LEAVITTSBURG OH- Champion avenged last years tough loss to LaBrae in Week 5 by going to Leavittsburg and rocking the Vikings by a score of 37-14.
Champion set the tone on its first drive of the field. They marched right down the field and capped their impressive drive off with a Nick Vesey touchdown. Vesey would score again on the night. Joey Fell would join him with a pair of touchdowns. For LaBrae Trenton Stehura threw two touchdowns.
Champion will have a big test in Week 6 as they square off with Garfield. LaBrae will have to travel to Newton Falls to try and get their first win of the season.
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/699BFAB0-7BCD-4CFB-B763-BB080ABCD212-scaled-1.jpeg17072560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-09-18 03:50:192022-09-18 03:50:19CHAMPION GETS ANOTHER BIG WIN
CAMPBELL OH- Brookfield’s offense has been on some kind of tear since their week 1 loss to Ursuline. Their dominance continued in Week 5 as they traveled to Campbell and rolled 53-13. The Warriors have now scored 147 points in the last three weeks. Christian Davis had a big highlight play with a 40 yard touchdown run, almost untouched.
The Warriors are now 4-1 and will move on to host Crestview in Week 6. Crestview was off this week due to a cancelation. Campbell will try to get their second win of the year against Liberty.
Coming off a big win in Week 4 against The Ursuline Fighting Irish, The Austintown Fitch Falcons looked to the halfway point of the season, where they would welcome in another out-of-state team. This time, that team would be both one of New York’s and the city of Buffalo’s finest teams! That team being The Class AA state runners-up from a year ago, The Lewis J. Bennett Tigers.
For Bennett, they came into this season riding a ton of momentum off their 2021 campaign; however, losing their top 2 rushers from a season ago, The Tigers would have to look to get creative on offense in hopes they can get replacements for over 3000 rushing yards from last year.
Austintown would win the coin toss, elect to defer and stop Bennett’s offensive drive dead in its tracks. A theme that would be all too familiar for The Tigers come the end of the game. Fitch would strike on two big passes in back-to-back drives from DeShawn Vaughn Jr. to help Fitch take an early 14-0 advantage. Not slowing at all on offense, The Falcons would hit paydirt on their first five drives consecutively. Owning a 36-6 lead going into halftime, Austintown would look to play keep away in the second half, with Fitch receiving the kickoff.
Executing that plan masterfully, The Falcons burn the first 7 minutes of the third, utilizing the running game clock to its fullest. The Tigers would end up with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter; however, it was too little too late. As Fitch continued to eat away the clock, before coming away with the Week 5 win 42-20.
The win sets up Austintown (5-0) with their biggest test yet! Heading to Paul Brown Stadium to take on another set of tigers, this time, it happens to be Massillon Washington’s (4-1).
HOWLAND, OH- West Branch and Howland faced off in week 5 Friday night as the Warriors were looking for their fourth straight win against the Tigers. Once again, Dru DeShields and Boston Mulinix led the Warriors on offense in the air and on the ground. DeShields put up three touchdowns and Mulinix added two on the ground. West Branch went into half with a 28-0 lead and never let go as they walked away with a 48-15 victory.
West Branch moves to 4-1 on the season and will host Minerva on Friday. Howland moves to 0-5 on the season and will also be home to host Warrensville Heights Friday night.
