The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD »
Hilltoppers stop Riverside in battle of league unbeatens
• Mentor 38, Brunswick 0 • Chardon 35, Riverside 7 • Kirtland 58, Grand Valley 0 • Pymatuning Valley 42, Fairport 7 • Massillon 28, Benedictine 10 • South 34, Madison 8 • NDCL 21, Padua 35 • Strongsville 35, Euclid 26 • Crestwood 42, Berkshire 28
The Chardon football team doesn’t talk about being the top-ranked Division III football team in Ohio.
The Hilltoppers let their play on the field do the talking for them.
Powered by three interceptions and a smothering defense that shut down Riverside’s high-powered offense, Chardon pummeled the previously unbeaten Beavers, 35-7, to back up the No. 1 ranking bestowed on the this past week in the first Associated Press poll of the season.
It was a fine 40th birthday present to Coach Mitch Hewitt, as the Hilltoppers sang Happy Birthday to their coach after the game.
“We try to keep kids off (social media) and keep focused and not reading their own ink, and good things happen,” Hewitt said. “This team is easy to coach and easy to root for.”
Chardon dominated a Riverside offense that came into the game averaging 36.3 points, and 352 yards of offense per game.
“I think we’ve got the best linebackers in the state of Ohio. Our front seven is collectively really tough, and we’ve got such range in the secondary.”
— Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt
The Beavers (3-1) were held to 45 yards rushing and 245 yards for the game — a good hunk of that yardage coming in the fourth quarter long after the outcoming of the game was in hand.
Trey Liberhardt, Nathanael Sulka and Brady Toth each intercepted passes thrown by Riverside quarterback Dom Lulow. Linebackers Vince Ferrante and Cade McDevitt were instrumental in shutting down the Riverside rushing attack, and the front line wasn’t overpowered by the Beavers’ superior size in the trenches.
“I think we’ve got the
best linebackers in the state of Ohio,” Hewitt said. “Our front seven is collectively really tough, and we’ve got such range in the secondary.”
All of which made life miserable for the Beavers, who put running clocks on their first three opponents this year but had the tables turned no them this time around.
“It kind of snowballed,” said Riverside coach Dave Bors. “You try and chase some things, maybe roll the dice a little more than you expected. It got away from us.”
It was a 7-0 game at the half, courtesy of a two-yard touchdown run by James Pettyjohn (109 yards rushing) midway through the second quarter.
Riverside nearly scored
at the end of the half, but Toth swatted away a pass in the end zone in the waning seconds, and then Riverside missed a field goal on the final play of the half to preserve the 7-0 lead.
“Huge momentum (swing),” Hewitt said.
From then on, it was all Chardon.
On the first drive of the second half, a lateral to Blake Barker — son of legendary Indians pitcher Len Barker — went for a 69yard touchdown.
“We want to get Blake more touches,” Hewitt said. “He’s a huge pick-up for us.”
On the next drive Pettyjohn ran in from four yards out after rattling off a 51yard scamper down the visitor’s sideline a few plays earlier.
It was 21-0 at that point,
a lead that grew when quarterback Drew Fetchik sored from 12 yards out late in third. Sean Carr ran in for a score in the fourth to make it a running clock game at 35-0 before Riverside scored a late touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Lulow to Matt Spofford.
Chardon outgained Riverside, 400-245, but this game was all about defense.
“We dropped two (interceptions) that we think we could have housed,” Hewitt said. “We were beat on Brady’s pick, but Brady can cover so much ground. He’s got a wingspan like a pterodactyl.
“In four games, our starters have given up one touchdown to Eastlake North, and that kid (Chris Molica) is a stud, too.”
Said Ferrante of the
Chardon defense, “We have the same mindset every game. We go into the game thinking they are better than u and we have to outviolence them.”
Riverside travels to Madison in Week 5. Said Bors of the coming week, “It has nothing to do with the X’s and O’s. I want to see the character of this team. Now it’s gut-check time. It’s easy when you’re 3-0. It’s easy when you’re having running clocks on teams. Now what?”
Chardon will host undefeated Mayfield (2-0) next week - and will likely do so as the No. 1 Division III team in Ohio.
Whether they want to talk about it or not.
“I think we are dominant,” Toth admitted. “I think we are legit.”