Levy, Keenan, Marino Lead West G to 21-7 Victory
West Geauga hosted Chagrin Falls for the Battle of 306 on Sept. 29.
Game photos click here.
West Geauga hosted Chagrin Falls for the Battle of 306 on Sept. 29.
In this hard-hitting rivalry football game, the Wolverines crossed the goal line three times en route to a 21-7 win.
After the game, senior Andrew Marino talked passionately about the Wolverines’ dedication and how important and meaningful this victory was.
“Just a great week of preparation you know, a lot of intensity, five days a week absolutely going hard,” Marino said. “Honestly, these boys get after it. We’re tired of the disrespect. As of right now, I think a lot of people are scared to play us.”
Wolverines Head Coach Matt Rosati was also excited to win the Battle, emphasizing the importance of this victory for the community.
“This is a huge victory for us from a rivalry aspect of things,” Rosati said. “From my history here at West Geauga, the Battle with Chagrin Falls was always our No. 1 concern, our No. 1 goal. In the past few years, I think it lost some of that passion, and our No. 1 goal is to bring that back.
“So we educated our kids about the rivalry. We brought guys in that have played in it, and I think they understand how important it is from an historical aspect to participate in that game. I am proud of the fact that our kids understand and recognize how important of a game that is for us.”
Clearly, by the way both teams played, the rivalry is still alive and well in 2023.
In fact, for most of the first quarter, the Battle of 306 was a scoreless defensive battle.
It was not until the final 20 seconds of the first quarter that West Geauga got on the scoreboard on a two-yard touchdown run by Nasir Levy. After Elijah Gudger added the extra point, West Geauga led 7-0.
After a scoreless second quarter, West Geauga scored again in the third quarter on Nasir Levy’s second touchdown of the night.
After Levy’s 18-yard touchdown, Elijah Gudger added the extra point to make the score 14-0 with 7:59 left to go in the third quarter.
The Wolverines added an additional touchdown at the end of the third quarter on Finn Keenan’s four-yard touchdown run.
Chagrin Falls scored late in the fourth quarter with 3:22 remaining on a two-yard touchdown run by Drew Zelch, and Christian Trudec added the extra point to make the final score 21-7.
After the game, West Geauga running back Nasir Levy and quarterback Finn Keenan discussed the remainder of the season.
“The season so far is going good,” Levy said. “We started off with four tough teams, and now we’re on a three-game win streak. I really just want to make the playoffs. I know we can do it if we try to be the best we can be.
Added Keenan, “We knew this was a big rivalry game going into this. We were firing off the ball; we came ready to play. We knew we wanted to ground and pound the ball because we thought we were more physical than them, and that’s what we did.”
