Down 19, West G rallies to beat Chardon

Down three scores to Chardon, a team to which West Geauga lost its prior five season openers, one might think the Wolverines would panic in their opener after a three-win season. Not a chance. In front of a frenzied home crowd, the Wolverines rallied for 20 consecutive points to beat the Hilltoppers in a 20-19 thriller.

Sophomore Nick Henry came up with the play that turned the momentum in the nonconference contest. After Jon McKnight had returned a punt 55 yards for a 19-0 Chardon lead, Henry answered by returning the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to put the Wolverines on the board.

“I was just hoping that he wasn’t going to kick it back deep in the end zone, so I could get it,” Henry said.“I saw a big hole (after a teammate and) just laid someone out.”

The Adam Sopkovich era opened successfully. However, the first-year West Geauga coach was quick to credit defensive coordinator Mario Sims and offensive coordinator Damien Ivory.

“I’m built different, man,” Sopkovich said. “I’m a different kind of dude. I didn’t think Chardon was going to beat us. From 166 days ago, I’ve been saying the same thing. Not taking anything away from Chardon, but we just knew what we were capable of. I knew what kind of coaches I brought in with me.”

Down, 19-10, at halftime, West Geauga forced fumbles on four consecutive possessions in the second half. Pedro Rodriguez recovered two. His first thwarted a Chardon threat inside the Wolverine 15, just after West Geauga muffed a punt, and set up a 71-yard march that culminated in freshman Joey DiLalla’s second field goal.

Dylan Baliker’s fumble recovery ended the third quarter and set up Henry’s two-yard run around left. DiLalla’s extra point put West Geauga up for good.

“We took advantage of good field position,” Ivory said of the offense. “At the end of the day, it was basically a team win. The special teams, offense and defense all played their parts.”

The Hilltoppers did all their scoring within a fiveminute span in the second period. They got on the board with a 94-yard pass from Andrew Kobuszewski to McKnight and followed that up with a 26yard touchdown run by Wade Novak moments before McKnight’s return.

“We (allowed) a couple big plays,” Sims said. “But the thing about our defense, we noticed at the beginning of the game we had to be very aggressive, and we’re opportunistic. We get turnovers when we need ’em. We make big plays when we need ’em.”

Chardon’s last turnover came on a fumbled punt return that Rodriguez recovered. The Wolverines ran out the final 3:22.

“That’s a different West Geauga program from what we’ve played in the past,” Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt said. “And when you give a team so many opportunities, you just can’t overcome them.”

Hewitt pointed to three potential interceptions Chardon dropped against the Hilltoppers’ four giveaways.

“West G deserves that victory,” Hewitt said. “They played a clean and physical game. They were more physical up front than we anticipated. But we’ll get better.”