For Ryle, Elliott's injury added to insult of 37-0 loss to Colerain

Written by

Richard Skinner
Enquirer contributor

The Ryle football team may have lost more than a football game on Friday night as star running back Travis Elliott suffered a knee injury that two sources deemed serious.
Elliott, who had been battling bronchitis for much of the week, left the game after hurting his knee while trying to make a tackle late in the first quarter of the Raiders 37-0 loss at Colerain.
Ryle head coach Bryson Warner would only confirm that Elliott suffered a knee injury.
“We have great doctors and I’m going to leave it up to them,” said Warner.

Elliott, who has committed to Western Kentucky University, entered the game with 337 yards rushing and nine touchdowns in Ryle’s first two games. He finished with just six yards rushing on two carries and also had two receptions for four yards.

Ryle’s offense could do little against a staunch Colerain defense that limited three-time defending Florida state champ Cocoa to less than 100 yards until late in the fourth of a 17-7 win last week. The Raiders tried to spread the field with five receivers for most of the game, but had just 138 yards of total offense, just 33 through the air as junior Nathan Davis completed only six of 19 passes and was intercepted twice. Davis rushed for 46 yards on 18 carries. Senior Jake Nutter led the Raiders with 51 yards on seven carries.

“That’s why we play great competition like that, because it forces you to do things you’re not comfortable with,” said Warner. “You have to find different ways to move the football against great teams and we just need to execute better. We had a few good moments and we learned the level we need to get to and the weaknesses we need to work on.”

Colerain coach Tom Bolden said the five-receiver set didn’t bother his team much even though it hadn’t prepared for Ryle to use the formation.

“It was something we hadn’t seen, but we’re a pretty fast football team and when they went empty backfield they only have one guy with a chance to run it, so we had a chance to pin our ears back a little bit,” said Bolden.

Colerain got a big offensive night from junior fullback Jackson Sorn, who played quarterback on the junior varsity last season and wasn’t even moved to fullback until late July.

Sorn followed up his team-high 72-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance in last week’s win over Cocoa by rushing for 226 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries. He rushed for 152 yards in the first quarter on his first three carries of the game, including a 62-yard touchdown run on the first play of Colerain’s second possession of the game to open the scoring.

“He was a kid last year on JV that while he played quarterback, he ran like a fullback,” said Colerain coach Tom Bolden. “He wasn’t going to pitch, he was going to turn it up, lower his shoulder and carry the football. We needed a fullback and we knew he could be the guy.”

Sorn said he has enjoyed the position from the moment he moved there.

“I love getting the ball and you get the ball a lot,” he said. “It’s actually a lot easier for me. I don’t have to go through all the reads I just take it and go with it. I love it.”

Colerain (2-0) finished with 360 yards of total offense, including 335 yards rushing. They had 260 yards in the first half, 235 on the ground.

After Ryle forced a three-and-out on Colerain’s first possession and Ryle went three-and-out on its first possession, Sorn ripped off his 62-yard touchdown run.

Elliott didn’t start the game, but entered on Ryle’s second possession and fumbled on his second carry of the game. Colerain senior linebacker Joe Bolden recovered on the Cardinals 48. A 28-yard run by Sorn carried the ball to the Ryle 24 and on the next play, junior Chris Davis raced 24 yards around left end for a touchdown and a 14-0 Colerain lead.

A 27-yard punt return by Tre Hudson that took the ball to the Ryle 10 setup a six-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal from junior Alfred Ramsby to senior Ben Scherrer to up the Cardinals’ lead to 21-0 with 4:49 left in the first half.

Senior Kevin Walker booted a 43-yard field with three seconds left in the first half increasing it to 24-0 at halftime.

Colerain went ahead 31-0 less than two minutes into the second when senior linebacker Andre Jones intercepted a Davis pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.

On the Cardinals’ next possession, Sorn ripped off a 59-yard TD run on his first carry of the second half to close the scoring.

Colerain also suffered a potentially big injury when running back Chris Davis was helped off the field in the third quarter. Bolden said Davis dislocated his kneecap and will have an MRI done as a precaution.


Ryle 0 0 0 0 - 0
Colerain 14 10 13 0 - 37

C-Sorn 62 run (Walker kick)
C-Davis 24 run (Walker kick)
C-Scherrer 6 pass from Ramsby (Walker kick)
C-FG Walker 43
C-Jones 35 interception return (Walker kick)
C-Sorn 59 run (kick failed)

Records: Ryle 2-1, Colerain 2-0.