The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Girls from Kenston and Newbury boost kicking game
History was made at Kenston and Newbury, when for the first time at both schools, a female scored in a varsity game.
During Kenston’s 42-7 win over West Geauga, junior Anna Sanders was a perfect 6-for-6 in extrapoint conversion kicks.
Newbury’s 61-0 win over Horizon Science Center featured a trio of extra-point conversion kicks by HannahRose Brastoff.
“When’s the last time we went 6-for-6 on extra points?” Kenston coach Jeff Grubich pondered. “Seems like every game something happens with a bad snap, hold or a shanked kick.
“But when’s the last time we went 6-for-6 and it was by a girl? Never.” Until now. Senior Ryan Toft entered the season as the varsity kicker for the Bombers. But he went down with a torn hip flexor that could sideline him for the season.
Sanders came out for the team just in time to take over the kicking duties.
“She plays soccer and came out two games ago for us,” Coach Jeff Grubich said. “She didn’t know Ryan (Toft) was going to get hurt. She’s been great.”
In a Week 2 win over Chagrin Falls, Sanders went 2-for-3 on conversion kicks.
“The one she missed, she thought we were running a fake,” Grubich said. “So she’s 7-for-8 for us this year. She’s doing a great job for us.”
Newbury coach Ryan Williams feels the same way about Brastoff. In her first year playing football, the sophomore might have been a little intimidated at first. But that apprehension has disappeared.
Not only did she kick
three extra points against Horizon Science Center, but she also kicked off five times, and offensively lined up at running back, took a direct snap and ran for five yards.
Williams said when he was at Euclid three years ago, the Panthers had a female kicker. He also coached a female defensive tackle at Maple Heights.
But Brastoff’s role is more expansive than those cases.
“Overall, it is very rare for girls to participate in football. Most girls who play do kick, and are probably coming from the soccer team,” Williams said. “Hannah’s case is a little different though. She plays both football and soccer at Newbury. She not only kicks for the football team, but also plays receiver and in the secondary.
“She participates in both football and soccer practices throughout the week. In the summer, she worked out with football in the morning and soccer in the evening. Soccer at Newbury is coed, so playing against boys on the football field isn’t totally new to her.”
Keep it local
The Kenston Bombers were road warriors last season in their nonconference schedule.
After hosting Amherst (in a game played at Solon) to start the season, Kenston hit the road to face Medina and Canfield.
Grubich felt there was a better way to approach the nonconference slate, so he did something about it.
This year Kenston went local. After opening with a 41-13 win against
Streetsboro, the Bombers faced Chagrin Falls (a 3224 win) and West Geauga (a 42-7 win) in Weeks 2 and 3.
“Those local rivalries are huge,” Grubich said of the importance of re-working the schedule. “We were traveling 40 minutes for a game last year. We were playing teams where we had no relationship with those kids.”
Instead, Kenston got into games with two teams who were former rivals when they were all in the Chagrin Valley Conference. Grubich said things aren’t so much different now, even with Kenston in the Western Reserve Conference.
“You show up in these games and it’s a backyard brawl,” he said. “These kids just saw each other at the Geauga County Fair. They’re wearing West G stuff. We’re wearing Kenston stuff. That’s what high school sports is all about and that why I got into this — the local rivalry stuff.”
Kenston, off to its first 3-0 start since 1998, will go for four in a row on Sept. 15 in the WRC opener against North (12).
Welcome back
You’d have to roll the calendar back to 2013 to find any footage or statistics from Josh Martin on the football field.
A senior at Perry, Martin is making up for lost time.
In a 49-7 win over Madison on Sept. 8, Martin caught two passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. He had another touchdown called back because of a penalty.
Martin hasn’t played
football since his eighth grade year, choosing to focus on baseball and track. He was a member of the Pirates’ state-qualifying 4x100 relay team last spring.
But between the prodding from classmates and a desire to play football again, the 6-foot-2 speedster is back on the gridiron.
He apparently hasn’t missed a step.
“It’s kind of like riding a bike,” said Martin, the favorite target for Perry QB Kolston Brewster when they were in junior high. “We do a lot of vertical routes and speed routes. It didn’t take much time to get (the rhythm) back.”
With Perry’s skill set, which returned 2,800yard passer Brewster, 900-yard receiver Jacob Allen and speedy slot Jacob Peteritis from last year’s state-semifinal team — adding someone like Martin to stretch the field certainly helps.
The receiver group helps open the running game for Jaylen Anderson and Tyler Horvath.
“If (teams) are going to play press coverage, those guys are going to go vertical,” said Coach Matt Rosati. “(Martin) is one of the fastest guys in the state of Ohio. We just throw it up there and he’ll go get it.”
Martin is glad to be back on the field with his friends.
“I really want to help this team get to the state championship” he said, “because I know we can get there.”