The Elder football team put an exclamation point Friday night on the first of its seven home games this season.On Friday night, the Panthers used that home-field to its advantage in a 35-3 win over visiting Middletown in a marqu ee non-conference showdown.Defense was an important aspect for the Panthers on Friday night."I was scared that they were going to throw some balls over our head," Elder coach Doug Ramsey said. "That they were going to get out in open space and give us a hard time. I think our front really controlled their offensive line and made it really tough."Elder earned 377 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Kaden Estep threw four touchdown passes and was 11 of 18 for 195 yards. He also rushed for 147 yards including a 67-yard touchdown run. Senior wide receiver Andrew Lyman had seven receptions for 145 yards and four touchdowns."That's what I told the other receivers - you're going to benefit from this because people are going to start paying a lot of attention to him," Ramsey said. "We've got good receivers. Other guys. Guys that played last year, made a lot of plays. It's going to be good."Lyman smiled when asked about scoring four receiving touchdowns."It's great," Lyman said. "I feel like we've been working on it all offseason. I feel like me and Kaden's connection - it's been on all year so far. It's just proud to see the work pay off."Elder senior linebacker Pete Fortkamp had 10 tackles including 1.5 sacks. Junior linebacker Brayden Tepe had eight tackles including two sacks.Middletown had 164 yards of total offense and the only points came in the second quarter on a 27-yard field goal from sophomore Carson Haggins.Elder, a Division I Region 4 finalist in 2025, returns plenty of talented players from last season. The Panthers led 14-3 at halftime Friday before 21 unanswered points in the second half."We knew we could score," Ramsey said. "Thirty-five - I didn't know. I was hoping we'd get maybe a 21-10 kind of game, something like that. But, to start this way was a good start for us."Friday was the first game of a home-and-home agreement between the schools. This week marks the start of the 90th season of football at The Pit.It was the 13thmeeting between the programs and the first game between the teams since 2022. Elder leads the series record 11-2.Elder (1-0) plays at Covington Catholic (1-0) Aug. 28.Middletown (0-1), a 2025 Division I state semifinalist, plays host to Princeton (1-0) Aug. 28.SIGN UP: Subscribe to our high school sports newsletter ...read more read less