The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL » SPORTS
Bay 21, Padua 7 Avon 28, Medina Highland 10 Olmsted Falls 21, Wadsworth 20
Bay pounded its way to a 21-7 win over Padua Nov. 10 to advance to the Division III, Region 10 final.
The Rockets were once again led by senior Trey Psota, who finished with 28 carries for 160 yards and a pair of touchdowns in what was the team’s third regional semifinal appearance in four seasons.
“We knew coming into the game it was going to be a pretty evenly matched game. But we thought we had a good week of practice,” Psota said. “I’m glad we executed in the game and it paid off.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Bay got on the board first when Psota ran for his first touchdown of the night, capping a nineplay, 74-yard drive with a 2-yard score.
And as Coach Ron Rutt said earlier in the week, the game more than anything came down to winning the turnover battle and being able to execute the big plays when necessary. On the ensuing Padua drive, Francis Sherman
and Thomas Koss sacked the Bruins’ Kevin Peterson, forcing a fumble that bounced around before Mark Olson scooped it and ran it back about 20 yards.
Psota punched in his second touchdown two plays later with less than six minutes remaining till halftime, and Peterson exited the game with an undisclosed injury.
“I give (the credit) to Francis Sherman and Thomas Koss,” Olson said of his fumble recovery. “They had the sack and I saw the ball. I got one last week and I just ran after it and was hoping to get it.”
Olson’s turnover set up a 14-point Bay lead, and a Psota interception all but sealed the deal for the Rockets in the fourth quarter.
Padua opened the final 12 minutes with a threeplay scoring drive resulting in a Trenton Cramer twoyard touchdown, and after driving inside Bruins territory on its next possession, Bay was forced to punt with 5:56 remaining in the game.
Though the Rockets’ Jared Riess pinned Padua inside the 5-yard line, Trenton Cramer strung together three runs of five yards or more to get the offense going. But after six straight run plays, the Bruins looked to freshman quarterback Drew Butler who was filling in for Peterson, and Psota made him pay.
The senior picked off Butler’s pass and returned it 10 yards to set up Bay’s final touchdown of the night, an 8-yard run from Matthew Cover.
“(Padua) kept running that square in and I just kind of got my drop and set right where I thought he might throw it,” Psota said. “He tried to squeeze it between the two linebackers and I was able to jump up and grab it.”
“He’s made that same interception against Rocky River last year, against University School this year and again tonight, so he’s done that in some really big games and he just kind of comes out of nowhere, jumps up and picks that thing off,” Rutt added. “It’s just such a beautiful thing to see from the sideline.”
More impressive than the Bay run game was its defense. The Rockets held a Padua offense that entered the game averaging 36 points per game to a single touchdown.
“We had a lot of big momentum plays between a couple fumbles we were able to recover and some big runs we had that really set us up and got us going,” Rutt said. “Our ground game was tremendous tonight once again and our defense holding these guys to seven points, I mean, they’ve been scoring 40some points every week so that was a great effort.”
Bay (12-0) advances to face Toledo Central Catholic in the regional final Nov. 17 at a site to be determined.
Padua finishes 9-3.