The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
North Olmsted tops Valley Forge
Game delayed by outage, then Eagles light up scoreboard
A 30-minute delay to the start only delayed the inevitable as the Eagles soared to a 32-0 win.
There was a 30-minute delay of the start of North Olmsted’s season-opening football game against Valley Forge on Aug. 25 due to a loss of power, but that only delayed the inevitable as the Eagles soared to a 39-14 win to kick off the season.
Playing at Avon Stadium as their football stadium is being renovated, North Olmsted had no problem packing the house with its fans.
The Eagles led, 32-0, at halftime and got a big rushing night from RB Darren Anders, totaling all of his 103 yards in the first half on 18 attempts. North Olmsted came into this season wanting to emphasize the run and did exactly that with 234 first-half rushing yards.
“This has been a long process,” North Olmsted coach Tim Brediger said. “To come out and do things the way we did early, I’m proud of the guys. That’s a Valley Forge team that I think can win some games. We had to bus to a home game for the first time ever and I told them that’s going to be a reality for the next two years. We had no power at the start and had to check to see if our mi-
crophones were working. The heat was a factor and we had to make the kids believe this is our home for a while. It speaks to the character of our team.”
After an early field goal from kicker Garrett Fess, the Eagles later converted a 13-yard touchdown pass from QB Brandon Maximovich to Anders for a 10-0 lead.
The Eagles defense showed up all night and linebacker Chandler Johnson recovered a Valley Forge fumble on the ensuing drive, and at the start of the second quarter, Maximovich scored on a 3-yard run on fourth down for a 17-0 lead.
North Olmsted proceeded to score three more times to close the first half with rushing touchdowns byAnders and Alex Quinones, and a safety from Johnson after a sack on Valley Forge QB John Quinones.
Johnson was all over the field in the first half, including recording four solo tackles and leading his defense that did not allow a Valley Forge first down in the first half.
“He’s our best defensive player,” Brediger added. “He’s a weight room kid, great to coach. He’s a man of few words and I wanted to put him in position to make plays.”
Johnson might be a man of few words, but still acknowledged the itch for this day to come.
“My approach was to play aggressive,” he said. “We were ready to play today. I’ve been waiting to hit someone since we played last year.
“Our coaches are great coaches and I can’t appreciate them enough. I personally believe we can even be a lot better than that. There’s still a lot of little things we can fix.”
For good measure, North Olmsted wasted no time in the second half to strike, completing a 54-yard TD pass from Maximovich to wide receiver Jae Hun Shin down the sidelines to extend its lead to 39-0. Maximovich left the game early in the third and was replaced by Sam Guercio and then Liam Fay.
Maximovich completed 6 of 9 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 51 yards.
The Eagles had 417 total yards of offense, including 273 on the ground while converting 23 first downs as opposed to seven from Valley Forge.