The Brush Arcs football team fought back from a 13-point first half deficit to win its season opener in dramatic fashion, 21-19 over Euclid on Friday night. This was the Arcs first season opening victory since defeating Lakeside in 2021.
The Arcs found themselves in the hole early on when a fumble on their first play from scrimmage gave the Panthers the ball at the Brush 40-yard line. Three plays later, Keishjuan Telfair caught and short hitch from quarterback Dion Russell and turned it into a 33-yard Euclid touchdown and a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
Euclid expanded it's lead in the second quarter when after a stop by the Brush defense forced a punt, Telfair scooped up a bad snap and raced through the Arc defense for a 46-yard score and a 13-0 Euclid lead which they carried into the half.
Brush came alive after the break, forcing a turnover on the opening possession when
Ky'ale Coleman stripped a Panther runner and
Trumar Salette recovered the fumble. The Arcs offense found its rhythm behind a bruising ground game led by senior
Aiden O'Neal and a shifty pair of freshmen running backs in
Jayce Williams and
Lawrence Moore. O'Neal finally got the Arcs on the scoreboard with a 2-yard plunge up the middle to cut the Euclid lead to 13-6 with 1:44 left in the third quarter.
With the Panthers driving and down to the Arcs 30-yard line, the Brush defense came up with a huge stop on 4
th and 9, putting the Arc offense back on the field with 5:01 to play.
Jay Gilchrist methodically led the Arcs down the field with a mixture of scrambles, short passes and utilizing his trio of backs. O'Neal capped off the drive by taking what appeared to be an off-tackle run and cutting back through the center of the Panther defense for an 18-yard touchdown run. Following a timeout the Arcs went for two and the lead and were able to convert, again on a power run by O'Neal and making the score 14-13 Brush with 2:42 to play.
A short kickoff gave Euclid great field position on the ensuing possession, and the Panthers wasted little time taking advantage. Russell avoided a sack by two Arc defenders and found Telfair in the back of the end zone to put Euclid back in front 19-14 with 1:33 remaining.
Operating with no timeouts and needing a touchdown to win the game, Gilchrist took command in the final 90 seconds leading a nine-play, 65-yard scoring drive. He had four quarterback runs, two of which went for first downs, found Salette for a 17-yard connection and then scrambled left and threw a dart to Philip Alexander for the game-winning 23-yard touchdown.
Brush finished with 386 total yards with 298 coming on the ground. O'Neal finished with a career-high 120 yards on 21 carries with two touchdowns, while Moore and Williams ran for 42 and 29 yards respectively. In addition to throwing the game-winning touchdown, Gilchrist also ran for 77 yards.
