The Garfield G-Men football team faced their biggest challenge of the season entering halftime clinging to a seven-point lead over Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Liberty. The G-Men responded by shutting out Liberty in the second half en route to a 43-14 victory last Friday evening at JAG Stadium in Garrettsville.
“Our kids played well and it is a big step,” said Coach Mike Moser. “There is still a lot of work to do. There are still some big games on our schedule. We know that but you can only play them as they come to you so that was the biggest one on the schedule up to this point and I thought our kids responded and did a nice job.”
Garfield (7-0, 4-0) stayed undefeated in league play and now sits alone in first place in the MVAC Grey Tier, with three games left in the regular season, positioning it as the team to beat for the league banner in its final season as a member of the league before it joins the Greater Portage Athletic Conference next year.
“We are in good spirits,” noted the 14-year coach. “We have done the work that has been put in front of us so far but like I said there is still a lot to be done so like I said, we are going to go back to work.”
On Friday night, things began to unravel for the G-Men after a promising start in which they surged ahead 21-0 in the second period.
The Leopards engineered a pair of touchdown drives to close out the half, fueled by senior tailback Dawaun Moody, who scored a pair of touchdowns, one from 85 yards out and another from nine yards out, trimming Garfield’s lead to 21-14.
To make matters worse, Garfield lost senior quarterback/defensive back Collin McGranahan for the rest of the game due to a back injury.
McGranahan’s injury forced the G-Men to go to a single-wing formation on offense, with several different players taking snaps from the wing position.
Moser acknowledged that it was difficult enough to not have McGranahan available on offense, as he had rushed for 90 yards and one touchdown on nine carries but also would miss his presence on defense as well.
“Collin is not just on one side of the ball, Collin is on the other side, he is a leader in our secondary defensively, he is on every special teams play, he snaps for punts, he holds for PATs, so that was a big loss for us,” he added.
Junior tailback/linebacker Ryder Cain took most of the snaps, and ignited Garfield’s offense in the second half by scoring two touchdowns, one on a three-yard run and another from 36 yards out, extending the lead to 35-14.
The 6-foot Cain tallied 182 yards and four touchdowns on 35 rushing attempts.
Moser praised Cain for going above and beyond to answer the call of duty by taking most of the snaps under center.
“One of the strengths in what we do is spreading carries around,” he said. “We had the ball all night long so there were going to be more plays than usual but 35 is a lot of carries, it was a big workload, but Ryder is a dude and he was ready to go.”
Garfield used only rushing plays to keep the offense moving and was supported with a stout defensive performance in the second half, keeping the Leopards scoreless to secure a crucial league victory.
“We had a great gameplan and they practiced very well all week long,” said Moser. “Losing Collin hurts but there are some guys like Logan Sell, Nate Baczwkoski, Ryder, Jack Timmons, Henry Vecchia, who have played some big ball on that side of the ball and they were ready.”
Although McGranahan’s absence was felt in the defensive secondary, Moser said that the G-Men had experienced players prepared to take on more responsibility and lead the defense to a dominant showing, demonstrated by a second half shutout.
Moser said that he expected the teams to trade efforts throughout the game, given how formidable Liberty has been this season, and the Leopards appeared to have the upper hand entering the half, but the G-Men showed resilience to prevail.
“You know their run is going to come, and we talked about it all week,” he noted. “They are too good to not make plays, so we had to get on the ground, withstand it and huddle up for the next play and I think the kids did a great job with that attitude.”
The G-Men will stay home and welcome MVAC Grey Tier foe Newton Falls to JAG Stadium in Garrettsville on Friday night at 7 p.m.
