Garfield G-Men Coach Mike Moser said that despite having a young team this season, winning another Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier banner was always a possibility but it all hinged on how fast the G-Men could grow up. Garfield demonstrated its poise when it battled back from a 16-point deficit to upset MVAC Grey Tier foe Crestview 23-22, to snag at least a share of the league title last Friday evening at Crestview Football Stadium in Columbiana.
“To have to follow in some of the footsteps they followed in and to replace so many guys from last year and to be playing so many young guys in key moments, to watch them grow up and get better and to watch them be on the road and fall down 16-0 and get back up off of the mat and fight our way to a win, we are really proud of our guys,” said the 12th-year coach.
Having earned a share of the league banner, the G-Men (8-1, 6-0) will try and secure their second straight conference title outright when they travel to Trumbull County to face conference rival Brookfield on Friday at 7 p.m. If Garfield wins, it will have the conference title all to itself but if they lose, they would settle for a share of the championship.
In addition to chasing outright ownership of the league title, a victory would almost assure Garfield at least a top eight seeding for the playoffs, guaranteeing it at least one more home game this season.
On Friday night, the G-Men were in one of their deepest holes of the season, trailing 16-0 against the Rebels in the first half. Things appeared to be going from bad to worse when Crestview was once again driving, seeking to add a third touchdown to its lead.
Junior wide receiver/tailback/defensive back Brandyn Bogucki swung the tide when he intercepted the Rebels in the end zone. The G-Men made Crestview pay for its first turnover of the game, driving 80 yards to score its first touchdown on a 14-yard run by senior tailback/linebacker Harper Troyer and converted a two-point conversion to halve the Rebels’ lead to 16-8.
After halting Crestview on its final drive of the first half, the G-Men continued surging, sparked by another big play by the 5-foot-9 Bogucki, who scored on a 57-yard touchdown run and after making another two-point conversion, Garfield evened the score at 16-16.
Bogucki paced the G-Men by rushing for 89 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries and caught a pair of passes from junior quarterback/defensive back Jack Neikirk for both two-point conversions.
“He is a really good football player and is really an intelligent football player and puts all of the work and film study in and deserves all of the good stuff that happens to him,” noted Moser.
The Rebels responded with a long drive to assume the lead again, but Garfield foiled the two-point conversion, so Crestview only led 22-16.
The G-Men’s offense engineered another successful drive, this time capped off with a 22-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back/defensive back Devin Bates and Garfield went back ahead 23-22 after sophomore kicker Hannah Timmons drilled the extra point near the end of the third quarter.
Despite two long drives, the Rebels could not score again as Garfield’s defense forced a pair of turnovers on downs in the fourth period to preserve their one-point advantage and clinch another piece of the coveted league championship.
“They drove and we made some plays, but we were able to ultimately keep them out of the end zone,” Moser noted. “They are a good team and were able to move the ball and they ultimately did so, but Coach Lewis did a great job in getting us in the right spots when we needed to be.”
After graduating a senior class that went 19-1 in the MVAC Grey Tier since joining the conference in 2020, the new crop of G-Men players have maintained the same standard of excellence, having not lost a conference game yet this year and verging on securing the league banner outright.
As far as Moser is concerned, this year’s team has cemented their own legacy in school history.
“We told those guys on Friday night that this is where you build your own legacy and that is what they did,” he said.
