Tag Archive for: High School Footbsll

JEFFERSON SPOILS THE WARRIORS SEASON TO CONTINUE HISTORIC RUN

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NILES OH- West Branch came in to Saturday night with aspirations of pinching a ticket to the final four. After two seasons of coming to this very round and falling short, there were a lot of people who thought this was the year West Branch would break through. Standing in their way was an up and coming Jefferson team who had already gotten deeper in the playoffs than any team in their program had before.  On paper maybe it was a mismatch, but the Falcons never received that memo. They recovered from a fast Warriors start to come back and win a thriller 41-37.

the Warriors started the game with back to back touchdown drives. They were both capped off by 1 yard touchdown runs. Boston Mulinix ran in the first, then Dru DeShields followed him up. In what might have ended up being a difference maker the Warriors went for two both times, and failed to convert both times. What could have been a 16-0 lead was just a 12-0 lead. Those stops gave Jefferson some momentum as they finally got on the board with a Luke Funtash touchdown run from 5 yards out to close out the first frame.

After the first quarter, the two teams would trade touchdowns 3 times.  Grant Hitchcock ended that trend though as he took a punt return 75 yards to the house to give the Falcons their second consecutive score.  After DeShields would answer with a score of his own, Hitchcock struck again to go ahead for good. This time around he found pay dirt from 65 yards out.  Jefferson would go on to win despite being outshined 470 to 348.

Hitchcock ran the ball 20 times for 152 yards on the night.  He only needed to pass 9 times, he had 4 completions for 80 yards.  Trent Hodge gained 84 yards on the ground for Jefferson.

DeShields went 10/21 on the night with 178 yards, and he ran for 42 more yards to gain over 200 total for the offense.  Boston Mulinix did all he could gaining 250 yards on 20 rushes.

Jefferson advances to the State Semifinsls for the first time in team history. They’ll take on Glenville on Saturday at Canal Fulton Northwest High School. Kickoff is slated for 7:00.

 

WEST BRANCH WINS BATTLE OF WARRIORS

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CARROLLTON, OH- The 7-1 West Branch Warriors traveled down to Carrollton Friday looking to clinch at least a share of the EBC title. They were able to do that coming away with a 42-20 victory over Carrollton. West Branch can clinch the EBC title outright with a win against Salem next week. The Warriors currently sit at 1st in the division 4 region 13 standings and they have already clinched a top 4 seed and 2 home playoff games.

 

West Branch came out firing from the start when quarterback Dru Deshields found star reciever Christian Martig for a 5 yd touchdown pass. However, the Warriors went for the two point conversion and came up unsuccessful. Still in the first quarter Deshields threw his second touchdown pass of the night to one again Christian Martig making the score 14-0. West Branch was able to convert the two pint conversion this time.

 

Carrollton wouldn’t go down without a fight as they were able muster two touchdowns in the second quarter. Carrollton had West Branch on its heels and right where they wanted them to pull off an upset. West Branch led 21-14 at the half.

 

Coming out of the half, West Branch scored first making it 28-14 on a Anthony Perry touchdown reception. The Warriors never looked back from that point, as they were able to shut Carrollton out in the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th. The defense was lights out with Thomas Egli and Mitch Coffee getting pressure in the backfield. Running back Boston Mulinix scored and Chrsitan Martig caught his third touchdown pass of the night on a 30 yd reception from Deshields making the score 42-14. Carrollton was able to score with about 2 minutes remaining making the score 42-20

 

West Branch improves to 8-1 on the season, while Carrollton drops to 6-3. West Branch will head back home to take on Salem, which is one of the best rivalries in all of Ohio high school football. Carrollton will look to bounce back in their final regular season game against Minerva, before the playoffs.

 

Passing-

Dru Deshields: 30/45, 349 YDS, 5 TDS

 

Rushing-

Boston Mulinix: 14 CAR, 45 YDS, 1 TD

Garin Harlan: 7 CAR, 33 YDS

 

Receiving-

Christian Martig: 9 REC, 93 YDS, 3 TDS

Joey Jackson: 8 REC, 45 YDS

Anthony Perry: 7 REC, 141 YDS, 2 TDS

Michael Kanagy: 5 REC, 66 YDS

*Contributed By YSN’s Michael Ginocchi

 

WILD FINISH GOES CHAMPION’S WAY

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WARREN OH- On Friday night, rivals took to the field to start out MVAC Gray Tier play and they left everything out there. Newton Falls came into Champion and went blow for blow against their rival after a little bit of bad blood was left on the field last season. Newton Falls was playing with their backup quarterback in Sophomore Keegan Murray, and he played very well with Alex Pennington out.

​Our game got started with Champion receiving the football and coming out on their opening drive with a 55-yard rushing touchdown from the raining MVAC player of the week Nick Vesey. On the first play from scrimmage for the Tigers their running back responded with a 50+ yard run to set them up at the one-yard line and Keegan Murray took the QB sneak in to tie the game up. Once more Champion would get the ball and immediately gave it to Vesey and he would thank them for and take the ball on another 50+ yard run that would set Champion up at the ten-yard line. Vesey would grab the ball again and take in a 10-yard touchdown run and Champion would jump back out in front 14-7.

​Newton Falls would then get the ball on their own 35 andwould fumble the football on the 39 a few plays later. Champion would take it 37 yards down to the one and fumbled on the one and it was recovered by the Tigers defense. The very next play from the one Camryn Brainard would have put together the play of the season as he would line up in the wildcat and run the ball off to the left side of his O-line and nearly fumbled in the endzone after slipping a tackle but recovered and broke off another would-be tackle for a 99=yard touchdown run to tie the game.

​This would all happen in the first seven minutes of the first quarter. No touchdowns would be added until the fourth quarter. A safety came off a high snap over the Tigers punters head and out of the back of the endzone to put Champion up 16-14 early in the second quarter. With two minutes to go in the third quarter Jason Sipka would come out and drill a 34-yard field goal to put the Tigers out in front for their first lead of the night.

​In the fourth quarter, the Golden Flashes would go on a long drive with a lot of penalties that ended in a Joey Fell 15-yard touchdown run to put the flashes up 22-17 as they would fail to convert on the two-point conversion. The Tigers would fumble on their next drive and Champion would take over on the Tigers side of the 50 and would drive it down and Nick Vesey took in a 6-yard rushing touchdown and Champion would go up 29-17 and the game looked all but over.

Newton Falls would receive the kickoff and go on a long drive that ended inside the redzone as they would turn the ball over on downs and Champion looked like they had just won the game with this defensive stop with two-minutes to go. But Champion would get the ball and fumble the first play, they recovered but had to burn a timeout to address the error. This allowed the Tigers who had just two timeouts at this point tostop the ball after every play and Champion would end up failing a would-be game winning fourth down conversion so the Tigers would get the ball back. One play later and Keegan Murray would go deep to Nick Wright for a 29-yard passing touchdown to make it a one score game with 39 seconds to go. The game came down to an onside kick that Champion would recover, and they came away with a close victory in what was an epic heart-stopping battle between rivals.

This game lived up to the billing as Champion would win the night 29-24 over Newton Falls. Champion picked up their first home win of the season on Military and First Responder Appreciation night. The Golden Flashes move to (2-2) on the season and will head on the road next week to take on the LaBrae Vikings. Newton Falls drops their third straight game as they are now (1-4). The Tigers will come home for next weeks matchup against a tough Garfield G-Men squad.

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna