The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Euclid drills Fitch
The Euclid Panthers know how to celebrate an anniversary.
One day shy of Euclid Community Stadium being christened with them beating Massillon Jackson, 49-29, in a firstround playoff game a year ago, the Panthers scored on their first four possessions Nov. 2 and crushed visiting AustintownFitch, 35-0, in a Division I, Region 1 quarterfinal romp.
The Panthers, 9-2, will face St. Edward in a regional semifinal Nov. 9 at a neutral site to be determined. The Eagles advanced by beating rival St. Ignatius, 21-19 at Byers Field.
The Panthers took the opening kickoff, moved 60 yards in four plays and scored on 18-yard run by Brandon Wright around left tackle.
Euclid recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and two plays later Jaabir Mujihad broke through the middle of the line from the 13 just 1:50 into the game for a 14-0 lead.
Coach Jeff Rotsky called the fumble recovery the key play in the game. Sean Jackson Jr. caused it and Patrick Hawthorne recovered it.
“The first drive we had scripted out,” Rotsky said. “The biggest play, when you cause a fumble on that kickoff, that’s a gamechanger. That was huge.”
Rotsky got some outstanding performances from his offensive stars, but he said Jackson is the “MVP in northeast Ohio on the defensive side of the ball.” Jackson, a senior linebacker, also had two sacks.
“It was a great way to start off the game,” Jackson said. “Get some momentum going. Get the team going. Force the fumble. My teammates got on it. Everybody was pumped. We needed that one.”
The Panthers scored twice more before the first quarter ended. They took a 21-0 lead with a little trickery on a play that began with Euclid quarterback Dion Valentine handing the ball to wide receiver Dre’Von Lindsay at the Fitch 8.
Instead of running with the ball, Lindsay turned to his left and floated a pass to Valentine who was all alone in the left side of the end zone.
The first quarter fireworks still weren’t done for the Panthers. They started at their 15 and needed only seven plays to find the end zone again when Valentine connected with Titus Jackson on a 13-yard touchdown pass. The key play in the drive was a 31-yard completion from Valentine to Darrien Brown on third-and-8 to set up the touchdown.