Tag Archive for: Featured

HOWLAND PUSHES FOR FIRST WIN

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HOWLAND, OH- The Howland Tigers came into week 6 still looking for their first win of the season as they hosted Warrensville Heights Friday night. A balanced attack around the field and composure after the halftime break was what pushed the Tigers to be aggressive on both sides of the ball. The momentum of looking for the first win seemed to be apparent in Howland as the defense held Warrensville Heights to just 108 yards on offense. Thanks to Marco Massucci and Nick Leasure, Howland was able to put the game away early in the fourth after a couple of rushing touchdowns to get the victory over Warrensville Heights, 19-0.

Massucci led the way for the Tigers on the ground with 106 yards and 2 TDs. Michael Goussios added 65 yards on the ground, and Leasure had 60 yards on the ground with a TD.

The Tigers will move to 1-5 on the season and will look to get some momentum with a second straight win as they will travel to East to take on the Golden Bears Friday night. 

*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller.

FALCONS CONTINUE TO FLY HIGH

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JEFFERSON, Ohio –

Since the first meeting between the Jefferson Falcons (5-1) and Hubbard Eagles (4-2) in 2010, Hubbard has dominated the series 8-1, all while outscoring the Falcons by a total of 369-157.

Jefferson’s struggles against not only the Eagles, but the NE8 conference is known no better than the Falcons themselves, and they came into the night with something to prove. After forcing Hubbard to punt to open the ballgame, the Falcons would march down the field and get on the board first thanks to a Kaige Baczar two-yardtouchdown run.

Both teams would trade turnovers before Hubbard would fail to convert in the red zone, giving it back over to the Falcons on downs. Just two plays later, the Hubbard defense would come up with its second turnover of the night, setting the offense up in plus territory. Penalties would go on to kill the Hubbard drive, wiping a touchdown off the board for the Eagles that would have knotted things up.

Seven plays later and the Jefferson offense would take a two-possession lead courtesy of a five-yard Grant Hitchcock pass to Trent Hodge with less than six minutes to play in the opening half.

The Hubbard offense would again excel at moving the ball in between the twenty’s but once more stall out in the redzone, sending the Falcons into the locker room with a 13-0 lead.

Starting the second half with the ball, the Falcons continued to roll with a six play, three-and-a-half-minute drive that was capped off with the second edition of Hitchcock to Hodge this time from forty-six yards out. The teams would trade scoreless possessions before the Eagles were able to move the ball down into the redzone once more and finally cap things off with a Nik Hendrix one-yard quarterback sneak for their first score of the night.

Just as the Eagles finally looked to have gained some momentum, the Falcons star in Hitchcock would account for his third touchdown of the night on the very next play from scrimmage. The versatile Falcon quarterback would take the snap alone in the shotgun, busting through the line and reversing field enroute to a seventy-one-yard touchdown run.

While the Eagles were able to score once more in the ballgame on a Ben Wilcox two-yard touchdown run, Jefferson would respond with a scoreless but long sustained drive, giving the Eagles virtually no chance trailing by two scores. The Falcons would grab their second conference victory of the season, 25-13.

BIG PERFORMERS

JEFFERSON:

Grant Hitchcok: 10-15 passing, 306 total yards, 3 total TDs

Trent Hodge: 10 catches, 126 yards, 2 TDs

HUBBARD:

Ben Wilcox: 23 rushing yards, 1 TD

Mason Hodge: 3 catches, 88 receiving yards

UP NEXT

Jefferson: Carrying the momentum of back-to-back victories, the Jefferson Falcons will make the trip south to Mahoning County to take on the Struthers Wildcats (2-4) who are fresh off a big 41-3 victory over Lakeview.

Hubbard: Losing to Jefferson for the first time since 2011, the Eagles will head home and look to rebound with another team they’ve dominated in recent history, the Lakeview Bulldogs (3-3). Hubbard has won the last four games against the Bulldogs by an average of 36.5 points. Lakeview head coach Sam Bellino, former Hubbard standout and assistant coach, will make his return to Hubbard Memorial Stadium for the first time since taking the job in Cortland.

*Contributed By YSN’s Jamie Thomson

BULLDOGS GET UP OFF THE MAT

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Poland, OH – Homecoming night in Poland resulted in a throwback experience for the Poland faithful. With multiple quarterbacks hurt on the Poland roster, multiple players including Cole Fulton stepped in at quarterback for the Bulldogs. With Fulton under center, the Bulldogs were able to dominate the game. Fulton finished the night with 3 rushing touchdowns.

The Bulldogs striked first with a 1 yard touchdown run by Fulton to make the game 7-0. Poland would increase their lead with a 20 yard touchdown run thanks to a fumble recovery by Matteo Melone. With time running out, the Bulldogs were able to get a field goal on the board by Jas Stefancin from 35 yards out making this game 17-0 going into the locker room.
Bulldogs continued their commanding lead in the second half highlighted by two additional touchdowns from Fulton. Bulldogs wins 31-7. Poland (3-3) will host Girard while Niles (2-4) will travel to South Range. Catch both games here on YSNLIVE.COM.
*Contributed By YSN’s Anthony Melone

UNITED TAKES CARE OF THE CLIPPERS

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HANOVERTON OH- United came into week six action looking to maintain their edge as the EOAC conference schedule is full steam ahead. The Eagles offense sharpened that edge all evening as they took care of Columbiana 47-7 Friday night in Hanoverton.

