AUSTINTOWN OH- The Lady Falcons came out with the first win of their season on Tuesday night.
Senior Bailey Baker with a hat trick followed by a goal from senior Miranda Sherwood. Goals assisted tonight by Melina Carrabbia and Miranda Sherwood.
The Falcons prepare for GlenOak this Saturday.
*Contributed By Samantha Marscio at austintownathletics.com
AUSTINTOWN OH- The Falcons fought a tough 5 set battle with Strongsville winning in 5 sets (25-16, 19-25, 22-25, 25-18, 16-13).
Leaders for the Falcons were Jocelyn Jourdan with 27 kills, 15 digs and 12 service points, Jordan Smith and Cierra Cable with 14 digs each, Jordan Binion with 3 blocks and Rylie Simons with 47 assists.
The Falcons will host Howland this Thursday.
*Contributed By Jody Bartlett at austintownathletics.com
CORTLAND OH- In a matchup between volleyball titans on Saturday morning it was Lakeview that flexed the most muscles. After storming to a 2-0 on Austintown Fitch, Lakeview held on for a four set victory. ((26-24 25-19 17-25 25-16)
Tara Lytle continued to lead the Bulldogs offense gathering 20 kills on the day. Mallory Milach set up the offense with 28 assists. Emma Schmader led the defense up front with 3 blocks. Maddie Bayus was the defensive star in the back row totaling in 31 digs.
For Austintown Fitch, Jocelyn Jourdan have everything she had to the cause. She finished with 22 kills. Rylie Simons set her up quite a bit and collected 31 assists herself. Simons completed a double double with 16 digs to lead the team.
Lakeview awaits their biggest test of the season on Tuesday as the travel to Girard, the defending NE8 Champions. Fitch will try and bounce back from their first loss of the season as they host Strongsville on Tuesday.
AUSTINTOWN OH- In a similar week 2 matchup from a season ago, The Austintown Fitch Falcons went to battle with The Canton McKinley Bulldogs! This time, the game was held at Greenwood Chevrolet Stadium in Austintown, as The McKinley faithful came down by the bus full for an expected big game. However, the momentum generated in week 1 by The Falcons was instantly carried over into this week.
Opening the first offensive drive with a screen fake by Deshawn Vaughn to Cam Smith, who found Jayden Eley in open space, allowed Fitch to grab a 7-0 advantage. A lead they would not look back from in the game. The second offensive play of the game for Fitch came on their second drive, where a screen pass to Dan Evans III was all that was needed, as Evans made up the work and took it to the house for a 14-0 advantage.
DeShawn Vaughn was present in the box score in more ways than run, as his rushing touchdown was good enough to put Fitch up 21-0 at the time, giving him a touchdown both on the ground and through the air. Not letting you forget about his defense, Vaughn also grabbed an interception of Keaton Rode to round out his great night.
McKinley grabbed a pair of rushing touchdowns, one in each half, but it was a game that never felt in doubt for Fitch. An all-time career tying made field goal by Josiah Berni (15), was the last score Austintown had, as they came away victorious 38-14 over Canton McKinley to grab the program’s 500th win!
Both teams will be in action at home next week, as The Bulldogs (0-2) will square off against Dublin Coffman on Friday, September 2nd. Also on that date, The Falcons (2-0) will be home again for a matchup that never happened last year against Glen Oak. Stats can be found below.
Scoring by quarter
Q1: AF 28 – 0 CAN
Q2: AF 7 – 7 CAN
Q3: AF 0 – 0 CAN
Q4: AF 3 – 7 CAN
Final: AF 38 – 14 CAN
Stats (Austintown)
Passing
DeShawn Vaughn, Jr. : 5/7, 125 YDS, 1 TD.
Cam Smith: 1/1, 52 YDS, 1 TD.
Rushing
D.J. Williams: 13 CAR, 114 YDS.
Jamell James: 12 CAR, 59 YDS, 2 TD.
DeShawn Vaughn, Jr. : 6 CAR, 40 YDS, 1 TD.
Receiving
Jayden Eley: 2 REC, 100 YDS, 1 TD.
Dan Evans III: 2 REC, 55 YDS, 1 TD.
Donovan Bell-Sullivan: 1 REC, 16 YDS.
Defense
Brian Robinson: 9 TKLs, 1.5 TFL, 1.5 Sacks, 1 FF.
