Euclid Panthers football hits a wall: What the 35-7 Strongsville rout reveals before Shaker Heights

Euclid's 35-7 loss to Strongsville on Friday, September 18, turned on one half of football: the Panthers gained 50 total yards after halftime and gave up 22 unanswered points, turning a 13-0 game into a rout.

The Panthers arrived at the Greater Cleveland Conference game riding a 56-21 win at Lorain on September 11, a result that had Panther families feeling the season was turning a corner. The loss dropped Euclid to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, a record that sits far short of the breakout season previewed before the year.

The season has been uneven: a 14-6 win at Brush on Aug. 21, a 43-33 loss to Berea-Midpark on Aug. 28, a 32-6 loss at St. John's Jesuit on Sept. 4, the 56-21 win at Lorain on Sept. 11, and the 35-7 loss to Strongsville on Sept. 18.

The second-half collapse

The game was still within reach at halftime: Strongsville led only 13-0, and Euclid's Kei'Shjuan Telfair had six catches for 66 yards in the first half, keeping the Panthers in it.

After the break, Strongsville outscored Euclid 22-7, scoring touchdowns on four consecutive possessions — the first three of the half — before Euclid's lone touchdown. Strongsville held Euclid to 50 total yards of offense in the second half, while Telfair managed just one catch for three yards after halftime.

What Strongsville did

Strongsville finished with 300 total yards, 194 of them in the second half, as quarterback Jack Kasner completed 14 of 19 passes for 132 yards to five receivers and Kendrick Boddie scored three touchdowns with 64 rushing yards on 12 carries, plus Austin Tatulinski's 72 yards and a score.

Strongsville senior linebacker Dan Baishnab said the Mustangs knew the game was still close at the break. "We knew it was only 13-0 at halftime so we knew we needed to bring some energy and keep it going." "We really swarmed to ball in the second half," Baishnab said, describing the defensive shift that stalled Euclid after the break.

Strongsville head coach Jason Trusnik said, "That's definitely something that we continue to work on, starting the game fast and starting the half fast."

Baishnab said, "The defense came out hot the first half. No points on the board. Offense came out a little slow. At halftime we got on them. Coming out of halftime they killed it."

The win lifted Strongsville to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference, a reminder of the standard Euclid is chasing in the GCC.

What Euclid must fix

That second-half stall exposed an offense that could not move the ball once Strongsville adjusted after halftime; the projected unit of quarterback Dion Russell, running backs Cameron Elston and Brandon Morgon, and receivers Kei'Shjuan Telfair, Colby Orr, and Sincere Hamilton produced almost nothing after the break.

The projected offensive line of Martell Mincy, Tristian Matthews, James Bradford, Semaj Ellison, and Charles Johnson, per the season preview, had no answer for Strongsville's second-half pressure, with Telfair's production collapsing from 66 first-half yards to three.

On defense, the projected standouts of Russell Smith, Braelyn Lee, Damaron Brown, Praise Walkr, Tyvier Williams, and Cardee'a Johnson, with Telfair and Hamilton in the secondary, gave up four straight touchdown drives as Strongsville outscored Euclid 22-7 after the break.

The loss is the third time in five games Euclid has been beaten decisively, following the 43-33 loss to Berea-Midpark and the 32-6 loss at St. John's Jesuit — the Lorain blowout now looks like the outlier, not the Strongsville rout.

The road ahead

Euclid's next two games are both Greater Cleveland Conference matchups: at Shaker Heights on Friday, September 25, 2026, and home against Brunswick on Friday, October 2, 2026.

Shaker Heights enters the September 25 game at 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference, most recently losing 31-14 at Brunswick on September 18, making it a winnable game but no gimme for a Euclid team coming off a second-half stall.

Brunswick arrives October 2 at 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference, having beaten Shaker Heights 31-14 on September 18 after a 63-18 loss at Mentor on September 11, a tougher test than Shaker Heights.

After Shaker Heights and Brunswick, the remaining GCC schedule includes Cleveland Heights, Painesville Riverside, and Mentor, so the road does not get easier and the margin for error is thin.

Head coach Damion Creel, in his third season, now has to get a 2-3 squad that was expected to be on the upswing to treat the Shaker Heights game as the moment to reset before Brunswick and the rest of the GCC schedule arrive.

The season is not over at 2-3 and 1-1 in the conference, but one bad half turned into a rout against Strongsville, and the next two weeks will show whether Euclid can fix what that half exposed before the schedule gets harder.