High School football: Levi Ellis rolls up 4,000 career rushing yards as Elyria Catholic rolls over Fairview

ELYRIA — Legendary University of Texas coach Darrell Royal once said when asked about his plans for an upcoming game that it's always smart to "Dance with the one that brung ya." Friday night, that's exactly what Elyria Catholic did in a dominating 42-7 win over Fairview in Great Lakes Conference West Division play. Panthers coach Brian Fox called senior running back Levi Ellis' number early and often, and Ellis danced his way to 157 rushing yards and three touchdowns as the game was put out of reach early. Ellis started the scoring with an 18-yard run to cap Elyria Catholic's opening drive, then added runs of 42 and 32 yards in the second quarter as the Panthers (5-1, 2-0 GLC) raced out to a 42-0 halftime lead. Elyria Catholic rolled up 311 yards of offense in the first half while limiting the Warriors to 38. Hector Garcia, making his first start at quarterback, connected with Brady Cook for an 80-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and found junior Mason Haliburton from 33 yards out in the second. "I was a little nervous at first, with it being my first varsity start, and I was a little bit timid this week during practice," said Garcia, a junior. "As I started to get into it more, throw some passes and get a feel for the Friday night lights, I started to feel a bit more comfortable." With his 32-yard touchdown run late in the first half, Ellis passed Justin Rankin to move into third on the school's all-time rushing list while eclipsing the 4,000-yard career plateau. "It was really exciting to see Levi accomplish that," Fox said. "The coolest part was that (senior) Tavion (Thomas) asked not to take his reps tonight at running back so Levi could get there. Four thousand yards is really cool, it's an accomplishment, but beyond that how much his team cares about him and wants him to reach his goals is way cooler than everything else." Thomas was excited to see Ellis crack 4,000 yards. "I'm so happy for him," Thomas said. "He's been working for this since freshman year and he's not even close to done yet. I think he's going for that record and is going to put it out of reach." Ellis has 4,005 career yards, 78 behind Bryan Thomas for second on the list. He said it was important for the Panthers to get off to a quick start. "We came out slow the past couple of weeks," Ellis said. "Coming out for this game the way we did was important. We grew a lot this week at practice, but we still have a lot more growing to do." As for eclipsing 4,000 rushing yards, Ellis said he hasn't been focusing on the numbers. "I've just been taking it game by game," he said. "It feels nice and all, but the win feels better." Contact Mike Perry at 329-7125 or macsportstalk@gmail.com.