The starting offense for United had to shake off some early rust having only played a little more than a quarter the previous week. Luke Courtney capped off a stalled opening drive connecting on a 34 yard field goal as the Eagles took the early 3-0 lead. Columbiana, dealing with numerous injuries, was down to their 3rd and 4th options at quarterback and struggled to get anything consistent going on offense. The Eagles offense would take advantage of what their defense was providing. Already leading 10-0, Luke Courtney and Grant Knight would hook up on a 50 yard touchdown pass and the Eagles were suddenly up 17-0.

Following another Clippers punt the Eagles took over deep in their own territory, looking to add to their lead. It was the Columbiana defense however who added to the scoring as Caleb Buchheit would intercept a Courtney pass taking it 33 yards to the house and the Clippers had life at 17-7. United squashed the Clippers momentum immediately as Jenson Baker would score from a yard out, capping a 50 second scoring drive and the Eagles were up 24-7. The combination of Courtney to Knight would connect again for the 2nd time increasing the lead to 31-7 on the next possession. Courtney would then tack on his 2nd field goal of the game from 32 yards making the score 34-7 at the half. Out of the locker room the Eagles offense was rinse-repeat as Courtney and Knight would do it for the 3rd time on a 25 yard connection as the score grew to 40-7.

Gavin Berger added a 22 yard touchdown run to cap off the night for the Eagles victory. Columbiana (0-6, 0-3) will head back home next Friday welcoming league leader Valley Christian to Firestone Park. United (5-1, 2-1) takes their high powered offense on the road traveling to East Palestine.

*Contributed By YSN’s Chris Sigler

 

LIBERTY HAS PRODUCTIVE HOMECOMING

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LIBERTY OH- The Liberty Leopards and the Campbell Memorial Red Devils met Friday night for a battle in the MVAC Grey Tier. The Leopards came in winless, and Campbell had just one win on the season. Both teams have had their struggles in the first half of the season, but they were both trying to turn things around for the back half of the year.

Liberty came into week six with a whole lot of questions. Friday night they found a few answers, as they came out and had their best game of the season by far. Led by the momentum from Homecoming and the introduction of the 2022 Hall of Fame class the Leopards came out with fire in their eyes and never looked back. They would get huge boosts from the special teams and defense as both sides would collect a touchdown during the game.

The Red Devils offense would continue to struggle this week, but with the help of their special teams they would tie their season high for points on the season with 21. Turnovers severely stunted their progress in the game and led to them getting behind in this game.

Campbell would start the game with the ball, but they would go three and out and punt the football to Quez Patterson who would take it from his own ten-yard line and flip the field as he took it into the redzone on a seventy-five-yard return. On the first play from scrimmage for the Leopards John Lard would punch in a fifteen-yard touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff the Red Devils would respond as Mihali Koullias who take it ninety yards for a Campbell touchdown. They weren’t done with special teams yet as after one kickoff touchdown there would be another. Quez Patterson would match the previous touchdown with ninety yards of his own for a Leopards touchdown.

Everything after that would go the Leopards way as Campbell QB would fumble and throw two interceptions that put his squad behind. Liberty’s Quez Patterson would be named player of the game thanks to his efforts on special teams and defense, as to go along with the great returns he would also grab a pick-six and another interception that came on the final play of the game.Liberty found their first win of the season as they move to (1-4) and are now also fourth in the MVAC Grey Tier. Liberty will head on the road in week seven as they will play Champion. Campbell falls to (1-5) as they continue to struggle this season. They will head on the road and take on the one loss Garfield G-Men next week.

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna

ALLIANCE KNOCKS DOWN THE QUAKERS

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After a thrilling victory in week 5, the Quakers returned home to open EBC play and were greeted by the high-powered Alliance Aviators, whose offense would score often en route to a 41-30 win over the Quakers.

The Aviators would jump out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on two touchdown passes by quarterback Brendan Zurbrugg, and continue to push their lead, which would be 27-9 at the half.
Salem would come out with a long drive to start the 3rd, capped off by a 1-yd touchdown score by quarterback Jackson Johnson, cutting the lead to 27-16. The Quakers, however, would never get closer than eleven the rest of the way as Alliance would continue to answer with scores of their own.
For Alliance, they used their balanced offensive attack led by Zurbrugg, who threw for 223 yard and three touchdowns (Davis-2, Hawkins). Kayden Davis ran for 113 and another score. For Salem, Jackson Johnson threw the ball over 50 times on the night for 385 yards and two scores (Davidson-2). Leading the way receiving was Caden Swiger (12-117), Donnie Oesch (8-94) and Dillon Monroy (6-78). Ross Davidson had over 50 yards and both receiving scores on the night.
Salem (4-2, 0-1) looks to bounce back next week as the play host to Minerva at Sebo Stadium. Alliance (5-1, 1-0) travels to Carrollton to clash with the Warriors (5-1, 1-0).

