BALLONE TIES STATE RECORD IN BATTLE OF UNBEATENS

NORTH JACKSON OH- The MVAC sent two of their undefeated teams into battle against one another here in week five of the season and it turned out to be an unforgettable night for one of our teams. The Lowellville Rockets and the Jackson-Milton Blue Jays both came into the game with really good offensive production and great defensive play. The Blue Jays defense was averaging only nine points allowed per game. But, they went up against an offense that was averaging 49-points per game on the season and tonight would be no different. The Rockets lived up to their name yet again as it was an air raid attack in North Jackson as they would be led by Vinny Ballone and Anthony Lucente to a season high 62-points in a shocking blowout. The Blue Jays offense still managed to put up twenty points, but it wasn’t enough to take down a record setting performance from their opponents on the gridiron tonight.

​The biggest story of the night came from the greatest quarterback in the history of Lowellville High School as Mr. Ballone went out and became only the ninth person in OHSAA history to throw for nine touchdowns in a single game. He tied the state record that was last met in 2013 by Colby Speice and Garret Griffin. On the night Ballone would earn nine touchdowns, completing 29-38 passes for 428 yards.  His favorite target was Anthony Lucente who pulled in four touchdown receptions which landed him just two shy of tying the state record. Santino Rivera-Ocasio led them on the ground with 47 yards, most of which came in the fourth quarter as early on Marcus Dabos was getting most of the carries but after his second fumble, they stopped giving it him. Matthew Lucido, Vinny Perry, and Case Gordon led the defense with five tackles each. Brady Bunofsky never earned a sack in the game, but he applied pressure to Schiavi all night long. Vinny Perry was the one that ended up getting there the most as he also finished with two sacks on the night. On defense Vinny Ballone would also snag an interception off his opposing quarterback in the second half.

​Jackson-Milton played a clean game offensively and stuck to their gameplan all night long. The Blue Jays wanted to run the ball and they did so all game. However, they finished with just 75 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown which game from Keegan White. Alex Schiavi was his normal accurate self, as he completed over 60% of his passes for 141 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. They were just unable to match Lowellville touchdown for touchdown throughout the entire game as they eventually fell behind and were never able to come back.

​At the half this was still very much a close game as the Rockets had a late touchdown to put them up 27-14 and the late score gave them all the momentum going into the second half. Once the Rockets saw Vinny Ballone could hit the state record,they put the pedal down and took shot after shot to the endzone and connected on just about every single one. It was an unforgettable night for the Rockets on the road as they move into first place of the MVAC Scarlet Tier after Ballone’s record tying night. The Rockets are now (6-0) and have become the only undefeated team in the conference, they will head home and try and keep their offense rolling as they play host to Waterloo (3-2) next Friday. Waterloo and Lowellville are currently both undefeated in conference play this season. The Blue Jays will try and rebound from dropping to (5-1) as they will play host to the Sebring Trojans (0-5) in week 6.

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna