Tag Archive for: Aviators

AVIATORS OUT DUEL DRAGONS

By Ian O’Brien


ALLIANCE OH- Week two had both teams looking to win their second game of the season. A close matchup in the beginning ended up turning into a one sided affair in the second half.  

 

Alliance started to roll early on as Oklahoma Sooner commit Brendan Zurbrugg found K’Vaughn Davis for a 26-yard touchdown making it 6-0 after the missed extra point. 

 

Niles answered back with a division one prospect in themselves in Antuan Gardner with a two yard touchdown, the PAT was good making it 7-6 Red Dragons.  

 

The Aviators came right back however as sophomore Ravhan Hawkins, taking over running back duties for the now YSU Penguin Kayden Davis scored his first Touchdown.  Later on in the quarter the Aviators got the ball back leading to Zurbrugg finding Hawkins to increase the lead 20-7. 

 

Niles cut the lead again as Anthony Budak took it in himself making it 20-14.  Budak then later on in the third found Antuan Gardner for a 57-yard touchdown cutting the lead to six, 27-21.  

 

However it would not be enough as the Aviators found a weakness in the Niles offense and took advantage of it making it the final of 45-28, as the Aviatirs go back to back against the Red Dragons. 

 

Alliance (2-0) will travel to Streetsboro (2-0).  Niles (1-1) will look to bounce back next Friday as they travel to Leavittsburg Ohio to take on the LaBrae Vikings (0-1).  



COWBOYS ROPE IN THRILLING VICTORY

BOARDMAN, OHIO- In a dramatic showdown that went into overtime, Chaney pulled off the 84-76 win over Alliance in the Division II district semifinal.

The Cowboys were led by Jason Hewlett, who dropped 32 points and by Josiah Gonzalez, who had a 20 point performance. Alliance kept pace with the Cowboys as they were led by K’Vaughn Davis, who sent the game into overtime with a buzzer beater three pointer, but the Cowboys pulled away enough to outlast the Aviators.

Chaney will now take on the Canfield Cardinals in the District Championship game, in what should be another dramatic showdown. Tipoff will be at 4pm on Saturday!

*Contributed By YSN’s Matt Morrison

ANGRY BEAVERS ARE TOUGH TO HANDLE

In one of the final two contests on day two of The South Range Holiday Hoops Classic, The Alliance Aviators entertained The Painesville-Riverside Beavers. Alliance, with a day and some change between contests, was coming off a win against The Nordonia Knights the day prior. While across the way, The Beavers lost a heartbreaker, surrendering a fourth quarter lead to a surging Louisville Leopards squad on Wednesday. 

With The Aviators looking to be the fourth team to go 2-0 at South Range, they would have to go battle an angry Painesville-Riverside team. Savana Laurenty looked like she never stepped off the court against The Louisville Leopards, picking up right where she left off in her success from the field. The Beavers jumped ahead quickly, led by Laurenty who had 17 first half points and complemented by Sam Volpe who pitched in an additional 13 through the first 16 minutes of play.

By the end of the first half, Riverside had sprinted ahead to a commanding 35 point advantage, holding a 47-12 lead over Alliance. Never taking their foot off the gas, the second half was the same story for The Beavers. Starting with a running clock and burning it down to triple zeros and getting redemption for the loss on Wednesday. 

Emerging with the 70-37 victory, The Beavers improved their record to 7-3 through their first ten games of the campaign. While The Aviators dropped to 4-6 this season. Alliance will try to right the ship against a red hot conference opponent in The Salem Quakers, with that matchup slated for Wednesday, January 4th at The Cab! (Home of The Quakers). For The Beavers, they will also be in action on the first Wednesday of The New Year, where they will host conference foe, The Chardon Hilltoppers. 

The Player of The Game honors went to Savan Laurenty, who scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a double-double performance for Painesville-Riverside!

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

ALLIANCE OPENS UP HOLIDAY CLASSIC WITH WIN

 CANFIELD OH- In the first game of the fourth annual South Range Holiday Tournament for girls basketball, a couple of non-YSN teams squared off in the opening bout. With The Eastern Buckeye Conference (EBC) representative in The Alliance Aviators matching up with The Nordonia Knights. 

The first half score was reflectant of the defense played by Alliance, followed up with some quality passing in their fastbreak opportunities to convert baskets. Leading by 18 points at halftime over Nordonia, as a lid on the bucket, paired with good Aviator defense, held The Knights to just 10 first half points. Ella Smith started Alliance off on the right tempo, scoring 9 of The Aviators 28 first half points. 

The second half looked to be much of the same, that is, until the fourth quarter. As Nordonia opened up by hitting three consecutive 3-Point shots, to cut the once 20 point plus, Alliance lead. Haydn Paul and Taylor Root attempted to lead the comeback for The Knights, but The Aviators were able to take off on offense once again in the closing moments.

With X’Zariah Fanin being a force on the inside for Alliance, dominating in both the interior defense and the rebounding department. However, The Player of the Game went to Jayla Callock who scored 13 total points in the game, with a majority of those coming in the second half to help lead The Aviators to their fourth victory of the season. Both teams will be in action for the holiday tournament again on Thursday, December 29th. Live streams of the contests can be found at Ysnlive.com!

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

SALEM STAYS ON THEIR HOT START

ALLIANCE OH- After a couple of big non conference wins to open the season, Salem topped off EBC play on Wednesday night at Alliance. Nothing was about to cool off the hot Quakers as they rolled out of Alliance with a massive 59-29 victory.

Abbie Davidson had a great night leading the way with 17 points.  Rylee Hutton was also in double figures for the Quakers offense with 12 points.  Zoie Reed and Kami Rohm both chipped in 8 points to help out the cause.  Kaylee Carlisle finished with 7 points.

