The old cliché, “on any given day” never rang truer than last week. The 1-8 Newton Falls Tigers traveled to Orwell last week to take on the 8-1 Grand Valley Mustangs. The score was what everyone expected, the winner was not. The Tigers roared into Grand Valley’s stadium and walked away with a 38-13 victory, their first since opening day. The loss turned back the Mustangs playoff hopes, missing the playoff by .2 computer points, the closest the Mustangs have been to the playoffs since 2001 when they missed he playoffs by one computer point.
The Tigers dominated the game from start to finish, with a suffocating defense and a potent offense. They allowed the Mustangs to gain just 27 yards on the ground and 150 through the air. Meanwhile, the Tigers Anthony Kline raced for 164 yards on 13 carries while teammate Matt Brazin passed for 125 yards. The victory is a great stepping-stone moving into next year.
After three straight losing seasons the Crestwood Red Devils seem to have things turning in the right direction. First-year head coach Chris Kosiorek is a big reason for that direction.
Trailing 20-3 after the first quarter the Red Devils did not fade into the cold Friday air, instead they became more inspired and outscored the Southeast Pirates 32-14 for a 35-34 victory. The Red Devils finished the contest with 187 rushing yards and 204 passing. The defense made the stops when they needed to and allowed just 79 passing yards. Southeast also missed two extra-points and failed on a two-point conversion. The Devils’ 5-5 record is the best since 2006, which was also the last season they had a winning record in conference play.
After losing four straight games to Berkshire and coming off their first losing season since 2005, the Cardinal Huskies were out to prove themselves worthy last Friday night, beating their archrival Berkshire 26-13. The victory is the program’s first win over the Badgers since that 2005 season. With the loss the Badgers fall to 1-9, completing back to back losing seasons for the first time since 2001-2002.
The Garfield G-Men proved to be the bigger and better team last Friday when they beat Windham 49-7. Windham answered Garfield’s opening touchdown drive with a touchdown on the Bombers opening drive. The fading “W” burned into the Garfield playing surface was no distraction as the G-Men ran all over it to the tune of 436 yards of total offense, 291 rushing and 145 in the air. The opening drive was all of Windham’s offense as they amassed 148 total yards.
Week 11 for the G-Men will be played at Chagrin Falls as they take on the 9-1 Tigers.
This marks the Tigers eighth playoff appearance and third straight. They are 8-7 in their 15 games played in the post season but are a very beatable team this season.
This is a 7:30 kickoff with $9 gate price or $7 presale at the school. Call 330-527-0039 for availability.
