The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
FOOTBALL IS BACK
Chardon takes the field for its home game against North on Aug. 28, as the high school football season kicked off. The Hilltoppers won, 42-7. High school football coverage starts on
Kirtland coach Tiger LaVerde shrugged his shoulders prior to his team’s game against Lake Catholic and said he didn’t know what to expect from his Hornets in the season opener.
What did he end up getting? More of the same. Mason Sullivan ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, quarterback Liam Powers ran for 92 yards and a score, and the Hornets played smothering defense as usual, paving the way to a 31-15 win over the host Cougars at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium.
The win ran Kirtland’s winning streak to a state-best 31 games, a run that includes back-to-back state championships.
But this game held a little more meaning for the Hornets because it came against one of their closest next-door neighbors.
“It means a lot to beat a team so close to home,” Powers said, “especially right down the road on Route 306. It’s good to get the W.”
Added senior defensive back Joey Grazia, “It feels nice to beat a team right down the road from you. It’s nice to get a win against a bigger school.”
Kirtland muffed a punt reception early in the fourth quarter. But besides that, it would have been hard to nitpick what didn’t go right for the Hornets.
Kirtland outgained Lake, 355-186, and of the 186 yards the Hornets did give up, more than half came late in the fourth after Kirtland had built a 31-0 lead and activated the running-clock rule with a 30-point lead.
Even LaVerde couldn’t come up with many faults for his team, which returns 13 starters from last year’s 15-0, state title team.
“Besides the opening turnover on a dropped punt, I don’t have anything too bad to say about the kids,” LaVerde said. “I think they played hard, they executed when they had to, and defensively they did a nice job.”
Even after giving Lake the ball at point-blank range to start the game via the turnover, Kirtland’s defense
held.
A Mario Rodin field goal gave the Hornets a 3-0 lead. Touchdown runs by Sullivan and Nick Schwartz opened a 17-0 halftime lead.
The Hornets put on an impressive drive to start the third quarter, marching 80 yards in a drive that took 6 minutes, 32 seconds off the clock. Powers ran in for the score to make it 24-0.
Powers was a problem for Lake Catholic all night. With the Cougars’ defense focusing on taking away the up-thegut runs by Sullivan, Powers ran quarterback counters for a big rushing night.
“They were taking away the dive,” Powers said. “Our linemen did a great job. They opened up the backside and I just took advantage of it.”
Another Powers touchdown run made it 31-0 before Lake could answer.
The Cougars got on the
High school scoreboard
board midway through the fourth when Joe Malchesky hit Luke Rako for a long touchdown pass. Then with eight seconds to go, Ryan Joy plowed in from the 2, which along with a twopoint conversion, made it a 31-15 final score.
“They’re a very good football team and deserve all the credit in the world,” Lake coach Marty Gibbons said of Kirtland. “Coach LaVerde is a great guy, and they have a very good program. I think we got better by playing Kirtland tonight.”
Gibbons lamented his team’s inability to capitalize on Kirtland’s early fumble, but said he was proud of his team’s heart to punch in two scores in the fourth.
“They’re all fighters. I am not concerned at all about that,” Gibbons said.
Lake lost running back Tyler Seacrist to an apparent neck injury in the third quarter.
Seacrist was taken from the field on a stretcher, but Gibbons said the junior back had movement in all of his limbs and was transported for precautionary reasons.
Malchesky ran for 80 yards and passed for 98 for Lake, accounting for 178 of his team’s 189 yards.
For Kirtland, Powers ran for 92 and threw for 79. Anthony DeMarco ran for 38 and had a catch for 32 yards.
Lake Catholic plays at VASJ in Week 2, while Kirtland travels to Shaker Heights.
“It took us a while to get going, but I’m very proud of the kids and the effort on both sides of the ball and on special teams,” said LaVerde, who is now 17517 (.911) at Kirtland. “Mario made a field goal and was 4-for-4 on extra points. That was a good start for us. That was a really good start for us.”