Tag Archive for: Devin Sherwood

SHERWOOD COMMITS TO VIRGINIA

AUSTINTOWN OH- For years, Devin Sherwood has dazzled the Austintown Fitch football fans with his play on the gridiron. His ability to think on the fly and improvise on the run has made him one of the more fun players to watch in the area. Now he will officially be able to impress a whole new fan base at the next level. Sherwood made his announcement that he has committed to continue his football career at the University of Virginia.

Virginia finished 6-6 overall last season, and 4-4 inside the ACC. If you were wondering about their quarterback situation, Brennan Armstrong will be returning this season for his senior year. As a Junior, Armstrong threw for 4449 yards, 31 TD, and 10 INT. But after him, the Cavaliers have all underclassmen in their quarterback room.

Sherwood took the time to come on YSN’s Running Point to talk about this fantastic accomplishment. He talks about his journey at Fitch, and how prepared he’ll be for ACC football. Don’t miss this chance to hear from one of the area’s best as he announces his commitment only on YSN.

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RAIDERS END FITCH’S SEASON

AUSTINTOWN, OH- In a classic matchup between steel city foes, Fitch battled Warren G Harding for the 2nd time this year. After defeating The Raiders 25-21 earlier this year, The Falcons looked for a repeat performance.

The first half was dominated by Fitch and their defense. Highlighted by a 16-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Evans from Devin Sherwood. The Falcons jumped to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first half, giving them all the momentum heading to the 2nd half.

However, Coach Arnold of The Raiders made the adjustments needed and flipped the script in the 3rd quarter. Scoring 21 unanswered points in the quarter, backed by the running of Brysen Powell.

Adding a field goal in the 4th and the shut down defense in the 2nd half from The Raiders. Harding was able to upset Fitch by a final score of 24-10. The Falcons may have been eliminated from the playoffs, but T.J. Parker’s staff look to be consistent visitors of the post-season in the future.

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

FALCONS THRASH TWINSBURG

AUSTINTOWN OH- The Falcons carried their regular season dominance into the postseason, with a 35-0 thrashing of The Twinsburg Tigers.

Austintown may have been without their top receiver in Todd Simons, but that did not stop The Falcons from rolling. Backed behind the running performance of Jamell James who totaled 118 yards on the ground. The Falcons rushing attack was striking early and often.

When Twinsburg adjusted to the run, The Falcons responded with an air assault from their outstanding quarterback Devin Sherwood. Paired with the playbook wizardry from Coach Parker, Sherwood threw for 194 yards and 4 touchdowns. In a blink of an eye the lead was 35-0 Falcons.

The most impressive performance of the night went to The Falcons utility man Nate Leskovac. Flooding the stat book in multiple categories, by far his best stats came on the defensive side of the ball. Leading the team in total tackles (8), solo tackles (6), tackles for loss (1.5), and adding a sack to his performance.

The Falcons proved to be too much for Twinsburg. Extending their record to 7-0 on the year, as they look ahead to face Warren G Harding for the 2nd time this year.

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

FITCH STANDS TALL WHEN IT MATTERS MOST

AUSTINTOWN OH- Fitch had a chance at an undefeated season staring them in the face Friday. The Steubenville Big Red were looking to put a stop to that hope. In what ended up being the most exciting game on the Friday skate, it was the Falcons defense that came up big. The Falcons offense did answer every punch the Big Red threw and but defense made a huge play in overtime to stop a Steubenville  two point conversion that would have given the Big Red the game. Instead the big stop gave the Falcons the victory 42-41.

Devin Sherwood had a super efficient day throwing the back in high pressure situations. He went 13-17 with 239 and 4 TDs. Jamell James led the Falcons run game with 115 yards on 13 carries averaging 8.8 yards a carry. Nate Leskovac led the talented receiving core with 92 yards on 4 catches.

Fitch finishes the regular season at 6-0 and has earned a bye in the OHSAA playoffs. They’ll await the winner of Brush vs Twinsburg as they take the week to get healthy and prepare.

FALCONS MAKE A STATEMENT

EUCLID OH- Looking to avenge their 27-42 loss almost a year ago, the Austintown Fitch Falcons headed north to face off against the Cleveland Benedictine Bengals at Euclid High School.

After receiving the opening kick, the Falcons immediately went to work. Almost 8 minutes and 14 plays into the game, quarterback Devin Sherwood got his boys on the board first, curtesy a 14-yard touchdown scamper.

While the Falcons first scoring drive was perfectly sustained, they have the ability to strike quickly as well. On their very first offensive play of the second quarter, Sherwood connected with senior Nate Leskovac for a 66-yard touchdown, boosting the Falcon lead to 14-0.

Already ahead by two scores, Fitch could smell blood in the water. Thanks to the alignment of the Bengals on the ensuing kickoff, Head coach T.J. Parker gave the green light for an onside kick, and his special teams unit produced.

Taking over on the Benedictine 46, Sherwood’s offense looked to strike again. The Falcons needed just 7 plays from plus territory to get into the endzone and make it a three-score game off Sherwood’s 29-yard pass to a wide-open Todd Simons in the front of the endzone.

