PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- On a sun-drenched day in Painesville, the Ohio Dominican Panthers football team weathered the Lake Erie College Storm from the outset in a 38-7 victory on Saturday (Oct. 8) afternoon. 

With the win, the Panthers improved to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play, defeating the Storm for the 12th straight time and 13th in 14 attempts. The Storm fell to 1-5 overall and 1-3 in the G-MAC with their fourth straight loss. 

BOX SCORE NOTES

• Jake Byrd (Fort Wayne, Indiana) completed 24-of-32 passes for 220 yards, scoring two touchdowns and intercepted once. 
• Andrew Wolf (Ashland, Ohio) led the Panthers with eight catches for 67 yards. 
• Travis Whittaker (Gahanna, Ohio) tallied his second career 100-yard rushing game as he ran for 105 yards (career-high) on 25 carries. 
• Austin Davis (Wooster, Ohio) made six catches for 184 yards with one long touchdown. 
• Kaiden Koch (Grafton, Ohio) made all five extra points and a 23-yard field goal, totaling eight points on the day. 
• Darryl Sinclair (Solon, Ohio) paced the Panthers with 132 all-purpose yards, following an 99-yard kickoff return to open the contest. 
• Michael Powers (West Mansfield, Ohio) making a team-high seven tackles. 
• Jaylin Garner (Shaker Heights, Ohio) and CeAyre Hall (Cincinnati, Ohio) each made a sack in the game.
• AJ Crider (Clinton, Pa.) and Garner finished with a Panther high two tackles for loss. 
• Ohio Dominican outtotaled the Storm 396-165 in total offense, holding the G-MAC's best offense to a season-low. 
  • Lake Erie averaged 434 total offensive yards per game entering Saturday.
• As the league's top passing offense and sixth best in D2 (313 yards), ODU allowed Lake Erie to have 132 yards passing. 
  • The Storm had only 33 rushing yards on Saturday, another season low for LEC.
• The Panthers had 21 first downs, converted ten-of-18 third downs and possessed the ball for 36:44 - a season high.
  • Lake Erie only managed ten first downs and was one-of-13 on third down. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Darryl Sinclair wasted little time as he took the opening kickoff 99 yards to the house, the second longest kick return in program history and first "leadoff" return. 
• After Ohio Dominican bookended a failed fourth down attempt with two defensive three-and-outs, the Panthers went on a 15-play, 62-yard drive that ended in points at the end of the eight minute drive. Kaiden Koch made a 23-yard field goal with 40 seconds left in the first quarter, taking a 10-0 lead. 
• Lake Erie cut the lead to 10-7 with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Gerald Gardner to Peyton Brown, with 10:46 left in the first half. 
• Six plays later, Jake Byrd connected with Austin Davis for a 56-yard strike, pushing the lead to 17-7 with 7:48 to go in the second quarter. 
• Following a span of 24 scoreless minutes, Ohio Dominican took over with a short field as Lake Erie muffed a punt deep in their own territory. Kaden Watts (Zanesville, Ohio) recovered the fumble inside the ten-yard line. A personal foul penalty moved the Panthers to the four-yard line. Travis Whittaker scored on the first play, a four-yard touchdown as Ohio Dominican expanded the lead to 24-7 with 11:29 remaining. 
• The Panthers forced a turnover on downs, turning that into points. On the tenth play of the drive, Byrd found Drysten Crallie (Columbus, Ohio) in the end zone from 16 yards out. 
• Nearly two minutes later, Leo Nixon (Hilliard, Ohio) capped the scoring on a one-yard scamper. 

RECORD UPDATE

• Darryl Sinclair had the second longest kickoff return in program history. 
• Jaylin Garner took over the top spot for most sacks in a career with 23.5 sacks. 

UP NEXT

• Ohio Dominican will look to knock off the undefeated and sixth ranked Ashland Eagles next Saturday (Oct. 15) on the road. Kickoff from Jack Miller Stadium is set for 7:00 PM. 

Contact: Tyler Stotsky

stotskyt@ohiodominican.edu