Berkley stifles Troy to remain unbeaten
TROY » The mark of a good team is its willingness to look past all its successes and still find ways to improve.
Berkley used a potent ground attack and a dominant defensive performance to roll past host Troy Friday night, 26- 0, to improve to 3- 0 on the season and assert itself as a team to beat in the Oakland Activities Association Blue Division.
“I’mproud of the boys. They came out and fought hard,” Berkley head coach Sean Shields said. “We have a lot of things to clean up, though. The penalties we had out there. The offense struggled to move the ball a little bit.”
Don’t take that the wrong way. Shields had plenty to be happy about throughout the first half.
His team took control early in the game — real early. Senior quarterback Ian Domzalski kept the ball on the ground each of the first two plays of the ballgame — the second of which was a 60-yard scamper which ended in the end zone to give his team a 7- 0 lead just 52 seconds into the game.
Domzalski came upwith big plays when his team needed them. And when he didn’t, teammate Liam Sarris did. The running back scored on a 1-yard plunge early in the second quarter and then proved he had the speed to break a long one, running around the left end and scampering 52 yards to make it a 21- 0 ballgame midway through the third quarter.
“The big boys (up front) controlled the game for us,” Shields said. “We had some miscues in the passing game, but every running back we had, the boys ran hard and the line blocked great for them tonight. I’msuper proud of these guys.”
Troy’s offense sputtered throughout. And the Colts’ defense was unable to contain Berkley’s run game — as was evidenced by the big night by
both Domzalski and Sarris.
“Props to Berkley. I think they out-physical led us from the start,” Troy head coach Chris Frasier said. “They ran the quarterback the first two plays and scored a touchdown. When they needed it they went three back, tight end and said, ‘Here it comes.’ So props to them.”
The Berkley defense came up with a strip (Lev Mechnikov) fumble and recovery (Cody Rigley) to thwart a Troy drive in the fourth quarter. The special teams played well, too, with placekicker Hunter Robertson hitting a 25-yard field goal and connecting on all three of his extra points. The kick team also forced a safety.
“We came out and played a pretty good team here tonight and it’s great to be 3- 0,” Shields said. “Defensively, I’m extremely happy. It’s what I want to be a staple of our team, our defense. I can’t say enough about our D. They controlled the game tonight.”
Troy came into the game with an unbeaten record. The Colts fall to 1-1 in league play and 2-1 overall. Troy was 0- 9 a year ago. Junior Xavier Newell led the defense with eight tackles. Senior Jack Matthews added six. Juniors Kasey Pischel and Frederick Aldinger shared a pair of sacks and sophomore Darius Whiteside II had an interception in the loss.
“This is a team game,” Frasier said. “Everyone needs to go make a play and (tonight) we didn’t have enough people step up and make plays. The first two games had guys step up and make big plays. Today, they made more plays than we did and that’s kind of why they kicked our booties.”
For Berkley, it’s the school’s first 3- 0 start since 2016, the last time the Bears reached the playoffs.
“We’ve been the punching bag the last couple years,” said Shields, speaking of the Bears’ 5-22 record from 2017-19. “But building the program back up, building the numbers back up, it’s finally showing. I’m loving that the kids are having fun. We’ve made a change here at Berkley with the culture and hopefully we can keep this thing rolling.
Berkley will travel to Troy Athens next week to take on the Red Hawks (1-2), while Troy will pay a visit to Ferndale (2-1).