The Suburban League American Conference title will once again change hands this season. The Aurora Greenmen football team handed over the conference banner to SLAC foe Medina Highland when they lost 34-0 in the regular season finale last Friday evening at Veterans Stadium.
“Hats off to Medina Highland,” said Coach Bob Mihalik. “They are a very physical team. They punched us in the mouth, and we did not have much of a response up front. They dominated the offensive and defensive lines and I think that was the key to the game.”
Since joining the SLAC in 2015, Aurora (9-1, 6-1) and the Hornets have had quite the conference rivalry, tied at 4-4 entering last Friday’s game. For the second time in the last three years, Medina Highland will again reign supreme in the conference.
“It has been back and forth,” noted the 24-year coach. “We have played nine times and that is what a rivalry is. They took the rubber match on Friday night but we will get another shot next year.”
Despite the loss, Aurora still achieved the fourth seed in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Region 9 postseason, guaranteeing it at least two home playoff games. The Greenmen will attempt to defend their home field when they welcome Bedford to town this Friday at 7 p.m.
“We just told them that we can feel sorry for ourselves on Friday night but we have to come in on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. to watch the film and make our corrections and we have to bounce back,” Mihalik said. “That is life, and you have to be resilient.”
On Friday night, the Greenmen fell into an early hole after some early self-inflicted mistakes.
After their opening possession stalled, senior quarterback/punter/linebacker Ryan Dwyer had to corral a bad snap and his knee hit the ground before he could punt the ball, downing it at Aurora’s 24. The Hornets seized an early lead when junior wide receiver/defensive back Lucas Gerding scored on a six-yard touchdown scamper, giving them a 7-0 advantage.
After another promising drive for the Greenmen ended, senior quarterback Dylan Borla connected with sophomore tailback/tight end/linebacker Evan Foust on a 31-yard touchdown catch, increasing Medina Highland’s lead to 14-0 in the first period.
Usually a dynamic running team, Aurora’s rushing attack struggled to gain momentum in the wake of losing senior tailback/defensive end Lucas Manderbach to a season-ending injury suffered in its week nine game against conference rival Barberton.
Mihalik could not downplay the impact of Aurora losing its star offensive playmaker.
“Arguably he is our best guy on both sides of the football,” he added. “It hurts but football is a team game and we have to pick it up and have the next guy up mentality.”
Despite having another drive end early, the Greenmen finally forced a stop on defense and took over at their own 23 but the momentum only lasted one play when the 6-foot-3 Dwyer had his pass tipped by junior wideout/defensive back Jameson Gordon and fall into the hands of senior safety/defensive back Garrett Phillips in the second quarter.
Another Aurora mistake allowed the Hornets to pull away further when junior running back Casey Myser galloped to the end zone on a 47-yard touchdown run, pushing the Hornets’ advantage to 21-0.
Mihalik acknowledged that falling behind early made things tough for Aurora but committing so many unforced errors all but doomed the Greenmen.
“We want to run the football and we could not run the football on Friday night,” he said. “I thought we had a good plan throwing the football and we moved the ball pretty well. It is something we need to learn from. You surely don’t want to do that in a league championship game against two 9-0 teams.”
The Hornets added another touchdown at the start of the third quarter when the 6-foot-2 Myser scored on a 1-yard run and delivered the final dagger near the end of the third period when the 5-foot-10 Phillips snagged his second interception of the night, this time in the end zone.
Despite a lackluster end to the regular season, Mihalik said the Greenmen are focused on the second chapter of their 2024 campaign.
“We told the kids, we got our second season starting now,” he added. “That is a really good Division II football team and we are going to play a bunch of Division III football teams in our region and our goals have not changed. We want to make a deep run in the playoffs.”