Christian Latone: 7 TKLs, 2 TFL, 0.5 Sacks, 1 FR.
D.J. Williams: 5 TKLs, 0.5 Sacks.
DeShawn Vaughn, Jr. : 4 TKLs, 1 INT.
Landen Bister: 1 TKL, 1 INT.
Kicking
Josiah Berni: XP 5/5, FG 1/1 (29 YDS).
*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell.
Player Of The Game Jayden Eley:
AUSTINTOWN OH- Austintown Fitch has had an impressive last couple of seasons under the guidance of their skipper T.J. Parker. With multiple Fitch Falcons going on to play at the next level the past few seasons, the defensive anchor on the ship this season? None other than Brian Robinson, a 6’5” junior, listed as a defensive end and tight end.
Already a force on the gridiron in week 1, B-Rob went to work against The Foothill Falcons from Las Vegas, grabbing 9 Tackles, 3.5 TFL and 2 Sacks on the night. Being a leader not just on the field, Robinson also spends his time supporting the youth football in The Austintown community in an effort to give back where he got his start.
From the brutal schedule that Austintown is set to face, to the origins of “B-Rob” and where his love for football started, to the relationship with Coach Parker and so much more! You will not want to miss this YSN EXCLUSIVE interview with one of the area’s hottest commodities as Brian Robisnon stopped by on Running Point!
*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell.
Presented By:
AUSTINTOWN OH- This year features a ton of elite volleyball talent in the YSN family. One of the most exciting players coming into the year is Fitch’s Jocelyn Jourdan.
Jocelyn has broken records at Fitch like it’s her job. In fact, some of her personal goals this season are to break her own records. We’ve seen Jourdan transition from a middle blocker to an outside hitter, and it’s done nothing but elevate her game even further. A scary question for anyone who has to face the Falcons this year is how can Jourdan get better? Well, like all great players Jocelyn finds ways to improve. Volleyball season is back. And Jocelyn Jourdan may be better than ever.
In the 2021 campaign, Jocelyn tallied 405 kills. She averaged just over 5 kills per set, and finished with a hitting percentage of .288. If you thought Jourdan was only effective when she was on the attack, you’d be wrong. Last season she also excelled in defense racking up 220 digs. Plus, as a constant presence at the net she added 14 blocks.
Jourdan caught up with YSN’s Anthony Hartwig to talk about her final season as a Falcon. They also discuss the moment in her career she fell in love with volleyball, a solid rapid fire segment, and much more! New season, new number for Jourdan , check out the latest number 23 with this Fitch Volleyball Player Profile only on YSN.
Presented By:
AUSTINTOWN OH-
Senior Nick Tibolla opened up the scoring for the Falcons sneaking a well-placed shot past the opposing goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead that Fitch took into halftime.
Cathedral Latin capitalized on an equalizer on a multi-shot sequence in the second half that saw Ftich turn away ptential goals before the Lions found the back of the net.
A Lion foul in the penalty area late in the game awarded the Falcons with a penalty kick. Senior Josiah Berni took the penalty kick and was intially denied by the Lion goalkeeper, but followed up the deflected rebound and scored to give the Falcons a 2-1 advantage that they held onto for the final margin of victory.
The Falcons will be back at Greenwood Chevrolet Falcon Stadium on Tuesday, August 23 when they host Canton Glenoak at 7:15 PM in their next match.
*Contributed By Russel Houser at austintownathletics.org
AUSTINTOWN OH-
In one of many volleyball games to kick off the high school season, Austintown Fitch opened up their season on Saturday morning. Their opponents? A Federal League Foe in The Massillon Perry Panthers! These two teams last met in 2021 as a part of a tri-match in which Austintown won two sets to none.
In their rematch from a year ago, both teams had different looks teamwise, as both teams graduated a fair number of players a season ago. One constant that returned from last year was senior superstar Jocelyn Jourdan, who had 14 Kills in the win against Perry in 2021.
She would end up being a huge contributor again the second time around, as Set 1 was back and forth all the way down to the end. Neither team was able to capture a lead larger than 4 points throughout the first set. But it was the play of freshman Rylie Simons, securing two aces to score the final two points in Set 1, winning it for Fitch 25-22!
