The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kirtland girls, boys advance to state semis
Pirates to face Girard in a regional semifinal
Ask any track athlete — it’s hard to reach the finish line if you trip over the first hurdle and face-plant on the track.
A Perry football team that has dreams of a state final four berth was well aware of that after a 48-34 win over visiting CVCA on Nov. 3 in a Division IV, Region 17 quarterfinal.
Perry gave up a lot of yards, but ran for 282 yards and got a late exclamation point touchdown run from Jacob Allen, allowing the Pirates (10-1) to advance to the regional semifinal round.’
Perry will play Girard on Nov. 10 at a yet-to-be-determined location. It’s a rematch of a regional semifinal game last season won by Perry, 50-21.
“Coach (Mike) Ryan always told me, the first one is always the toughest one,” Perry coach Matt Rosati said. “Give CVCA a lot of credit. Tre Tucker — we knew he was pretty darn good. He came out and put on a show. We’re happy to get the victory and be able to move on.”
Tucker, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior headed to the University of Cincinnati on a football scholarship, ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns, caught six passes for 67 yards and a score and threw a touchdown pass.
With his running, receiving and passing, he accounted for 231 of CVCA’s 352 yards.
“That Number 1,” Perry’s Jacob Allen said, “I haven’t seen anyone that fast before in all the people I’ve played.”
When Anthony Rosati hauled in a 4-yard screen pass from Drew Schiano late in the third quarter, Perry had a seemingly comfortable 41-20 lead. But CVCA (7-4) wasn’t done.
Tucker scored on a fiveyard run late in the third to make it a 41-27 game.
Then midway through the fourth, Tucker hit Andre Price on an 18-yard pass to make it a one-score game at 41-34.
Perry got a fourth-quarter defensive stop, though, forcing an incomplete pass in their own territory. The Pirates then punched in one last score when Allen ran in from two yards out, making it a 48-34 game with 1:20 left.
“Coach Rosati wanted to go ground-and-pound,” Allen said. “He put me and Jaylen (Anderson) in the backfield and we went to work.”
Anderson (15 carries, 137 yards) and Allen (10 carried, 109 yards) were part of Perry’s punishing rushing attack that accounted for 282 yards on only 37 carries (7.6 yard average).
Any hopes of a CVCA comeback were thwarted when Jake Reid picked off CVCA quarterack Michael Bevington with less than a minute remaining. Perry then knelt out the remaining time on the clock.
Perry outgained CVCA, 424-352, most of it coming on the ground.
“If we could get Jaylen back to 100 percent and get him feeling it again, we feel we can make a pretty deep run,” said Rosati of Anderson, who missed a handful of early games with a knee injury.
Drew Schiano threw for 142 yards and two touchdowns — both to Anthony Rosati.
Perry’s defense, though it did give up 34 points, got some big plays. Senior linebacker Cameron Rogers had a 48-yard fumble return for a touchdown, and Reid picked off two passes.
“We got the job done, that’s all that matters,” linebacker Jason Beyer said.