It’s the mid-point of the season and Garfield G-Men football coach Mike Moser likes where his team is at.
The G-Men stayed undefeated and dominated Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Division rival Champion 64-0 last Friday evening at JAG Field in Garrettsville.
Since the teams joined the MVAC Grey Division in 2021, Garfield (5-0, 2-0) has overpowered the Golden Flashes, outscoring them by a 173-28 margin.
The G-Men got off to another fast start when junior defensive back Cade Rock returned an interception for a 40-yard touchdown on Champion’s opening drive, pushing Garfield out to a 7-0 advantage.
According to the 10th-year coach, all it takes is one play to spark the G-Men and the snowball just keeps rolling down the hill.
“That’s kind of been us this year,” he said. “Once somebody gets it going, it tends to take off pretty fast, so let’s hope we can keep that going.”
Garfield’s momentum continued when senior tailback/linebacker Keegan Sell scored on a 15-yard touchdown run on its next drive, stretching its advantage to 14-0.
The G-Men added one more touchdown in the first quarter when senior tailback/defensive back Leo Grandizio hauled in a 57-yard reception from senior quarterback Eric Geddes, extending Garfield’s lead to 21-0.
Garfield has been relentless on offense this season, averaging 52.0 points in its first five contests and Moser noted that the G-Men’s offense has been one of the most balanced units he has coached in his tenure.
“It is a combination of a lot of things,” he said. “We have a lot of returnees on the offensive line that allows us to do some different things and we have some different weapons in the backfield and have a returning starter playing quarterback that we trust so it is all of those things kind of coming together.”
Garfield’s start to the season has earned them the number 10 ranking in the A.P. poll of Division V football teams in the State of Ohio.
Even Moser acknowledged that it was a special thing for his program to be ranked in the State.
“We have not talked about it a lot amongst the team but they know,” he said. “Again we take care of our stuff and all the stuff will take care itself.”
The G-Men continued imposing their will against Champion, outscoring the Golden Flashes 19-0 in the second quarter to take a commanding 40-0 lead into the half, triggering the running clock.
“We moved in some pretty good chunks on Friday night,” Moser said. “I think kids were focused and ready to play right from the opening play.”
The G-Men’s defense shut down Champion in the second half en route to their second shutout victory of the season.
Through five games, Garfield’s defense has surrendered only 52 points in 20 quarters, posting two shutouts, the most since the 2017 campaign.
“The defense has been outstanding all year,” said Moser. “Coach Lewis has done a great job getting those guys prepared, playing a lot of guys on defense and flying around the ball and creating some turnovers and creating field position and putting up another shutout last night, their second of the year, so they are clicking on all cylinders as well.”
Garfield’s offense has been unstoppable this season, constantly pounding the ball on the ground and the results have been impressive.
That trend continued against Champion when the G-Men recorded 535 rushing yards, paced by Sell who recorded 125 rushing yards on five attempts and scored three touchdowns, followed by Geddes who tallied 114 rushing yards and scored one touchdown on six attempts, and senior tailback/defensive back Deacon Summer added 43 yards on three rushes.
“In our style of offense we run a lot of different guys out there and a lot of guys touch the ball and every one of those guys makes the guys next to them better, so for our offense you have to have multiple guys that can run the ball so it has been real valuable,” Moser said.
According to Moser, Garfield has already made several statements this season by beating the reigning 2022 Division VII state runners-up John F. Kennedy and a Division I program at Normandy.
Garfield’s success has been paced by a large senior class, 11 in total, one of the largest senior classes since Moser became head coach.
This week, the G-Men celebrate homecoming and welcome MVAC Grey Conference rival Campbell Memorial to town at 7 p.m.
