The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Black River rolls over Clearview
Clearview played catchup the entire night against Black River.
The Pirates’ offense became too much for the young Clippers in their 48-6 defeat to Black River (3-2)
Clearview, a team that’s been hit with an injury bug all season, played without starting quarterback Tyler Bockwich, following an injury from last week’s game.
Starting was Freshman Zavier Castillo, who completed seven of his eight passes for 32 yards, one interception, and muffed three snaps before halftime in his first varsity game as quarterback.
“It’s tough. We are up against it now,” Clippers’ coach Mike Collier said.
“We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We are playing some young guys. The injury bug and everything else. But, we have to take care of business when we get the chance.”
For his first varsity game, running back Ethan Lorenzana thought Castillo did a fairly decent job behind center.
“(Castillo) did a good job for his first time starting in a varsity game,” Lorenzana said.
“We were just trying to get in a groove. We messed up a couple of times. There were a lot of missed blocks and miscues on the other end, but we will try and get it.”
In the second half trailing 33-0, Clearview inserted Lorenzana at quarterback and moved Castillo to wide receiver. The change helped put a touchdown on the board in the third quarter with a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Lorenzana.
It was a rough start for Clearview, trailing 6-0 on Black River’s first drive of the game that featured their running back Brandon Rollin on all but one play on the drive, which concluded in him scoring on a 3-yard run into the endzone.
“Our were running two or three yards before getting touched,” Balck River’s coach Kyle Clark said after the game.
“It was our first week that we have this offensive line together. They really gelled really well and did a great job.”
Clearview conceded 188 team rushing yards to their rushing attack.
“Seeing an offense like (Black River) is tough,” coach Collier said.
“You see it everyday. It’s hard to simulate in practice, but our kids battled. We’ll get better for sure.”
When needed, the Pirates used their aerial arsenal to score as well with quarterback Andon O’Neal with three touchdown passes, all to different receivers.
Multiple players at Clearview missed practice due to illness according to running back Ethan Lorenzana and coach Collier.
2021 may not be Clearview’s season to win now, but coach Collier believes the young squad has a bright future moving forward.
“We will be back, that’s for sure,” he said.
“It’s hard to go through the losing right now, but we just have to keep moving forward and learn from these experiences. They will make us stronger.”