The Garfield G-Men football team is ready to make their final stand in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier. The G-Men wrapped up their non-conference schedule by defeating MVAC rival Springfield 40-14 in a crossover duel last Friday evening at Springfield Community Stadium in New Middletown.
“When you are playing on the road you want to get off to a fast start and a good start which we did but we shot ourselves in the foot a few times in the first half,” noted Coach Mike Moser. “We have some stuff we have to clean up but credit to the kids, they hung in there and we got it right eventually.”
Garfield (3-0, 0-0) finishes its non-conference slate with a perfect record, using their final game to prepare for league play by facing a conference rival in a crossover game, as the Tigers belong to the MVAC Scarlet Tier.
On Friday, the G-Men struck first as senior quarterback/running back/defensive back Collin McGranahan hit senior wideout/defensive back Oliver Walker for a 48-yard touchdown reception, giving Garfield a 7-0 advantage.
According to the 14-year coach, while the G-Men may not throw the ball too often, when they do, it often results in an explosive play, as demonstrated by the 5-foot-11 McGranahan’s deep ball to the 6-foot-2 Walker.
“That was a good throw by Collin,” he added. “We ran the ball a little bit and then called a play-action shot and Collin put it right on the numbers.”
The G-Men’s defense was stout at the beginning of the game, but Springfield’s defense also made plays, recovering a Garfield fumble inside the 10 as the G-Men were on the verge of doubling their early lead. Springfield marched down the field on a long drive, capped off by sophomore tailback Michael Rogenski scoring on a 23-yard touchdown run, knotting the score at 7-7.
After the Tigers responded, Garfield countered by scoring 21 unanswered points to end the half with a 28-7 advantage, highlighted by a 13-yard rushing touchdown by junior running back/linebacker Ryder Cain and a 58-yard touchdown reception by senior tailback/wide receiver/defensive back Nate Baczkowski.
Moser praised his team for swinging the momentum back in their favor after the Tigers capitalized on a Garfield turnover.
“Springfield hit some nice plays and we missed some tackles and they went down and scored but we came right back and scored again There is always going to be those momentum shifts and we did a good job of closing out the second quarter and then starting out the third quarter as well,” he said.
Although Garfield took command of the game, the G-Men still experienced several warts, losing a fumble in the second quarter and committing five penalties, the most they had committed in a game so far this season.
Moser acknowledged that the G-Men were not as sharp as they usually are but despite all of that, the G-Men continued rolling in the second half, adding another touchdown to increase their lead to 34-7.
McGranahan completed three passes out of six attempts for 113 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 97 yards on nine carries.
“The bottom line, you walk out of there with a score card that looks good even if you don’t like the way you got there,” he said. “Credit goes to the kids. They executed some good stuff and put some drives together and held onto the ball.”
Moser said that it was another game of growth for Garfield’s newest quarterback.
“He put a couple of throws right on the numbers,” he added. “Collin has the ability to do that, it is a game-to-game thing on what we need him to do but when called upon, he does a nice job.”
He noted that the most impressive thing about the G-Men’s latest victory was how the defense responded, as after the long drive it surrendered in the opening quarter, it only allowed seven points during the rest of the game. Moser called the last game the best defensive performance by Garfield in the early season.
Having dispatched Springfield in the final non-conference game, Moser said that the G-Men are ready to make their final run through the MVAC Grey Tier before transferring to the Greater Portage Athletic Conference next year.
“Our kids are good at worrying about what is just in front of them right now and they have done a good job of that all year so far and we are focused on LaBrae right now,” he said.
Garfield will host MVAC Grey Tier foe LaBrae in its conference opener on Friday night at JAG Stadium in Garrettsville at 7 p.m.
