The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
THE SEASON BEGINS
Quarterback Justin Sturgill (29) is all smiles as he leads the Lorain Titans on to the field at George Daniel Field to kick off the 2017 season against the Midview Middies, Aug. 25, 2017. Midview edged out Lorain, 37-34.
They say there’s a first for everything, and on Aug. 25, the Keystone and Bay football teams tangled for the first time ever at Bay Memorial Stadium. The Rockets’ stifling defense was the key in a 10-0 shutout. The Rockets intercepted Keystone
quarterback Bobby Weber three times and created four total turnovers to start 1-0 overall.
“I was very impressed with our defense,” Bay coach Ron Rutt said. “I thought guys really took care of their assignments ,and we always preach to do your job. They flew around and made some big hits, too.”
It certainly looked like both teams had never seen each other because of a low-scoring and at times, sloppy affair. After leading at the half, 3-0, the Rockets’ offense picked up steam in the third quarter, getting chunk plays from running back Trey Psota before he punched in an 18-yard TD with 7:35 left.
Psota, who finished with 100 yards on 18 carries, was a big emphasis for Bay, Bay finished with 181 total rushing yards, also picking up 58 yards from junior Matthew Cover.
“Our game plan is always to ground and pound it,” Psota said. “We want to be the more physical team and mentally tough team. We want to grind
it out until they don’t want to be on the field anymore.”
Keystone, making its debut under new coach Don Griswold, showed plenty of signs that the culture might already be slowly changing. The Wildcats created four turnovers of their own, including two picks from senior defensive back Justin Able. In the third, junior Dylan Naylor recovered a Bay fumble at their own 10yard line, but their offense could never capitalize.
“It’s Week 1 and offense is about fine details, defense about flying around and being emotional,” Griswold said. “We’ve been playing good defense around here for a couple years. Certainly it’s the foundation of our team. Our kids are playmakers and they made plays today.”
With 9:41 remaining in the fourth, R.J. Sunahara recovered a Keystone fumble off a screen pass at midfield, allowing them to milk some more clock. With 4:39 left, Keystone had one last gasp, getting a pick from Able on their own 25-yard line, but Weber & Co. struggled to move downfield. Weber finished with 49 yards passing.
“I thought Bobby played well and we put a lot on him,” Griswold added. “We run a lot of option stuff and he has to process a lot in those 20 seconds leading up to the snap. He grew as a player. We’re going to be just fine.”
The Rockets and Wildcats did little offensively in the first quarter, and besides Able picking off Bay quarterback Connor Shell in the end zone on a fourth down play, little happened.
Shell opened up the second quarter with a fumble recovery on a third down run at midfield, which later set up a 24-yard field kick from junior Cade Gergye for a 3-0 lead.
With 3:21 left in the half, Bay senior DB Barry Dillon picked off Weber on a second down throw, but Bay couldn’t capitalize. With 1:04 remaining, Keystone responded with a huge interception from Gregory as Bay was approaching the red zone, returning it back 30 yards. But the Wildcats once again couldn’t muster any offense.
Bay finished with 55 passing yards, but the bread and butter goes back to Psota, who also understood it was his final season opener of his career.
“Sitting at school all day, I was thinking this is my last first high school game and every play could be my last,” he added. “It was in my mind this whole day and it will be on my mind moving forward.”
Bay finished with 15 first downs to Keystone’s six and Rutt loves the start to the season.
“We’re going to watch the film and try to get better,” he said. “Do what we can to stay as healthy as we can and we have a tough game next week against University School, a team that beat us last year.”