With the score standing at 20-0, after a failed fake field goal by Fitch on the extra point, quarterback Ronnie Schultz and the Benedictine Bengals would start their drive at their own 25. With the first sign of life seen by the Bengals all night long, a mix of air and ground attack pushed the Bengals down to the Fitch 1 yard line before running back, Duane Jackson, was able to power it in for the score.

Back to a two-score game, the Falcons needed a little under 3 minutes to respond. In just 8 plays, T.J. Parker’s high powered offense was back into the endzone with Nate Leskovac now doing it himself with a 4-yard touchdown run from a wildcat formation, pushing the score to 28-7 after Fitch went for and converted their 2 point conversion.

Coming out of the half and trailing by 3 scores, Benedictine needed to strike quickly, and they did. Just 1 minute and 35 seconds into the half, Duane Jackson had his second rushing touchdown of the game from 4 yards out.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, their scoring would end, there while the Falcons were just getting started. Another Nate Leskovac touchdown run from a wildcat set, this time from 1 yard out pushed the lead back out to 3 scores with just 3 minutes and 43 second remaining in the third quarter. Then Sherwood’s final touchdown pass of the evening to Tyler Evans from 15 yards out would put a cap on the scoring for the night, moving the score to 42-14.

BIG PERFORMERS

Austintown-Fitch:

Devin Sherwood: 16 completions on 27 attemptsfor 262 yards, 16 carries 81 yards, 3 total TDs

Todd Simons: 6 catches 111 yards 1 TD

Nate Leskovac: 2 catches 72 yards, 5 carries 13 yards 3 total TDs

Cleveland Benedictine:

Duane Jackson: 14 carries 94 yards 2 TDs

Andre Rodgers: 7 carries 50 yards

 

UP NEXT

Fitch: T.J. Parker and his men will head home to take on Coach Reno and his Steubenville Big Red (3-1).

Benedictine:  It’s been a tough schedule for the Bengals and it doesn’t get any easier in week 6, the Bengals will plays host to Saint Ed’s (3-1) on Friday night.

*Contributed By YSN’s Jamie Thomson

FITCH PLAYS A STEP ABOVE IRISH

YOUNGSTOWN OH- Both Ursuline and Austintown Fitch came into week two with a lot of momentum, but only one would come up top in the week two matchup.  Last year, Fitch beat Ursuline by 20.  This year what seemed to start out as a close game, turned into a dominant performance in the second half.

 

Ursuline would score the first points on the board to start the game, when Brady Shannon threw a nice deep ball to Terrell Dillworth for a 71-yard touchdown.  The Irish went to go muddle huddle, trying the two-point conversion, but failed, making it 6-0.

 

Fitch answered back with scores of their own however from only a few yards out with the score now being 13-6 Falcons.  The Falcons took advantage of the Ursuline mistakes as Tyler Evans tossed to Senior Todd Simons for a 37-yard strike and it was now 21-6.  However, Brady Shannon and the Irish were not going down without a fight.  Shannon found the speedy Trenton Hill who juked a couple of defenders was gone, going 37-yards to the end zone. The two-point conversion was good and the Irish were only down by seven.

 

Shannon once again showed his quarterback accuracy, as he found Marc Manning 11-yards out.  However, kicker Dylan Peplowski missed the extra point and Fitch was still in the lead by one.  That is when Falcons decided to swarm the field.  It first started with Tyree Mitchell went 58-yards out with it being 28-20.  After that, Fitch did a surprise onside kick, something the Irish were not expecting and recovered the ball.

 

The Falcons scored four more times, having the younger athletes come in by the time the late third and fourth quarter came around, while pressuring Shannon and the Irish offensive line. Ursuline scored one more touchdown when DeMarcus McElroy scored from two-yards out.  The touchdown was not enough for a comeback as the Falcons won 56-28.

 

Shannon finished the game with 225 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.  Trenton Hill had six carries for 50 yards and the reception touchdown. For Fitch, it was Devin Sherwood who keeps on being consistent.  He finishes with 299 yards through the air and a touchdown.

 

Austintown Fitch (2-0) has momentum on their side, and look to continue that next Friday as they host the Chaney Cowboys (0-2) at Greenwood Chevrolet Austintown Falcon Stadium.  For Ursuline (1-1), they look to regroup as they head to Boardman to take on the Boardman Spartans (1-1).

*Contributed By YSN’s Ian O’Brien.

FALCONS GET IT DONE VS EAST

AUSTINTOWN OH- The Falcons defeated Youngstown East in a high scoring affair on Saturday 72-66. The Falcons held a 6 point lead at the half and a 4 point lead after 3 quarters. The 4th quarter saw the Falcons and East exchange baskets throughout with the Falcons hitting some timely free-throws down the stretch.

Leading the way for the Falcons was Todd Simons with 22 points, Devin Chaney with 17, Kris Brown with 15, and Devin Sherwood and Nate Leskovac with 8 pts. The Falcons travel to Hudson on Tuesday to take on the Explorers. The game time for that game is 6:00 J.V. 7:30 Varsity.

 

*Story Contributed by Brian Beany at austintownathletics.com