In Set 2, The Falcons used that momentum from the prior set and forced Perry into a lot of mistakes early on. At one point, Austintown led by as much as eight points 17-9; however, Perry battled back! With the play of Sarah Mohr and Emma Weirich, Perry scored nine consecutive points to take an 18-17 lead. But Fitch showed composure, exchanging points but ultimately coming out on top 25-23 over The Panthers in Set 2.
By Set 3, Jocelyn Jourdan was on a different level! Finishing multiple kills emphatically, totaling 17 on the night, as Austintwon put the finishing touches on a 25-22 Set 3 win! A victory that lead to the overall match win that put Fitch at 1-0 on the season!
The Falcons will hit the road for the next three games, as the first game will be against a great program in Hathaway Brown. Stats for the match can be found below!
Sets
S1: Fitch 25 – Perry 22
S2: Fitch 25 – Perry 23
S3: Fitch 25 – Perry 22
Player Stats
Jocelyn Jourdan: 17 Kills. 14 Digs.
Jordan Smith: 8 Kills. 10 Digs.
Julia Jordan: 6 Kills. 1 Block.
Afton Roby: 2 Blocks.
Rylie Simons: 36 Assists. 8 Digs. 6 Aces. 11 Service PTS.
Lillie Dilts: 7 Digs.
*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell.
Postgame Interview With Jody Bartlett:
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio- In one of the most anticipated matchups of the high school football season, Austintown Fitch was set to host the Foothill Falcons, who dawn from Henderson, Nevada. Greenwood Falcon Stadium was packed and energetic as fans were ready for Fitch to face off with one of the best teams that Nevada has to offer.
Fitch came into the 2022 season with a new quarterback at the helm, as Deshawn Vaughn Jr. took over for Devin Sherwood, who is now playing his college ball at the University of Virginia. Vaughn showed early and often that he is more than capable of leading the high-powered attack that Head Coach TJ Parker wants to run. Starting on their own 10-yard line on their first possession, Vaughn led the Falcons 90 yards down the field, finding DJ Williams on a touchdown pass from 23 yards out to put Austintown on the board first. The Foothill offense was not one to be messed with either though, as they have a plethora of athletes that can do some damage with the ball in their hands as well. Foothill answered Fitch’s touchdown with a 27-yard field goal by Diego Souza to shorten the gap to 7-3 just before the end of the first quarter.
Austintown’s offense contains arguably the best running back tandem in the area, as Jamell James, who returns after missing all of 2021 with an injury, compliments Williams in the backfield. James led the Falcons with 135 rushing yards on 19 attempts, and the power he brings to the field combined with the speed of DJ Williams is what makes Fitch such a lethal unit. Second-quarter touchdown runs by Williams and Deshawn Vaughn Jr. helped give Austintown a 21-10 edge heading into the locker room.
The Falcons picked up right where they left off coming out of the locker room, as Williams found the end-zone for the third time on the night to push the lead out to 28-10. The Fitch defense stepped up mightily as well, led by Brian Robinson who had two sacks on the night. Touchdown receptions from Dominic Perry and Jayden Eley helped cap off Fitch’s 42-10 opening-season victory. The Falcons blanked Foothill in the second half while scoring 28 unanswered points to pull away.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: To no surprise, junior standout running back DJ Williams was chosen as the Player of the Game for Week 1. Williams accumulated 97 yards on the ground of four carries, finding the end-zone twice on the ground and once on the receiving end of a pass from Vaughn.
UP NEXT: The road doesn’t get any easier for Fitch, as they will welcome state-power Canton McKinley to Greenwood Falcon Stadium next Friday night.
Foothill will return to Vegas next week to play another out-of-state foe, as they will welcome Inglewood (CA) to Henderson, Nevada.
*Contributed By YSN’s Anthony Romo.
Postgame Interview With DJ Williams:
Postgame Interview With TJ Parker:
BOARDMAN OH- The Boardman Lady Spartans beat Austintown Fitch on Wednesday 178 to 21at Mill Creek. Sophia Rivera shot a great low score of 41 for Boardman with Zoey Fick-Mills close behind with a 43. Junior Haily Rusnak shot a 45, Kate Pendleton a 49, and Emily Choleva shot a 52. Boardman plays next Monday in the JFK Invitational at Trumbull Country Club.
*Contributed By Lee Christman at boardmanathletics.org