The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Brush wins in final seconds
Jeff Fink is a keen offensive mind and has quite the innovative playbook as Brush’s head football coach.
That being said, when you’ve got a quarterback like he has in Godwin Joe, there’s an urge to just flip the playbook back over his shoulder and just say, “The heck with it. Just go make a play.”
Joe’s improvisational 12-yard touchdown pass to Zach Dixon in the corner of the end zone with 2.5 seconds remaining lifted visiting Brush to a 52-48 victory over Kenston on Sept. 22.
It wasn’t how the play was drawn up, but Fink is hardly complaining after his team improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Western Reserve Conference with a win over previously undefeated Kenston (4-1, 1-1).
“Nope. That one’s not drawn up that way at all,” Fink said with a chuckle. “It was just those two guys making a play like they were in the back yard having
a good time.”
Kenston had just taken a 48-45 lead on a 20-yard touchdown run by sophomore Jack Porter (159 yards rushing, three touchdowns) with 3-minutes, 5-seconds left in the game when Joe marched the Brush offense back onto the field for one last attempt at victory.
There were 9.8 seconds left in the game when Brush called their final play.
Joe took the shotgun snap and rolled right. When protection collapsed and all three receivers on the primary
patterns were covered, Joe reversed field to his left and then zipped a pass to Dixon for the winning touchdowns.
Kenston tried a laterala-thon on the ensuing kickoff, but never advanced past midfield.
“Markel (Toney) was the primary receiver,” Joe said. “Donovan (Johnson) was on the out and we had a corner route. The play broke down and Zach saw me go to his side. He went and made the catch.
“I’m proud of him,” said Joe, patting Dixon on the shoulder pads. “He’s a young dude making plays.”
“When I saw him come my way, I knew I had to get open,” Dixon said. “I’m just happy for the team.”
Joe was a problem for Kenston all night. A week after throwing for 512 yards and five touchdowns against Mayfield, Joe threw for 334 yards and six touchdowns against the Bombers.
Kenston coach Jeff Grubich said when Porter scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:05 left, there was way too much time for Godwin Joe and the Brush offense to work with.
“I went over and told the defensive side, ‘We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Grubich said. “That’s a long time to defend that type of team.”
Brush looked like it was going to run away with the game. When Joe hit Dixon with an 18-yard scoring strike on the first drive of the second half, Brush held a 31-13 lead.
But Kenston scored 28 unanswered points to get in the game, starting with a 1-yard run by Porter and a 6-yard run by KeeShaun Merrill on the heels of a blocked punt by Conner Kure.
Two plays later, Merrill picked off Joe and returned it 24 yards for a score.
And after Joe was picked off by Nick Dombrowski, Jonny Tomcufcic (188 yards passing) found Bransen Stanley wide open on a hitch-and-go pattern to complete the 28-0 run and make a 31-13 deficit a 41-31 lead.
“They came out like it was 0-0, caught the momentum and put themselves in position to get a W after we probably played our worst half of football all year,” Grubich said of his team.
But Brush wasn’t done. Joe threw touchdown passes to Donavan Johnson and Toney for a lead, which was short-lived thanks to Porter’s late touchdown run. That set up the lategame heroics by Joe and Dixon.
Brush held a yardage advantage of 502-430.
“We kinda knew going in with Coach Fink’s highoctane offense it could be a game that came down to whoever had the ball last,” Grubich said, “and that’s exactly what happened.”
Besides his 334 yards passing, Joe also had a team-high 87 yards rushing. Johnson had nine catches for 113 yards.
Kenston faces Mayfield (2-3) next week, while Brush hosts South (1-4).
“Until you win, you’re still the darkhorse,” Fink said of the WRC race. “It still goes through Chardon. We’re in a position now where we’ve got a little bit of a target on us now.”
Just like last week, Joe said he and his Brush teammates aren’t satisfied.
“We’re not content,” he said. “Who we got next week? Willoughby South? We’re coming.”