The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake makes big stop, is in D-IV state final
‘Toughest guy around’ Malchesky, defense lead Cougars past Bloom-Carroll in state semifinal
NEW PHILADELPHIA » At the start of the fourth quarter of Lake Catholic’s Division IV state semifinal matchup against Bloom-Carroll, Lake Catholic coach Marty Gibbons had a decision to make. After dominating for most of the third quarter, the Cougars entered the final frame facing a fourth-and-2 at the Bulldogs’ 3-yard-line.
Gibbons had options. He could have gone for a short field goal try to make it a 1310 game. Or he could have put the ball in the hands of his magical quarterback Joe Malchesky and let him take over.
Instead, Gibbons chose a third option, as Malchesky handed off to running back Ryan Joy, who plunged into the end zone to give the Cougars a 17-10 lead.
One defensive stop and a couple kneel downs later, Lake Catholic’s lead became a victory by the same margin. With the win, the Cougars move on to face Van Wert in the Division IV state final at noon, Nov. 22 at Fortress Obetz.
“I don’t know if it’s really settled in yet,” Gibbons said.
“We expect to win these games and we’ve settled into the mindset that we belong here. The kids have performed at this type of level and done what they need to do but we still have unfinished business to attend to.”
While Joy finished the drive off with the short touchdown run, Malchesky owned the third quarter. Malchesky opened the quarter by leading the Cougars on a 15-play, eightminute drive that ended with a 35-yard game-tying field goal from Luke Hadley. After the Cougars’ de
fense forced a Bloom-Carroll three-and-out, Malchesky once again took over to lead Lake Catholic on the aforementioned drive that resulted in Joy’s go-ahead touchdown.
“He’s the toughest guy around,” Gibbons said of Malchesky. “He’s the ultimate competitor and he led us to where we needed to go.”
Malchesky finished with a game-high 132 rushing yards to go along with 42 yards passing. He opened the Cougars scoring with a 48-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
“We were just waiting for a big play,” Malchesky said. “It kind of gets demoralizing with the 1- or 2-yard runs. But once you break one loose it’s a great
feeling.”
Prior to Malchesky’s long touchdown run, Lake Catholic wasn’t able to get anything going against the Bulldogs’ stellar defense, led by two-way star Hobie Scarberry. Scarberry — who starts and running back and middle linebacker — routinely broke through the Cougars’ line to stop most plays for little to no gain. He also opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth and one in the first quarter.
“They’re such a great program,” Gibbons said of Bloom-Carroll. “They were kind of hard to prepare for since we didn’t have any common opponents. But they proved how good they are. We’re both great
teams.”
After Joy’s touchdown, Bloom-Carroll took over with 11:55 left in the fourth quarter and, much like Lake Catholic had been doing, broke out a long, winding drive that chewed up most of the time in the final frame.
The Bulldogs made it into the Lake Catholic red zone. After a couple big plays from Joy and fellow linebacker Simon Taraska, the Bulldogs faced a fourth-and-1 at the Lake Catholic 5-yard line. The Cougars stuffed Scarberry to regain possession.
Two Malchesky f irst downs later, the Lake Catholic sideline burst into celebration. After taking the final kneel down, Taraksa led the Cougars on a sprint into the locker room to cel
ebrate. After congratulating Bloom-Carroll coach Wade Bartholomew at midfield, Gibbons sprinted toward the locker room to join the celebration.
Gibbons has been here before. In 2010, Gibbons — then a senior in high school — was a member of the Cougars state semifinal team that lost 27-17 to Maple Heights. This year he’s at the helm for the Cougars’ fourth state final appearance in school history.
“It’s so cool to see,” Gibbons said. “We’ve lived it as players so we were able to give them some perspective about how they could approach the game and I think that’s why they were able to what they needed to do.”