Medina - On a rainy, chilly night at Ken Dukes Stadium, the Blue Devils were flooded by a wave of mistakes and tremendous competition in the St. Paul Flyers as they pulled away to a 34-0 victory. The loss ends what was an outstanding season for the Blue Devils as they finish the year at 11-1.
The Devils would commit six turnovers on the night, leading to four Flyers scores including three possessions in a row late in the third and early fourth quarters. At that point, the Flyers pulled away from what was a hard hitting, competitive contest.
The Flyers were lead by a pair of talented players in quarterback Eric Schwieterman and running back Matt Wilde. Wilde would finish the night with 208 yards rushing on 20 carries and four touchdowns, while Schwieterman would pass for 61 yards and rush for 45 yards and a touchdown. The Flyers would accumilate 301 yards rushing in the game.
The first half was a smash-mouth contest as the Flyers would throw an interception on they're first possession as Devin Bansberg would pick off the pass at the Devils 17-yard line. Unfortunately the Devils would go three-and out, leading to the Flyers getting the ball back at the Devils own 42-yard line.
The Flyers would score on the first play after taking possession with a 42-yard run by Wilde. They would then add to they're lead on the next possession with a 7-yard run by Wilde again. The second score would come at the 9:25 mark of the second quarter, giving the Flyers a 13-0 lead.
McDonald would then put together they're most impressive drive of the game as they would go 54 yards on 13 plays, but unfortunately the Devils would turn the ball over on downs at the St. Paul 19-yard line. The two teams would go to the locker room with the Flyers ahead 13-0.
As the second half began, the Devils would find themselves fumbling the ball away on they're first four possessions of the second half. And on a fifth drive they would have a pass intercepted. The Flyers would take advantage of the Devils miscues as they would score two touchdowns on the very next play following the turnover. The scores would include a Wilde 2-yard touchdown run, a Wilde 30-yard touchdown run, and a Schwieterman 20-yard run. All three touchdowns would occur within a five minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
Leading the Devils were Alex Sampson with 80 yards on 20 carries, and would also make some bone-crunching tackles. Mike Thomas would add 33 yards on 8 carries, with Nick Cupan rushing for 42 yards. Nick Accordino would pass for 0 yards on 3 of 7 passes with 2 interceptions. The Devils would finish the night with a total of 180 offensive yards.
Niles - The Crestview Rebels would suffer the same fate as they're ITCL rival South Range as the Rebs would commit uncharacteristic errors in route to a dominating Kirtland 41-13 victory. Turnovers, penalties, and missed tackles would help the Hornets bottle up the Rebes offensively, while quarterback Ben Madden would throw five touchdown passes to lead the Kirtland offensive explosion. In fact, the Rebels would not pick up a first down unitl midway through the second quarter.
Kirtland would score first as Madden would hit receiver Dominic Samf on a 12-yard pass at the 5:43 mark of the first quarter. They would add to they're advantage when Madden would hit his big tight end Anthony Ritossa on a 10-yard pass at the 8:09 point of the second stanza.
Crestview would finally get the offense in gear as they would take the ensuing possesion and score a touchdown on a Corey Hill 1-yard plunge off the left side of the line. With the score occuring just 1:09 before halftime, it appeared that the Rebels would have some momentum going into the locker rooms. But a squib kick was picked up by Samf and returned 40 yards to put the Hornets in scoring position once again.
Kirtland would take advantage of the situation as Madden would hit Ritossa again. This time it was a 8-yard pass to push the Hornets lead to 21-7 at halftime. The Rebels Adam Britton had a interception bounce off his shoulder pads in what could have turned the threat away on the first play of the possession.
Kirtland would put the game away to start the second half. They would take the opening possession of the half and score on a 2-yard run by running back Neil Perko at 6:41 of the third period. They would add another score at the 1:11 mark on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Madden to Rossi Santo. The Hornets would take a 34-7 advantage into the fourth quarter.
They would add one more score to the game when Madden would hit Samf on a 17 yard pass with 10:05 remaining in the contest. The Rebels would show a lot of heart as they played to the end and put together a drive of they're own as Carter Hill would hit Jakob Leon on a 14-yard slant pattern after the same play was called back on a penalty the first time. The score at the 4:36 mark would end the game with the 41-13 final.
