The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bombers dig in
It was bad enough for Kenston to lose all-state and Indiana-bound tight end Ryan Miller to a back injury. Then prolific junior QB Nikko Georgiou had to miss the Bombers’ WRC opener at North on Sept. 10 with a sprained finger on his throwing hand.
As devastating as the loss of two such standouts would be for any team, it meant just one thing for Kenston: It was rally time.
Senior WR J.P. Germano moved over to QB, and the Bombers never missed a beat as they rolled over the Rangers, 40-13. Aided by huge running lanes created by the Kenston offensive line, Germano rushed for 237 yards and two touchdowns.
Germano proved he can throw the ball, too, completing 5 of 9 passes for 88 yards and two scores. All five completions went to freshman Tymir Cardona.
“They were disrespecting my throwing,” Germano said with a smile, noting that he played QB until seventh grade. “But I showed them a little bit. We were supposed to run the ball the whole game, but I got a little bit there.”
If Kenston coach Jeff Grubich was worried about how his offense would perform without Georgiou, his fears were put to rest on the Bombers’ opening drive.
Kenston, now 4-0 (1-0 WRC), traversed 70 yards in four plays. Germano tossed to a wide-open Cardona across the middle for a 49-yard TD strike and 7-0 Kenston lead.
“You see him do it in practice, and it’s just fun to watch a kid come out and execute that,” Grubich said. “That’s why you coach, for moments like that. Seeing a player and a team execute like that, I’m just so proud of those guys.”
North (2-2, 0-1 WRC) responded immediately. Junior standout Curtis Thomas fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 5 and weaved through the defense for a 95-yard TD return to make it 7-7.
Kenston moved ahead, 13-7, on the strength of 45 and 49-yard field goals by junior Parker Munday, while North missed a 40yard
attempt of its own.
Germano turned what appeared to be a short gain into a 58-yard burst to the North 11 late in the second quarter, and he scored on a two-yard run two plays later to break the game open at 20-7, and that was the score going into halftime.
North, behind the running of sophomore Reon’tae Lowery (138 yards on 26 carries), embarked on a promising drive that reached the Bombers’ 16 to start the third quarter, but came up short on a fourth-and-2 play to turn the ball over on downs.
Kenston answered that incursion with a sevenplay, 70-yard drive (after a penalty put the ball on the 30), capped by a 26yard scoring strike from Germano to Cardona that made it 26-7 after a twopoint conversion failed.
As the Bombers’ large and physical offensive line continued to wear on the young Rangers’ defense, Kenston added touchdown runs of six yards by Sean Patrick (66 yards in 12 carries) and 38 by Germano in the fourth quarter.
In between those tallies, North senior Mo Morgan took a handoff near midfield, cut to the outside, and was gone down the sideline for a 53-yard TD run to provide a late highlight
for the Rangers’ crowd.
“I had full confidence that even with a couple players being out, we’re a much better team than we were last year,” Kenston 6-foot3, 295-pound senior tackle Cale Doyle said. “Last year was a developmental year, but we’re locked and ready to go this year.”
Kenston rolled up 387 yards of offense, 299 on the ground. The Bombers have scored 128 points in four games and given up 49. They’ll step out of conference play on Sept.17 to host Lake Catholic.
“I have to give credit to this team,” Grubich said. “We always talk about football being a team sport. We lost two key guys on the offensive side of the ball, but this team is a football family. These guys rallied with each other, we pulled together and got a nice ‘W’. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
North managed 281 yards, 257 on the ground. Morgan finished with 64 yards.
“Offensively, they executed, and we didn’t,” North coach Shawn Dodd said. “There wasn’t a single thing they did that we didn’t rep or prepare for in practice. We knew it was going to be QBread stuff, QB option, QB counter. We just didn’t execute and they did, so hats off to them.”