*Contributed By Jarrod Niederhiser

LOWELLVILLE LASHES OUT ON WATERLOO

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Lowellville OH- Last week Vinny Ballone passed for nine touchdowns, this week he added five more in the first half but was it enough to secure a victory against the MVAC Scarlet rival Waterloo Vikings?

 

The first half saw it mostly on the side of Lowellville with a few key plays by Waterloo that kept it close.  The first possession Ballone threw a deep ball finding Bunofsky down the field for a 40-yard pickup.  Two plays later and he connects with him again from six-yards making it 6-0. 

 

The Rockets would get the ball back after a Matthew Lucio surprise onside kick which was recovered by Michael Ballone.  That then led to a score in which Ballone connected with Braylen Dabney, making it 14-0. Waterloo did not go away however as the running attack for Mike Deveis Vikings as Hakin gave the ball on a QB choice play to Bobby Haruoff who went 28-yards making it 14-6.  

 

Ballone would connect once again this time finding Lucido in the endzone making it 22-6 after another conversion and then found Bunofsky a couple possessions later making it 28-6.  Quarterback Jayden Hakin scored once again off a QB run making it 28-12, but the Vikings were unable to hang on after as the Rockets pulled away in the second half after a Geno Perry touchdown making the final score 50-26. 

 

Stats: 

 

Waterloo: Jayden Hakin: Two rushing touchdowns 

 

Bobby Harouff: one touchdown 

 

Evan Kugler: rushing touchdown 

 

Lowellville Stats: 

 

Vinny Ballone: 21/28 387 yards passing and five touchdowns.  

 

Brady Bunofsky: 99 yards receiving and two touchdowns

 

Braylen Dabney: 19 yard reception and one touchdown. 

 

Matthew Lucido: 97 yards receiving and a touchdown.  

 

Geno Perry: 36 yards rushing on five carry’s and a touchdown. 

 

Lowellville is now 6-0 on the season, their best start since the 2002 season where they finished the regular season undefeated.  The Rockets will host the Sebring McKinley Trojans (0-6) next Friday.  Waterloo (3-3) will host a hot Springfield Tigers team that got back to back victories (2-4).  

 

After the game, YSNs very own Ian O’Brien caught up with coach Andrew Mamula about going 6 and 0 and what to expect for the upcoming games ahead.  

 

*contributed by YSNs Ian O’Brien*

 

 

RAMS GET RIGHT BACK TO WINNING

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MINERAL RIDGE OH- After a tough last minutes lost to Springfield in Week 5, Mineral Ridge looked to get right back to their winning ways. Their opponent was a Western Reserve team that has suffered a slew of heartbreaking losses.  However, tonight it was never a doubt who the better team was. Mineral Ridge ran away with it 40-13.

Mineral Ridge’s offense ran their way to 25 first downs in the night.  They gained 527 total yards of offense. 467 of those yards came on the ground.  Triston Valley gained 247 all purpose yards and scored 3 touchdowns.  Ian Erb put together another quality night with 198 yards and a trio of touchdowns.  Mason Miller added 66 yards of offense as well.

The Rams have another big test in Week 7 as they travel to Jackson Milton. Western Reserve will return home and host McDonald.

 

CARDINAL MOONEY WINS ITS 500TH GAME

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YOUNGSTOWN OH- Cardinal Mooney has arguable the most prestigious football programs in the area. One walk inside the Mooney gym will quickly reveal the state level type of success the Cardinals have had over the years. Friday night was a special night for not just the players on the current roster, but every player and coach that has come through the door. Mooney’s 37-0 win over Youngstown East gave the program its 500th win in its illustrious history.

Ashton O’Brien continued to impress and grow throughout the season. He was able to escape the picker and make plenty of plays down the field. A big highlight was a touchdown pass that threaded the needle to Carlos Gomez.  Noah Thomas was a hard runner all night. He scored a couple touchdowns on his way to a great performance.

Mooney now Carrie’s a two game winning streak into week 7. They will host Brush at Mineral Ridge on Friday.  East will stay at home to host Howkand on Friday night.

TIGERS RALLY TO WIN SECOND STRAIGHT

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SPRINGFIELD, OH- The Goonies never say die.  Neither do the Springfield Tigers.

The Tigers trailed by three scores to start the game and stormed back in the second half to defeat their MVAC foe, McDonald Blue Devils 37-21 on Homecoming.

For the Tigers, Kolten Ruark had a standout night with three touchdowns, and 154 yards through the air.  Ryan Carcelli led the ground attack with 130 yards on the night, while Dylan Sheely was feeling it, hauling in 3 touchdown receptions and 63 yards to go with them.

The Tigers advance to 2-4 and will lock horns with Waterloo next week, while McDonald drops to the same record and will travel to Western Reserve in Week 7.