“I will never forget it for the rest of my life,” Kyle Rudolph said.
The Notre Dame commit and his Elder teammates had just finished the biggest upset of the day (in high school football at least), knocking off powerhouse Charlotte Independence. Rudolph finished with 4 receptions for 57 yards and 2 touchdowns and drew several interference penalties as defenders could not out position the former power forward.
“My teammates look to me to make big plays,” he explained after the game, “I just don’t want to let my teammates down, so if that’s what you want to say, that I’m the go-to guy, I’ll accept that, but I just don’t want to let my team down.”
Early on, it seemed like status quo for Independence. The Patriots took the opening kickoff and marched down the field with ease covering 70 yards in just under three minutes, culminating with sophomore QB Ant Carruthers finding Fernando White for a 17-yard touchdown.
Riding a 109-game win streak, it appeared nothing could stop them for 110, but no one told Cincinnati Elder. Late in the 1st quarter, the Panthers put together a 70-yard drive of their own to tie the game at 7-7 on a Nicholas Gramke touchdown plunge.
Still, the Independence offense was clicking on all cylinders. Carruthers, who wowed everyone in attendance with his athleticism, accuracy and poise considering it was the youngster’s first start, hit Javon Rembert with a 31 yard TD pass. After a Kyle Rudolph touchdown catch for Elder, Carruthers again lead his team down the field and Rod Chisholm capped the drive with a one yard plunge and Independence took a 27-14 lead into the half.
But Elder came out of the half with some new vigor. The Panther defense held their high powered opponents without a score in the 3rd. Gramke added his second TD run and Rudolph caught another fade for a TD to tie the game at 27.
After another Chisholm TD-run, Elder again found themselves down but this time, with only four minutes left in the game. Facing a 4th and 15, QB John Groene heaved a pass down the seam into quadruple coverage, but the 6’7 Rudolph leapt over the would-be defenders and came down with the game saving play. Three plays later, it was Gramke finding the endzone for a third time to tie the game at 34.
Independence took over with only 35 seconds, but the Patriots moved right into field goal range. But with an entire Elder student section rattling the core of Nippert Stadium, Robbie Ward missed from 46 yards and the game went into overtime.
Five plays into overtime, Groene found Josh Jones in the corner of the endzone to give elder the seven point edge. With the student section now reaching a near frenzy, the Elder defense forced a four and out and the upset was complete.
Carruthers, who instantly hunched over and put his hands to his helmet after his final pass hit the ground took the loss hard, but the sophomore finished with 346 yards on 25 of 37 passing, 2 touchdowns and 2 picks. Javon Rembert was his go-to guy catching 11 passes for 197 yards and a score.
Makiri Pugh, arguably the Patriots’ best player and a Georgia commit played sparingly due to an ankle injury and recorded one pass breakup. DE Jarvis Pierce had 3 sacks and 4 tackles for loss.
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