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Comets blast Medina, 42-14
(by Tony Lange - October 04, 2012)
Comets blast Medina, 42-14
By TONY LANGE
A program that prides itself on conference titles as much as on its defense, Solon football took care of business in both respects last Friday as the Comets beat Medina, 42-12, at Stewart Field during senior night.
Heading into the Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division opener, the goal was to be 1-0, Solon head coach Jim McQuaide said.
"I think, if you look at us today, as opposed to two weeks ago, we've made some progress," he said. "We've improved both defensively, offensively and special teams. So we made plays in all of those areas. Now we've got to see how much improvement we've made going to Mentor against a very good team."
The Comets, who are three-time defending Valley Division champs, shared the NOC title with Mentor and Twinsburg last season, with all three teams going 4-1.
Against Medina, a guy who really made his presence felt was George Berry.
In the first quarter, he scored on a 31-yard touchdown run.
In the second quarter, he threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Drew Barksdale.
In the third quarter, he scored off a 28-yard interception return and threw a second touchdown pass, also to Drew Barksdale on a 9-yard catch.
"He scored a touchdown, he threw a touchdown pass, he intercepted a pass and returned that for a touchdown," McQuaide said. "So that doesn't happen very often, guys doing things like that."
Also scoring in the first half, Darian Hicks caught a 21-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Ryan Gallagher, and the Comets led, 21-0, at halftime.
In that half, the Comets outgained the Bees, 161 yards to 16 yards.
The spread opened even further in the third quarter as the Comets scored three touchdowns in less than five minutes.
After Berry's 9-yard pass to Barksdale, running back Khoury Crenshaw found the end zone on a 52-yard run. And then Berry's previously mentioned pick-six unraveled.
The Comets led, 42-0, heading into the final quarter.
Medina didn't score its two touchdowns until the final four minutes of the game.
Solon improved to 4-2, while the Bees fell to 1-5.
Berry finished the game four-of-five passing for 58 yards.
Crenshaw finished with 96 yards on 11 carries.
Barksdale finished with three catches for 36 yards.
Leading the defense, sophomore linebacker John Sensibaugh had 16 tackles.
"He has started every game, and I wouldn't consider him a sophomore anymore with the way he's played throughout the year," McQuaide said. "He's been a hard worker and showed that on Friday night."
Two other guys who really showed up against Medina were defensive ends Brandon Reynolds, junior, and Ryan Pastor, senior, McQuaide said.
They also split time at left tackle on offense.
"They've really done a good job all year," McQuaide said. "Those guys really make a huge impact on both sides of the ball. They've really taken a lot of leadership on our team."
Reynolds actually moved from tight end to tackle this past week because of injuries.
That switch takes a lot of sacrifice going from a position that touches the ball to a spot on the line where the ball never comes, McQuaide said.
Beating Medina was a big step forward for the Comets as they had their concerns after watching game film on the Bees, who had a fourth-quarter lead against a very good Shaker Heights team the previous week, McQuaide said.
"I think our guys concentrated this week, and they were ready to play," he said. "The best part is I think we were better than we were two weeks ago. But we'll really see how better we are when we go to Mentor, because Mentor is in a different class than the teams we played these past two weeks."
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