The GCL is a highly talented high school football league, with schools that can play with anyone. Elder has proven that to be true, by hanging with two of Ohio’s top teams in the past few weeks. Close games with Cleveland St. Ignatius, and the St. Xavier Bombers could have gone either way.

With St. X winning a state championship this past year, and off to a very impressive 6-0 start. Is the GCL rivalry hotter than it’s been in the past? Two great nail biting games were played in the GCL last weekend, Elder losing to St. X 14-6, and LaSalle getting the best of Moeller 28-24. The latter was capped off by a late 98 yard fourth quarter drive by the Lancers.

This week, Elder takes on Moeller here at The Pit, and both will be looking to get their first GCL win of the year. Meanwhile the Bombers and Lancers will duke it out at St. X, for the best record against their GCL rival teams.

Junior quarterback Michael Bittner, is due to take all of the snaps on Friday, with an injury to senior quarterback Danny Nieman that will keep him sidelined against the Crusaders. Danny isn’t the only QB out of this one, Moeller’s standout quarterback Miles McBride is also out with a knee injury.

The Panthers should have the QB edge, even with a healthy Nieman, Bittner was still seeing regular time at quarterback.

Bittner told me, “Most of my game plan is classified, but the main idea is to not let them score, and we score a lot.” With the senior leadership out, Bittner is excited to get a great chance this Friday.

“(It’s) not really the way I wanted to get a shot, you never want to see your teammate and friend go down on the field. But, yeah, I am excited to take the snaps this Friday and try to get a big dub in the pit.”

Matt Allison is a junior here at Elder High, and he thrives off the energy of a great night in the section with a big GCL game on the line.

“I’m hyped up for it all week long, it’s all anyone can look forward to. Other than a great playoff game, it’s hard to beat a GCL game Friday night.” I couldn’t agree more. Friday nights in the pit are

electric, especially when the crowd erupts.

“I just love the atmosphere, you know it’s gonna be a great night when everyone is amped up all day Friday.”

Junior wide receiver John Cummings absolutely loves GCL games. “Even the whole week of practice, everyone knows who we’re playing, and who their best guys are. We’re all excited the entire week. Coaches always tell us to focus on the task at hand and that’s having a good practice, but we’re just thinking about Friday night.

“The GCL pep rallies are a great time, just reminds the school about a big game later that night.”

The pep rallies are a fun time, and this week’s pep rally is something out of the ordinary. It’s a fun chance the spend the night at Elder on Thursday and participate in a televised pep rally before school on Friday morning. It has been confirmed by Mr. Quatman himself that we have over one hundred people signed up for the Elder sleepover to get hyped up for the big GCL game Friday night.