 7-play, 33-yard drive set by Chris Baker’s 18-yard punt return.

Valley’s Kyle Welber and Jacob Walters collaborated on a 56-yard 2nd-stanza scoring strike. But the Indians’ attempted 2-point conversion run was thwarted by Andrew Miller as Kennedy clung to a 7-6 margin at intermission.

KC climaxed a 7--play, 60-yard, 3-minute 3rd-quarter scoring drive with Ellebie’s 9-yard run. On the drive he carried 4 times for 33 yards and Furey jump-started the series with a 22-yard sprint.

The capper for Kennedy (1-3, 1-4) occurred with 52.4 ticks to play in the 3rd on Marcus Davis’ interception and a subsequent 11-play, 50-yard, 5-minute, 12-second march. Ellebie eased in from 4 yards out with 7:37.

Ellebie and Furey ran roughshod behind the blocking of Tyler Bord, Jay Leipheimer, Bryan Sundy, Evan Mihlo and Anthony DeMarco and tight end Matt Luce. Defensively, D’Onofrio, Ellebie and Trent Bernat also pilfered passes, and Miller and J.T. Swogger pressured Welker into an 8-for-21 passing performance. Valley (0-4, 0-5) accumulated only 167 total yards (46 rushing), and 4 of the Indians’ 11 first downs were courtesy of KC penalties.

The Golden Eagles were flagged 13 times for 90è yards in losses and fumbled 4 times, losing 3.

Andrew Butterfield and Jake Conley collected 15 and 12 tackles, respectively, for Valley, and both recovered fumbles. — By Ed Farrell, Herald assistant sports editor.

ä Mercer 60, Harborcreek Youth Services 18 — At New Wilmington on Friday, Rawlins Huntley scored a trio of touchdowns and Andy Reda had 2 scores as the Mustangs (4-1) routed HYS (0-5).

Huntley scored on runs of 10 and 17 yards and returned an interception 51 yards for a TD. Reda scored on a 2-yard run and on a 15-yard pass from Andrew Erdos.