The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Hornets hammer Red Raiders after slow start
There is going to be a time when the Kirtland football team is going to be glad it went through what it did Sept. 5.
It might not be for a month or so, but the time is coming.
The five-time state champion Hornets suffered through a mistake-prone first half — part of a day in which they turned the ball over an uncharacteristic four times — but battled through the adversity of turnovers and missed opportunities to pull away from host Shaker Heights, 35-10, in the program’s first game against a Division I team.
With the win, Kirtland (2-0) ran its state-leading winning streak to 32 games.
“It’s going to help us out down the road,” Coach Tiger LaVerde said of the win. “We kind of wore them down in the second half. That’s kind of our M.O. Hopefully moving forward in the playoffs (knowing) when we get in a tight game at halftime that we can open it up in the second half.”
Kirtland held a 7-3 lead at halftime, thanks to a 33-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior Joey Grazia.
It’s the first time since Nov. 18, 2016, that the Hornets were held without an offensive point in the first half, breaking a string of 46 straight games in which Kirtland did so.
But the Hornets came out in the second half and asserted itself, scoring touchdowns on four straight drives to turn a 7-3 tight game into a 35-3 running-clock situation.
“It was a terrible first half,” LaVerde said of a half in which his team lost two fumbles and threw an interception. “When you can play that bad and give yourself a chance to win, that’s the mark of a good team.” Kirtland wasted no time in taking control in the second half. A five-play drive was capped by a Mason Sullivan three-yard touchdown run.
Then after the Hornets forced the Red Raiders to punt, Kirtland marched down the field again and scored when Liam Powers hit Gage Sullivan on a crossing pattern in the end zone from 17 yards out to make it a 21-3 game.
“This was our first time playing a Division I team,” said Mason Sullivan, who ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns. ‘I think we were a little nervous coming in. Once we got into it,
Joe (Grazia) setting it off with the pick-six, that got our momentum going.”
Mason Sullivan punched another score in late in the third quarter to make it a 28-3 game.
Then 65 seconds into the fourth quarter, Danny Davidson scored his first varsity touchdown on a pitch sweep to open a 35-3 gorge.
Shaker Heights, playing its first game of the season, scored with two-plus minutes remaining when Adam Diaz hit Alex Benson in stride for a 55-yard touchdown, but the outcome of the game was already well in hand.
The 55 yards on Shaker’s final possession accounted for a large chunk of the Red Raiders’ 195 total yards.
“I think our defense played incredible,” said Laverde, singling out linebackers Mason Rus, Carson Andonian and Joe Coleman.
“(Shaker Heights) has good size and good speed. I think our defense did a great job. Even when we kept turning it over, turning it over and turning it over, they held them to three points and kept us in the game.
“You’re not always going to play outstanding, but the defense hung in there and kept us in the game until we could finally score some points.”
Shaker QB Diaz was 9-for-23 passing for 132 yards. He was also the team’s leading rusher with
49 yards on 15 carries.
His one interception was a biggie, though.
Said Grazia of his picksix of Diaz, “Watching film, there were some tendencies we noticed. He did what I saw on film. The whole time I knew it was coming. I stepped in front of it and did the rest.”
For the Hornets, Anthony DeMarco (11 carries, 71 yards) and Davidson (four carries, 35 yards) supplemented Mason Sullivan’s big rushing game.
Powers was 2-for-5 for 39 yards, including the scoring strike to Gage Sullivan.
“They’re tough,” Shaker Heights coach Alex Nicholson said of the Hornets. “They’ve been doing the same stuff since they were yay high. Every front you throw at them, they’ve seen since they were six years old. They’re a well-oiled machine.”
Kirtland will play its home opener next Friday, Sept. 11, against Cardinal.
The Hornets enter the game having won 32 games in a row, dating back to a loss to Marion Local in the 2017 state championship game. Kirtland’s regularseason winning streak is at 33 games, dating back to a Week 9 loss to Cuyahoga Heights on Oct. 21, 2016.
“To be honest, we don’t talk about the 32-game winning streak,” Mason Sullivan said. “We just play every game like it’s our last.”