Orange Falls to Painesville Harvey 56-42 in High-Scoring Battle

PAINESVILLE, OH- The Orange Lions couldn’t recover from an explosive start by the Harvey Red Raiders, falling 56-42 in a high-octane matchup Friday night.

Harvey wasted no time taking control, marching down the field on the opening drive and capping it with a 33-yard touchdown run to go up 7-0. Orange answered with a promising drive of their own but came up empty after turning the ball over on downs deep in Red Raider territory.

After both teams traded possessions, Harvey found another gear, scoring on a 62-yard touchdown pass and following it up with an 85-yard scoring run, building a commanding 21-0 lead.

The Lions finally broke through when Russell Tye exploded for a 65-yard touchdown run. But Orange kept up the pressure, including a 1-yard touchdown run by EJ Dowdell, and cutting the Harvey lead to 35-14 heading into the half.

Orange opened the second half with a determined drive, finishing with a gutsy 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jonah Frey on 4th-and-goal. Frey ended the night with 7 rushing yards and a touchdown, while completing 10 of 20 passes for 136 yards and two interceptions.

The Red Raiders quickly responded with two more scores to push the lead to 49-21. Tye kept Orange in the fight with his second long touchdown run, this one from 46 yards out, to cut the deficit to 49-28. Tye had a monster night, finishing with 185 yards on just 13 carries and two scores.

Dowdell added a 9-yard touchdown run to bring the Lions within striking distance at 49-35, but Harvey immediately countered with an 80-yard touchdown on the next play. Dowdell would score again late in the fourth quarter to cap the Lions’ scoring and narrow the final gap to 56-42. He finished with three rushing touchdowns.

In a bright spot for special teams, Noah Seaman stepped into the kicking role for the first time and delivered a perfect 6-for-6 performance on extra points.

Now 2-4 on the season, the Lions will look to regroup as they return home to host the 4-2 Perry Pirates next Friday night at 7 p.m.