This weekend, Elder will travel up north to take on Ohio’s D-1 defending State Champs, St. Edwards.

Last year, Elder took on St. Ed’s and fell to a tough 31-32 defeat. In that game, Elder showed heart and fought for everything. “Elder was never supposed to be an opponent” many people believed, but it turns out, a bunch of boys from a place known as West Price Hill gave all the heart they had.

Elder’s offense has been preparing for this big game all week. Head coach Doug Ramsey isn’t unprepared for this game either. All week at practice he has gotten his main point out. “We aren’t athletic enough to make mental mistakes, we have to be smarter and stronger than our opponents,” said Coach Ramsey.

Coach is looking forward toward the weather of the game, looking toward this week, the weather in Lakewood looks to be a high of 83 degrees for the game on Saturday. Thankfully it won’t be so hot to the point that a fire hose is needed.

When Elder played St. Edwards in 2018, it was so hot that some of the fans had to get sprayed with a fire hose to cool off from the intense heat.

Student at Elder, Sam Tucker was at the 2018 game. “It was steaming, it was one of the type of days where you walk outside and instantly start sweating.”

He said the fire hose was surprising because he didn’t think it would happen, he thought it was kind of crazy. “The water felt incredible when it hit us, it was so relieving,” said Tucker.

Elder hopefully will be prepared for the type of heat that is thrown at them the day of the big game. Hopefully they are locked in and ready even if its 98 or above. The heat has never been a problem for the Panthers, against West Catholic two weeks ago, temperatures reached up to 96 in the air, the doesn’t even consider the scorching heat of the turf. But the Panthers showed resilience and took the win 20-13, an excellent team victory.

The Panthers also showed out against Springboro the past week. It was a strong secondary game along with many solid plays from offense. Elder won 30-6, and they have been rolling like a fired-up steam engine and look strong heading into week four.

The team is currently 3-0 and hopes to advance to 4-0 against the Eagles. Check out for yourself some highlight clips from the game.

Elder moves to 3-0 with 30-6 win over Springboro (local12.com)

Before the Springboro game, Coach James always tries to get the team amped up and ready. One of the most memorable things heard from Coach. James was when he said it’s a privilege to go to Elder, it’s a privilege to play on Friday nights. It was a compelling speech to hear, to try and amp the team up and get them “locked in” for the game

Along with the Elder offense, the defensive team has a lot to prove this week as well, Linebacker and Toledo commit Maddox Arnold has been preparing this week as well, showing why he is a true D-1 talent, and that hard work and effort helped him get to where he is now.

Talking to Maddox about the game and how he feels heading into week four, he claims, “I feel that we are very prepared, we’re playing very well right now and we’re going to carry that into this week.”

When asked how he feels about the secondary, he said he is confident with how they are playing, and that Coach Roden has come up with some good schemes and coverages for defending and keeping the ball from being thrown.

Elder looks very well prepared for the big game in Cleveland this upcoming week as well, after a few discussions with tight end Brayden Boeing, who is also one of the team captains, he thinks that the team is ready to play.

Brayden feels really good about our team going into week four. “Even though we are battling some injuries, I think the confidence in the young guys is definitely coming along. The offense is definitely going to be very well prepared especially with the extra day of practice we get this week.” Brayden also thinks the team coming off a great win against Springboro that the o-line is definitely starting to get their feet under them.

The Panthers hope to bounce back against St. Edwards after last year’s tough loss by one point. The team sounds very well prepared and very ready to play. All the captains and students are amped up and ready, even though the game is in Cleveland, I can assure you the Panthers’ fan base will travel with the team to watch them battle and attempt to get another win under their belt.