Photo by Andrew Grimm Edison’s Gage Cline (13) finds room to run against Steubenville Catholic Central Thursday.

RICHMOND–Gage Cline ran for three touchdowns and passed for another Thursday to help Edison earn a 34-0 victory over Steubenville Catholic Central before a large crowd inside the Unified Sports Complex.

The talented senior signal caller accounted for 300 yards of offense (187 on the ground and 113 through the air) as Mike Collopy’s Wildcats, ranked sixth in the Ohio Division V Region 17 computer poll, improved to 5-0. The Crusaders, who committed three costly turnovers, fall to 1-4.

“We’re happy that we won but we have a lot of things we need to improve going forward,” Collopy said. “We made a lot of mistakes but our kids kept playing hard. We need to clean up those mistakes and that falls on the coaches in general and me in particular.

“Central had a really good game plan and their kids did an outstanding job with it. Their plan was spot on.”

Edison struck first when Decker Lancaster picked off an Andrew Dorsey pass on the third play from scrimmage and raced 55 yards to the end zone. Liam Watson added the point from placement.

“Our kid made a great play there and we were fortunate to get that score early,” Collopy said.

Late in the opening quarter, Edison was pinned deep in its own territory thanks to a booming punt (it traveled 62 yards) by Central’s Daniel Bolster. The ball was downed at the Wildcat two by Tommy Pergi.

After Talan McClurg was stopped for no gain on first down, Cline broke loose up the middle and sprinted 98 yards to paydirt. Watson’s kick made it 14-0.

On its next possession, Central’s offense got things going, moving from its own 30 to the Edison 11. The drive featured a 17-yard Dorsey completion to Tyler Ialenti and a 26-yard pass from Dorsey to Nico Petrella. The drive stalled, however, and Bolster’s 32-yard field goal attempt was wide left.

Edison traveled 80 yards for its third touchdown, which came on a Cline run. The score moved to 21-0 following Watson’s kick. During the march, the Wildcats overcame three holding penalties.

The Crusaders showed some life again, moving into Edison territory but lost a fumble just before the first half ended.

Collopy’s crew took the second half kickoff and quickly traveled 56 yards. This time, Cline went in from 6 yards out. The game’s final touchdown came midway through the third quarter on a 6-yard pass from Cline to Dawson Jones. Watson again split the uprights with the point after.

“We’re happy tonight,” Collopy said. “Every week is a one-week season so we won this week. Now we have to watch the film, keep working to improve and move on to next week.”

Cline’s 187 rushing yards came on just 10 carries. He completed nine of his 16 passes. He did throw an interception. Avante Hayes caught five Cline aerials for 65 yards. As a team, the Wildcats had 355 yards of offense.

“I’m very proud of the effort,” Central coach Eric Meek said. “That’s a good football team over there. Our kids fought. I asked our kids not to flinch, to play with heart and to represent our school well. They did that.

“Tonight will make us better down the road. We kept fighting, we kept playing and we stood in there against a bigger team with bigger numbers. I think we are a better team than we were back in August. That’s what I have been saying all along–we want to get better each and every day.

Edison’s defense held the Crusaders to 44 yards rushing and 78 through the air. Pergi had four catches to pace Central.

“Offensively, we have to get things rolling obviously,” Meek said. “We have to be able to execute and score some points.

“I’m very proud of our defense and our special teams. The 98-yard touchdown run was not something I’m happy about but give Edison credit.”

Central will return to Harding Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 24 for its homecoming game against Madonna.

“These are great kids to go to work with every day and I am so proud that I am their football coach,” Meek said. “We are going to keep getting better, we are going to keep fighting and we are going to keep playing hard.”

Edison will travel to Toronto next Friday for what could be a Week 6 showdown between two unbeaten squads.

Edison 34, Steubenville Catholic Central 0

Catholic Central 0 0 0 0

Edison 14 7 13 0

E: Lancaster 55 interception return (Watson kick)

E: Cline 98 run (Watson kick)

E: Cline 30 run (Watson kick)

E: Cline 6 run (kick failed)

E: Jones 6 pass from Cline (Watson kick)

RUSHING: Catholic Central 24-44 (Dorsey 4-13; Pergi 8-27; Hills 7-0; Rice 2-2; Ialenti 1-1; Williams 2-1); Edison 32-242-3 (Cline 10-187-3; McClurg 6-15; Eisnaugle 1-2; Jett 8-23; Russell 3-7; Henderson 4-8).

PASSING: Catholic Central 9-16-78-0-2int (all by Dorsey); Edison 9-16-113-1-int (all by Cline).

RECEIVING: Catholic Central 9-78 (Pergi 4-14; Ialenti 3-27; Fallon 1-9; Petrella 1-26); Edison 9-113-1 (Hayes 5-65; Rawson 1-12; Taylor 1-11; Jones 2-25-1).

FIRST DOWNS: Catholic Central 4; Edison 13.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Catholic Central 5-45; Edison 7-75.

FUMBLES-LOST: Catholic Central 1-1; Edison 0-0.