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Kenston, Chagrin, West G stay in CVC hunt
(by Tony Lange - October 13, 2010)
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Kenston, Chagrin, West G stay in CVC hunt
By TONY LANGE
The Kenston-Perry game took center stage last Friday night in the Chagrin Valley Conference. Only the winner likely would stay alive in the conference race.
With a two-touchdown lead, the Bombers were able to kneel out the final ticks of the game for a 28-14 triumph as they improved to 3-1 in the Chagrin Division. Perry dropped to 2-2 in the division.
Chagrin Falls and West Geauga also improved to 3-1 in the division with wins and will square off at 7 p.m. Friday night at Chagrin Falls.
Aurora remains the front-runner at 4-0 in the Chagrin Division.
Kenston 28
Perry 14
It's not a secret. Each week Bombers' head coach Roger Vasey preaches his team's game plan: to establish the run. With fullbacks like Pat Porter and Percy Johnson, it's not difficult to understand why.
Against Perry, the Bombers rushed 43 times and passed just five times. Johnson ran for 151 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. Porter ran 73 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown.
Through week seven, Porter has rushed for 748 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. He is averaging 6.4 yards per carry.
Johnson, who did not play the first three weeks due to injuries, has rushed for 415 yards and scored four touchdowns. He is averaging 6.7 yards per carry.
Perry was gunning for Porter early after he rushed for 265 yards the previous week. Perry held him to two yards and one yard on his first two rushes. After an incomplete pass, the Bombers went three and out to start the game.
The Bombers' defense answered with three stops of its own and was able to take over the ball at the Perry 26-yard line after a short out-of-bounds punt.
The Bombers used their double-threat option and put the ball in the hands of Johnson, who picked up 25 yards on the first two carries. Quarterback Austin Zachem dove into the end zone for a touchdown on the next play as Kenston went up 7-0 with 6:44 left in the first period.
Seventeen seconds later, cornerback Justin Brownlow scored on a 23-yard interception. The pick came during a trick play when the Pirates' offense indicated left and threw a cross-field pass. Brownlow didn't bite on the fake, caught the football, zigzagged past a Pirate and ran untouched into the end zone.
Perry got back the ball and drove the ball 65 yards in 10 plays. They were fourth and inches inside the Bombers' one-yard line. When the Pirates kept their offense on the field for a touchdown attempt, Vasey called a timeout. The Bombers' defense which had been on the field for more than 5 1/2 minutes.
"Coach (Pete) Thompson went out and got them revved up and they made a play," Vasey said of his defense, which held the line and took over the ball on downs. "They never quit. Our kids never quit."
In the third quarter, Johnson scored on a 29-yard run to put the Bombers up, 21-7. He collided head-on with a Pirate, but was able to stay on his feet after a spin move.
"You just don't give up on the play, treat it like practice, keep moving your feet and focus on the end zone," Johnson said.
To seal the victory, Porter put the Bombers up 28-7 during a three-yard touchdown run with nine minutes left in the game.
"It's great," Porter said while describing the euphoria of scoring a touchdown. "It's just the best feeling, especially when you put your team up like that."
He is the Bombers' two-time most valuable player for a reason, Vasey said.
"He is a hell of an athlete and is so multi-dimensional," he said.
The Pirates found out hours before the kickoff that their third-year quarterback was diagnosed with mononucleosis and would be out for the remainder of the season, Vasey said.
West Geauga 48
Orange 24
After its first loss of the season, West Geauga (6-1) rebounded with a 48-24 victory last Friday over Orange (2-5, 0-4). The Wolverines are averaging more than 35 points a game this season, and second-year quarterback Joe Drenski is a big reason for that.
Against Orange, Drenski rushed for more than 200 yards with two touchdowns. He also completed two passes into the end zone. Those statistics, however, are quite ordinary for Drenski.
Through week seven, he has 14 rushing touchdowns and 12 passing touchdowns.
"I always joked with my friends about my individual goal," Drenski said. "It's just this insane goal that I'm trying to accomplish. I want to have 20 rushing touchdowns and 20 passing touchdowns this season."
It was a joke at first, his head coach, Lou Cirino, said.
"I said to him, 'Joe, I'm not going to shoot down your goals, but I'm also not going to pad your stats so you achieve those goals,'" Cirino said.
Drenski's touchdowns against Orange came in the third quarter on a 65-yard run and a one-yard run, which put his team up 34-12 after having an eight-point lead at the half.
The Wolverines got real physical with the Lions in the second half, Cirino said. At halftime, the speech was real simple, he said.
"What I said was, 'If our young guys aren't in late in this game, that's a shame to you varsity players,'" Cirino said. "They responded."
Also scoring two touchdowns for the Wolverines was Joe Ziccardi on a five-yard run in the first quarter and a three-yard run in the fourth stanza.
Mike VeVerka had a 15-yard touchdown reception and Nick Cuthbert had an 11-yard reception in the first quarter.
Sophomore Dom Varga scored a one-yard run in the fourth qauter.
Cornerback Rob Trhlin had five pass breakups and an interception for the Wolverines, Cirino said.
"He's a very instinctive player," he said. "When you could put a kid out there like that and really not worry about him, that's a special thing."
Scoring for the Lions was receiver Julian Turner, who had a 75-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter from third-year quarterback Ryan Bitzer.
Bitzer had 379 yards throwing, and Turner had 177 yards on seven receptions.
Marcus Henderson added a Lion touchdown in the second quarter on a two-yard run. Anthony Garofoli had a 27-yard touchdown reception, and Chase Ullaman had an eight-yard touchdown run in the fourth stanza.
Chagrin Falls 51
Painesville Harvey 14
After a scoreless first quarter against Painesville Harvey, Chagrin Falls (6-1) held an end-zone party.
This week's invitation included seven Tigers scoring a total of eight touchdowns: four rushing and four passing from two quarterbacks, Tim Porter and Tommy Iammarino.
A lot of guys contributed and that's the goal, head coach Mark Iammarino said.
"Once we scored, we started getting into a good roll," he said. "It took the first quarter for us to get warmed up."
Andrew Winkelman was the first to arrive in the end zone with a 20-yard touchdown reception from Porter. Kurt Vidmer then joined him with a four-yard run. Next was Anthony DeCamillo with a 30-yard reception from Tommy Iammarino. Before the quarter was done, Bradley Munday scored on a seven-yard run.
In the third quarter, Munday scored again on a 47-yard run. He is one of Chagrin's fastest players, Iammarino said. "Once he got to the outside, he was gone."
Also in the third quarter, Spencer Diedrich scored on a 79-yard touchdown reception from Porter and Jack Hinman scored on a 12-yard run.
The party ended in the fourth period after Michael Hageman's 64-yard touchdown reception from Iammarino.
Vidmer led the defense with 11 tackles, Iammarino said.
The Tigers struggled with kicking as they missed four extra-point attempts.
"Prior to that we had been very strong converting our PATs all year long, so I'm hoping this was just a one-game deal," Iammarino said.
Harvey fell to 3-4, 1-3.
Independence 34
Hawken 14
After going up 7-0 in the first quarter, Hawken School (3-4, 1-1) gave up 21 unanswered points as Independence (6-1, 2-0) won the Metro Division matchup.
Jeremy Simmons scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter and a 36-yard run in the third.
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