LEADERS:
Passing:
West Branch – Dru DeShields: 20-26, 238 Yards, 3 TD’s
Howland – Nicholas Leasure: 2-3, 13 Yards
Rushing:
West Branch – Boston Mulinix: 8 Rushes, 171 Yards, 2 TD’s
Howland – Marco Massucci: 18 Rushes, 60 Yards, 1 TD
Receiving:
West Branch – Anthony Perry: 5 Receptions, 89 Yards. Christian Martig: 6 Receptions, 78 Yards, 1 TD
Howland – Luke Delida: 1 Reception, 8 Yards. Carter Mock: 1 Reception, 5 Yards
*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/79DB536F-3512-41CF-9538-6DBE9AEE2274-scaled-1.jpeg15852560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-09-17 21:50:212022-09-17 21:50:21WARRIORS KEEP STREAKING THE RIGHT WAY
SALINEVILLE, OH- Every once and awhile you will witness a game that looks like a blowout on the scoreboard, but on the field it felt a lot closer than a blowout. That is exactly how the Southern and Columbiana game felt Friday night as the Idians hosted the Clippers and came away with a 51-14 victory.
Southern came out the gate quick and hot, scoring on their first two drives. Columbiana would eventually get some momentum with an interception from Parker Bush and followed that up with a touchdown by Jesse Szmara to make it 16-7. That momentum would not last long as Southern’s Colton Soukup found a hole in the Clippers defense and took one to the house to give the Indians a 24-7 lead at the break.
Columbiana forced a switch in the roles by coming out of the break hot and scoring early to make it 24-14 early in the third. That was the last time the Clippers would find the endzone as it was all Southern thanks to Soukup’s amazing grab for a 84-yard pick-six. After that momentum swing, the Indians would not look back and separated themselves from the Clippers more later in the second half and would walk away with the win.
Southern moves to 5-0 on the season as they will host Wellsville Friday night. Columbiana moves to 0-4 on the season as they will travel to United on Friday.
CORTLAND, OH- Girard keeps it rolling and stays unbeaten as they shut out their NE8 foe, Lakeview on Friday night, 49-0. From start to finish, the Indians were all over the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball. At the end of the first, Girard led 21-0 thanks to scores on their first two possessions and a 72-yard TD pass from Nic Bengala to Stephen Sims.
The Idians then unloaded on the Bulldogs in the rest of the first half with the help of back-to-back interceptions from Bobby Alejars who took it 35 yards to the house and Domenico Simone who made an unbelievable grab to set Girard up to score again to make it 35-0. As it came close to halftime, Lakeview hurt themselves again with a fumble which led to Bengala finding the endzone again to make it 42-0 at half. Girard would put up one more TD in the second half to finish off the game.
Girard will move to 5-0 on the season going into week 6 as they will host South Range on Friday. Lakeview moves to 3-2 and will travel to Struthers to take on the Wildcats Friday night.
*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/3D2C9757-38DB-4153-B5DA-1DB69779DA3E.jpeg384638Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-09-17 21:35:452022-09-17 21:35:45GIRARD BRINGS BULLDOGS DOWN TO EARTH
EAST LIVERPOOL OH- The Beavers picked up a big time win on Friday night, defeating the Keyser Golden Tornado 31-10.
The Beavers started the game out on fire. They forced a three and out and took the ball downfield on a methodical TD drive capped off by a 4 yard TD pass from Austin Cline to Dylan Ferguson to make it 7-0 early. A field goal a few minutes later made it 10-0 Beavers, but the West Virginia AA school wasn’t going to make the long trip and not put up a fight. They put up a field goal of their own early in the second quarter and a TD run from Tristen Root to tie the game.
Austin Cline responded quickly as he ran in a 15 yard TD to make it 17-10 at the half. In the second half, the Beavers played in a way we haven’t seen all year. They were able to answer some early season questions about their line play and run defense by shutting out the Keyser Golden Tornado in the second half, stifling their run game which had picked up steam before the half. A couple Caleb White TDs sealed the deal, as he ran one in from 20 out in the third and in the 4th, he caught a 22 yard TD to put the game on ice. The 2 touchdowns for the Big Dog of the Valley nominee puts him at 10 scores in the last 3 weeks and 13 scores on the season, as the Beavers picked up the W.
They will entertain Oak Glen, another West Virginia team next week for their homecoming matchup.
