By Chris Asbrock

The two big matchups were Friday night at the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium.

The showdown started with Colerain taking on the Cobras of Park Vista from Lake Worth , Florida. This is the first appearance in the showdown for Park Vista. Colerain is a regular participant in the showdown.  The Cardinals entered the Showdown with a 10-3 lifetime record.

Things started off with the opening kick from Colerain’s Zach Gehner, heading out of bounds. Things were chippy during the first series for each team.

After a 3 and out to start the game, Colerain started to flex their muscle with their rushing game, led by Senior QB Kelvin Cook. Cook started the scoring off with a rushing touchdown. That would be the story of the first half as Colerain rushed for 3 touchdowns.

Park Vista was not to be denied a shot in the endzone though. Colerain made it 21-0 on a DeTuan Smith-Moore rushing touchdown. Park Vista senior, Emmanuel Smith turned on the jets, returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.

The final five minutes of the half were back and forth as Colerain and Park Vista traded scores. Kelvin Cook hooked up with TJ Dula to restore the Colerain lead to 21. Emmanuel Smith was yet to be denied as he was the recipient of a beautiful pass from Qwad Martin, making it 28-13 Colerain, just before the half.

Colerain started the 2nd half off the way the it dominated the first, with a rushing touchdown. This time it was Jordan Asberry who made it 35-13 in favor of the Cardinals.

Emmanuel Smith once again found the endzone to cut the Colerain lead to 15 with 7:06 remaining in the 3rd quarter. The quarter ended with Colerain leading 35-20.

Colerain’s defense stepped up to shut down a Park Vista drive as Aric Johnson intercepted a Qwad Martin pass.

With just over 5 minutes remaining, DeTuan Smith-Moore extended the Colerain lead to 22 with his 2nd rushing touchdown.

Park Vista was not going to go down without a fight, as Jametrius Bentley found the endzone after receiving a pass from Qwad Martin.  With that touchdown, the lead was back to 15.

Colerain was able to drive the ball for over 3 minutes, capping it off with a Zach Gehner field goal, making it 45-27 Colerain.

With the victory, Colerain improved to 11-3 all-time in the Crosstown Showdown.

Below is the transcript of the post game interview with Colerain Head Coach Tom Bolden:

FTI: Playing a team from Florida, you know they have a lot of speed, how much preparation went into that?

Bolden: Well you know, two years ago we played another team from Florida, Cocoa, and beat them also. They were fast, much like that team but I will tell this, the little #1 from them, was as fast as any kid that I have ever seen. He could flat out go and they had the big play capability, that’s what kept them in the game. They had the 4 plays they scored on probably came with a total of 200 yards with those plays also. We have to eliminate those big plays.

FTI: It seemed like you were shying away from him.

Bolden: Ya, we didn’t want to kick it to him, but unfortunately when we did, our kicker, that’s, you know when you coach 16, 17, 18 year-old kids, things happen, and our kicker kicked it to him when he wasn’t supposed to and obviously you saw what happened. We needed better coverage on that also, but ya we got to eliminate the big plays. We were pretty darn dominant other than them 4 plays. So if you take those 4 plays out of the game we were pretty tough there.

FTI: Lastly, what does it mean to get a nice win like this to start off the season, heading into the rest of the schedule and GMC play?

Bolden: Big. Especially with the two we have coming up. Obviously with St. X, that’s a big rival for us and then after them, the Trinity game and then getting into GMC play. The league is so much better. Ya, you can’t get where you want to go if you don’t win number 1 and we were fortunate enough to do that tonight. We just need to build off of that.