WEST PRICE HILL - It was the proverbial game of runs.
Most of them came from the legs of Colerain quarterback Zae Jennings, who racked up a career-high 326 yards. Despite his Herculean efforts, Elder made a stop in the third overtime of their heavyweight tilt to escape the misty night with a 55-48 first-round playoff victory.
Meeting for the first time since they played on ESPN in 2009, the teams were tied at 34 at the end of regulation. Elder had come back from a 20-6 deficit to tie the game at halftime. Then, Colerain rallied for 14 straight points for a 34-27 lead, thanks to a 92-yard scoring sprint from Jennings. Jennings had five touchdowns on the night.
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Elder tied it late on a Ben Hambleton-to-Andrew Harp pass and the two would hook up again for the first score of overtime. Drew Ramsey would punch in one of his four touchdowns starting the third overtime. That would ceremoniously be the final score of the game as his father, Doug Ramsey, earned his 200th head coaching victory at Elder when the Panthers made the final stop of the Cardinals.
"I told them, 'Couldn't you guys have made it a little easier?'" a jubilant Ramsey said. "What a way to get 200! I thought we were dead in the fourth quarter. We had a chance to score and take a two-score lead. We fought back. I'm just really proud of the way our guys played tonight."
Drew Ramsey rushed for 41 yards and the four scores and also had 10 catches for 111 yards. Harp had seven catches for 90 yards and three touchdowns. Hambleton was 25-for-50 passing for 295 yards and four touchdowns.
Colerain kept in the game with their noted run game and the career night of Jennings. MJ Flowers added 110 yards and two scores in his final game as a Cardinal.
"He's turned into a real player," Colerain coach Shawn Cutright said of Jennings. "He came out to play, that's for sure. We knew he could have a good week for us. He was running downhill tonight."
Colerain last defeated Elder in the 2004 playoffs on their way to a 15-0 perfect season under Kerry Coombs. The loss also ended a Colerain streak of 22 straight first-round playoff triumphs. The Cardinals finish the season 5-6.
"Instant classic," Cutright said. "I thought our team laid everything on the line out here. That's all you can ask for as a coach. They shouldn't have any regrets. They (Elder) are a heck of a team. They were one play better than us tonight."
Colerain drew first blood in the wet conditions when quarterback Jennings burst free to the Elder 28-yard line. Eastern Illinois commit Flowers took it from there.
Elder responded immediately to the Colerain red zone, but sophomore Corey Myrick picked off Hambleton in the end zone to negate a possible score. On the next series, Jennings went 76 yards to the house.
Elder answered the score with Drew Ramsey, but Colerain's Jennings had another in the holster when he sprung loose for 56 yards to widen the lead. Both teams continued to move the ball and accordingly. Elder added a second-quarter score on a pass from Hambleton to Justin Re.
With 46 ticks in the half, Elder tied the contest up with Ramsey again doing the honors from the 1-yard line.
Seizing their first lead, Elder and Ramsey made it 27-20 on their first drive of the second half. It would be the only points of the third quarter. Colerain had started a long drive in the third that they finished with 8:40 in the fourth when Jennings found pay turf a third time to tie the game.
His fourth would be spectacular. After Drew Ramsey pinned the Cardinals on their own 8-yard line with a punt, Jennings jolted through the line and sent a jolt through The Pit with another long, scoring run.
Seemingly, Elder had one last drive. The Panthers executed a key fourth down completion on their own 31 to stay alive. With 1:31 remaining Hambleton then was able to loft a jump ball to Harp. David Maurer's extra point knotted the game again.
In overtime, the teams traded scores until finally, the Panthers stopped Colerain on 4th and 3 to run off dancing in the purple rain.
"You get to the playoffs, it's one and done, you don't think about anything else," Ramsey said. "We win and we get to stay together another week as a team. We lose, we go home. We do things the right way here. We've just got kids that are winners that want to play."
Elder (6-5) now gets St. Xavier (9-2) next Friday in a GCL-South rematch. The Bombers won on Sept. 24, 52-14.
"I'm not sure a lot of coaches needing six wins to get to 200 would have played the schedule we played this year," Ramsey said.
COLERAIN 13 7 0 14 7 7 0 48
ELDER 0 20 7 7 7 7 7 55
C - Flowers 28-yard run (Jung kick)
C - Jennings 76-yard run (kick failed)
E - Ramsey 1-yard run (kick failed)
C - Jennings 56-yard run (Jung kick)
E - Hambleton 20-yard pass to Re (Maurer kick)
E - Ramsey 1-yard run (Maurer kick)
E - Ramsey 9-yard run (Maurer kick)
C - Jennings 1-yard run (Jung kick)
C - Jennings 92-yard run (Jung kick)
E - Hambleton 16-yard pass to Harp (Maurer kick)
E - Hambleton 6-yard pass to Harp (Maurer kick)
C - Flowers 4-yard run (Jung kick)
C - Jennings 7-yard run (Jung kick)
E - Ramsey 1-yard run (Maurer kick)
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