*Contributed By YSN’s Mike McKenzie
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PADUA OH- The old adage “it’s not over until the fat lady sings” was never more true for the Salem Quakers than it was last night. After an abysmal first half offensively, they flipped the script in the 2nd half and came away victorious on a last second, 20-yard field goal by Hayden Tomidajewicz to cap the comeback.
Salem would get first crack at things, but a fumble would set Padua up with good field position, and they would capitalize with a 27-yard touchdown score. They would add another 1st quarter score, and go up 14-0 after one.
Salem would get on the board late in the 2nd on a 41-yard scoop and score, but Padua would answer about 40 seconds later on a long touchdown pass from Tyler Tusai to Marquise Hall, giving them a 255-65 offensive yards advantage, but more importantly, a 21-7 lead.
The 2nd half would prove to be a totally different story for Salem, especially the defense, who only gave up one Bruin 1st down in the second half, giving the Salem offense the chance to get things going. In the second half, the defense would force the Bruin offense into a number of 3-and-outs, as well as confuse me frustrate the Bruins, who had just dominated the 1st half of play.
The Quaker offense would capitalize on the defense’s domination by scoring 13 unanswered points on two Jackson Johnson touchdown passes (Swiger, Oesch). Salem would attempt to go for 2 on their second score, however Johnson would be brought down short, leaving the Quakers trailing 21-20 with under six minutes to go in the game.
Once more though, the Quaker defense would stand tall, forcing another punt giving Johnson and the offense one more crack and a comeback. They would put together a great drive mixing in short passes to guys like Cletis Monroy and Ross Davidson, with a couple Johnson runs, to set themselves up in good feld position for Hayden Tomidajewicz to get a shot at kicking a game winner.
Salem ran the game clock all the way down to one second left, setting Tomidajewicz up with a 20-yard chance at a victory. Even after 2 Padua timeouts and an offsides penalty, attempting to try and ice him, he stepped up and buried the game winner, putting the Quaker sideline, as well as those who made the trip, into a frenzy, and completing an improbable, albeit incredible comeback victory.
With the win, the Quakers finish their non-conference schedule 4-1 and will begin EBC play in week 6 as the host the Alliance Aviators (4-1) at Sebo Stadium.
*Contributed By YSN’s Jarrod Niederhiser
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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
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9DF31F76-FAE2-4D11-B824-64DA8FF6B948-scaled-1.jpeg15822560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-09-17 20:56:082022-09-17 20:56:08BALLONE TIES STATE RECORD IN BATTLE OF UNBEATENS
HANOVERTON OH- United entered week 5, coming off their first loss of the season, looking to quickly erase the memory of that defeat. Leetonia provided the eraser as the United offense wasted no time scoring quickly en route to a 44-0 victory on Alumni Night.
The Eagles took the lead early as Leetonia’s punter saw the snap sail over his head recovering in the endzone giving United a quick 2-0 lead on the safety. Following the ensuing free kick Luke Courtney hit Brock Rhodes in the flats and the senior wide receiver did the rest going 58 yds for the score. After a Leetonia 3 and out, Courtney found Grant Knight for a 35 yard touchdown pass and a 16-0 lead.
NIck Hardgrove would add a 35 yard touchdown run and the lead quickly grew to 23-0 in the 1st quarter. The 2nd stanza was much of the same as Luke Courtney would hit Parker Newburn from 9 yards out extending the lead to 30-0. Courtney would finish his night in the first half going 6-6 135 yards and 3 touchdowns. Parker Newburn took over the signal calling at that point and he would find Hayden Casto for a 46 yard touchdown pass. Newburn would cap the first half scoring, adding another touchdown on the ground making it 44-0.
Leetonia (0-5, 0-2) is in the middle of a tough stretch of their schedule as they are set to travel to league leader Valley Christian next week. United (4-1, 1-1) looks to stay sharp heading into week six as they welcome Columbiana to Hanoverton.
*Contributed Bg YSN’s Chris Sigler
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