The West Geauga football team gave its alumni plenty to cheer about, dominating Ashtabula Edgewood, 42-14, on homecoming Friday night at Howell Field.
The West Geauga football team gave its alumni plenty to cheer about, dominating Ashtabula Edgewood, 42-14, on homecoming Friday night at Howell Field.
The Wolverines scored touchdowns on five of their seven first-half possessions, and by the time they scored on their first drive of the third quarter, they’d essentially put the game away with a 42-0 lead.
The victory was the second straight for West G (2-3), while Edgewood fell to 1-4.
West G Head Coach Matt Rosati saw a complete effort from his team.
“The defense played really well and flew around,” Rosati said. “Our defensive front has been good all season. Before the season, that’s what we thought would be our strength. They all played very well.”
The Wolverines got going on their second possession after recovering a fumble by Warriors quarterback Nate Stewart on the Edgewood 38. Just five plays later, Matthew Osters scored on a four-yard touchdown run, followed by a successful extra point by Adison Cook with 6:15 left in the first quarter. Osters led West G with 68 yards rushing on eight attempts, as Rosati had several players run the ball.
After a Warrior three-and-out, West G got the ball back and went right down the field again, and Finn Keenan threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Vosicky for a 14-0 first quarter lead.
Keenan finished seven-of-nine passing for 120 yards all in the first half. His favorite target was Vincent Vecchio, who caught three passes for 69 yards.
But the Wolverines were just getting started, as they scored three touchdowns in the second quarter.
Keenan threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Paros for a 21-0 lead with 8:38 left in the second quarter.
Then Quentin Artino set up the next touchdown with an interception and 17-yard return down to the Warrior 5. On the following play, Artino scored on a 5-yard touchdown run for a 28-0 advantage. Artino rushed 10 times for 56 yards.
It appeared the half would be over, but Artino wasn’t done and returned a punt 50 yards to the Warrior 13 with just 1:33 left in the half. Daegan Katz scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Wolverines up at halftime, 35-0.
Rosati was asked to evaluate the Wolverines at the midway point of the season.
“We are winning games we should be,” Rosati said. “But we have to win more games to qualify for the playoffs. That’s our goal: to qualify for the playoffs.”
The Warriors went three-and-out to start the third quarter. That set up their most impressive drive of the game, as they methodically marched 85 yards on 14 plays capped by a 17-yard touchdown run by Bobby Parisi.
With the running clock in effect, the home team led 42-0 with 11:41 left in the fourth quarter.
West G’s next challengers at Howell Field will be the Hawks (4-1).
“Hawken is a really good team, and well coached,” Rosati said. “They’re going to give us a good game just like last year.”
West G won that game, 22-15, at Hawken.
