High School Sports

On ‘Big Friday,’ here’s how Charlotte Catholic bounced back against Providence

Charlotte Catholic got a bit of a scare in Friday’s 21-14 win over Providence.

The Cougars (3-1) won their first-ever Southwestern 4A game at Memorial Stadium and bounced back from a tough loss to Blessed Trinity, a 5A Georgia team, at home last week.

The game was part of the Carolina Panthers “Big Friday” series of games in uptown Charlotte.

Catholic’s defense was solid early, shutting out Providence (1-3) in the first half. And the Cougars got points in both early quarters: Sean Boyle hit Jacob Deller with a 23-yard scoring pass in the first; Griffin Sovine had a 32-yard run in the second.

Then to start the second half, Ethan Ellis appeared to put the game away with an electric 90-yard kickoff return. When he scored with 11:46 left in the period, Providence was in a big three-score hole.

But the Panthers did manage to answer with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter to trim the lead to 21-7. It got another score a few minutes later to trim Catholic’s lead to a touchdown.

And the Panthers had a real shot to tie late, but were stopped on downs at the Catholic 9 with 4:17 to play.

Providence (1-3) started the season with an impressive 21-7 win over Chester, but has now lost three straight games. the Panthers lost 24-7 to South Meck and 28-20 to Mallard Creek before Friday’s game.

Photos from Friday’s games

If you cannot see the photos on mobile, click here

This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 9:16 PM.

Langston Wertz Jr.
The Charlotte Observer
Langston Wertz Jr. is an award-winning sports journalist who has worked at the Observer since 1988. He’s covered everything from Final Fours and NFL to video games and Britney Spears. Wertz -- a West Charlotte High and UNC grad -- is the rare person who can answer “Charlotte,” when you ask, “What city are you from.” Support my work with a digital subscription
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