Salem will stay on the road in conference play on Saturday as they travel to Minerva.  The tip off is set for 1:15.

FAMILIAR BEGINNINGS FOR WATERLOO

ATWATER OH- Last season, Waterloo went on a rampage to win the MVAC Scarlet tier. They only lost one game in the regular season, and it was to Alliance to open the season.  This year the Vikings saw their season open up with the Aviators yet again.  With a different result on their mind, the. Vikings would have to try to do it without Kaira English. With English on the bench with an injury the Vikings controlled a big chunk of the game,  but a resilient Aviators team came back on them using a late 16-2 run to win 56-50.  It shouldn’t be panic time for the Vikings though, last season after losing the opener to Alliance they rattled off 20 wins in a row.

Rose Couts had a great day for the Vikings notching 22 points.  She shot well going 10-14 from the field.  Abby Mazur used 5 three pointers to shoot her way to 19 points for the Vikings.

Waterloo returns to action on Monday as they will host Brookfield, a top contender on the other side of the MVAC.

TIP YOUR HAT TO THE COWBOYS

YOUNGSTOWN, OH- Usually a slow start in a playoff game doesn’t turn into something good, but in the Division III, Region 9 matchup between Chaney and Alliance, the Cowboys were able to turn their slow start into something positive. Chaney was looking for their first postseason victory since 2003. A big momentum swing on defense right before half was all it took for Chaney to get back into the game and come away with the victory, 35-21.

Alliance’s offense was rolling from the start, led by QB Brendan Zurbrugg who started perfect in the air for 126 yards and 3 touchdowns. But right before half, Chaney’s DJ Waller picked off Zurbrugg that led to a score for the Cowboys to make it 21-17 Alliance at half. After the break, Chaney unleashed on offense and kept Alliance off the board for the remainder of the game. Matt Jones was able to find the endzone two times and the night was capped off with Jawan Freeman punching one in from a yard out to finish off the scoring for the Cowboys

Looking ahead, Chaney will advance to round 2 as they will host 13-seeded Kenston next Friday night. Don’t miss it on YSN!

*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller

WARRIORS TAKE CARE OF EBC RIVAL FOR SPOT IN TITLE

BELOIT OH- The Warriors (14-0-3) started fast and finished strong controlling both ends of the field tonight in a 4-0 OHSAA District Semi-Final victory over Alliance.  With the win, West Branch moves on to play West Geauga at Hubbard High School on Thursday 10/27 in the OHSAA District Championship game.  The game is scheduled to start at 6 PM.

West Branch took a lightning fast 1-0 lead at the start of the game when Makenna Lins knocked in a goal within the first two minutes.  From there, the game was all Warriors who played a strong defensive game and did not allow Alliance to establish any consistent play in the Warrior end.  The score stayed at 1-0 until Sophia Gregory scored late in the first frame from an assist by Chloe Dennison to give West Branch a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

Early in the second half, Alliance mounted its best offensive effort, but West Branch continued to deny scoring chances and frustrate the Aviators.  Bri Thomas and Chloe Dennis would put the game away from West Branch each scoring unassisted second half goals giving the Warriors the victory and advancing in the tournament.

In goal, Zoe Sanders collected one save to earn the shutout for the Green and White.

#1 seeded West Branch will take on #6 West Geauga who were 5-0 victors over Salem tonight.  All tickets must be purchased via the OHSAA.  Check the main page of the West Branch website for more ticket information.

*Contributed By Ryan Wolf at wbathletics.org

WARRIORS REFUSE TO LOSE

ALLIANCE, OH- The West Branch Warriors have been red hot coming into Friday’s game, but were still looking for that signature win on the season. West Branch secured a signature 42-35 win over a very tough Alliance Aviators team on the road.

 

West Branch got on the board first when Quarterback Dru Deshields connected with Christian Martig for a 32 yard touchdown pass to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead. Alliance answered right back with a 23 yard touchdown run from QB B Zurbrugg to tie it up at 7-7! West Branch answered the challenge once again, scoring on a 10 yard touchdown pass from Deshilds to receiver Michael Kanagy making the score 14-7.

 

The two teams would continue to score points! Alliance took the late lead 35-34, but with 2:22 left in the game Dru Deshields let the warriors right down the field. West Branch converted on two big 4th downs to keep the drive alive. Running back Boston Mulinix scored the game winning touchdown for West Branch.

 

Leading the way for West Branch was Dru Deshields who had 283 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. Receiver Christian Martig also had a big game with 8 catches for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns. Deshields also had 62 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. Alliance was led by Quarterback Brendan Zurbrugg who had 169 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. Aviator running back Kayden Davis also had a nice game with 2 touchdowns. 

 

West Branch travels to Carrollton next Friday for another key EBC matchup

*Contributed By YSN’s Michael Ginocchi

LOUISVILLE KEEPS WORKING HARD

LOUISVILLE OH- It hasn’t been a perfect season for Louisville. The Leopards have put together one of the hardest schedules you can. Despite some set backs, the Leopards have still won more than they’ve not.  They added another victory to the belt on Monday topping Alliance 3-0.

The first goal of the night for the Leopards came at the 8:04 mark in the first half with Alyssa Schilling finding the back of the net. She was assisted by Sammi Beatty. Schilling returned the favor later in the half as she assisted Beatty in a goal of her own at the 18:57 mark of the first half.  Paige Folk added an unassisted goal in the second half at the 13:20 spot.

The Leopards have two games remaining in the regular season, and their next home match will be Saturday as they host Tallmadge.