The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Surdock, Newton drive win
Midview sophomore Bryce Newton has played center field on the baseball diamond for as long as he can remember. On the Adelsburg Stadium turf Sept. 6, that experience proved useful in a football game.
The 5-foot-9, 136-pounder timed a leap as Middies quarterback Ethan Surdock launched a Hail Mary pass from near midfield, caught it over a pair of North Ridgeville defenders and bulled his way two more yards into the end zone, giving his team a two-score lead with no time left in the first half.
That play provided a big momentum swing for the Middies, who went on to beat the Rangers, 30-14, in the teams’ Southwestern Conference opener.
“I was surprised (I was open),” Newton, who had six catches for 106 yards, said. “Our plan was just to throw it up to the right side, and I saw everybody go to the right of the end zone. I found myself in the middle and just hoped Ethan would find me, and he did.”
“Bryce, boy I’ll tell you what, he’s a ballhawk,” Middies coach D.J. Shaw said.
“He went after it and somehow got it into the end zone, too, so that was a great play.”
Newton, a safety on the defensive side, also intercepted a Caden Masterson pass early in the second quarter, further using his baseball training to read where the ball was going to travel while it was in the air.
Surdock was the Middies’ (2-0, 1-0) guiding hand all night, completing 13 of 19 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, the latter a 20-yard catchand-run to Joseph Bratkovich down the visitors sideline to open up the second half with a 23-7 lead.
Those two scores, one before the half and one immediately after, proved to be the biggest difference in a win that started as a close contest, with the Middies up 9-7 on a Rangers team that was putting together long drives but not finishing.
“I thought it was a little bit of a momentum shift before halftime, and our guys were excited,” Shaw said.
Senios Zac Gill (1 yard) and Tyshawn Nelson (6) each scored a rushing touchdown for the Middies, who jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter when an errant Rangers (0-2, 0-1) snap on a punt attempt sailed out their end zone. Gill’s run made it 9-0 with 3:04 left in the half.
The Rangers cut the deficit to 9-7 with 34.3 seconds left thanks to a punishing 11-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with Masterson finding Mason Grow in the end zone from 15 yards out, but the Middies answered in four plays, ending with Newton’s touchdown catch.
It was a frustrating night all around for the Rangers, who put together drives of seven or more plays seven times, scoring on just two of them.
They punted four times and turned the ball over on downs four times.
Masterson (16-29, 164 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) and senior Shane Swindig (27 carries, 108 yards), led the offense.
“I told them it was a game of missed opportunities. Against a team like that you can’t drive on them and not turn it into points,” Rangers coach Luke Durbin said. “I thought we did that often tonight, and we need to fix that going into Week 3.
Nelson’s rushing touchdown made it 30-7 with just over seven minutes left.
The Rangers followed with Masterson’s 19-yard pass to Aden Vanover in the end zone that led to the 30-14 result.