For the second consecutive year, the Hilltoppers eliminated Akron East in the first round of the playoffs.
Game photos click here.
For the second consecutive year, the Hilltoppers eliminated Akron East in the first round of the playoffs.
In their 42-15 victory, Chardon relied on time consuming scoring drives and excellent starting field position to keep the potent Dragon offense on the sideline and a smothering defensive effort when the East offense was on the field.
“That’s a pretty good team,” said Chardon Head Coach Mitch Hewitt. “They are certainly not a 16 seed.”
Chardon’s defensive starters held East to only 21 total yards of offensive — 18 through the air and 3 on the ground.
Ziaire Stevens, the Dragon’s DI running back, was taken out of the game thanks to a smothering Topper defense who stuffed the running lanes and made life miserable for him on the few touches he saw.
“Part of that is a pretty good offensive keeping your defense on the sidelines,” said Hewitt. “I think those two work in tandem.”
Hewitt credited the defense for playing physical and Defensive Coordinator Brian Landies for coming up with the scheme to shut down the Dragons.
“An eight-man box is hard to run against,” Hewitt said. “Ultimately, our game plan was to make him [Justin Cox] throw the football because we felt we could matchup with their receivers.”
“It’s preparation and Coach Landies calling the right scheme,” said senior defensive back Trey Liebhardt. “He’s probably scheming up stuff right now. He’s a great coach.”
In the early portion of the season, the defense spent a lot of time on the field. This game was the reverse and it was needed.
“Our defense has been out there a lot this season,” said senior quarterback Alex Henry. “I’d love to see the time of possession because it was lobsided.”
Henry also noted the offense benefited from short field position on multiple positions, which took some of the pressure off the offense.
Chardon (9-1) got on the board early thanks to a 24-yard touchdown run by junior running back AJ Bruce less than three minutes into the game.
On their ensuing possession, Bruce again cashed it in, this time from 37-yards out, to up the Topper advantage to 14-0 with 5:31 to play in the first quarter.
Bruce finished the night with 99 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Following the Bruce score, East fumbled the kickoff, which was recovered by junior Braden Maruna on the Dragon 25-yard line.
The Toppers ended up settling for a 26-yard Joseph Evans field goal to increase their lead to 17-0.
“He’s a weapon,” Hewitt said of his kicker. “He got an A- or B+ tonight. If he could put two or three of those kickoffs in the endzone, he’d get an A+. We’re really glad he’s on our team.”
Akron East immediately responded with a score of their own as senior Tristan Thomas return the kickoff 98-yards to the house to put East on the board.
Chardon appeared to score on the Dragon kickoff, but a holding call wiped out a spectacular return by Liebhardt.
While the first quarter featured a scoring bonanza with both teams putting up a total of 24 points, the second quarter was different. The Hilltoppers had time consuming drives, but only came away with one score – a 1-yard touchdown run by Henry with just under a minute to go before halftime.
In the third quarter, Henry found paydirt twice on runs of 4 and 8 yards.
Overall, he ran for 72 yards and three touchdowns.
“I wish we could have put more points on the board, but I can’t be mad with a playoff win,” Henry said.
Henry’s third score, which came about midway through the third quarter, made the score 38-7 and started the running clock. It marked the fourth straight game the Toppers reached a running clock.
The running clock did not last long however, as Thomas caught a Justin Cox pass and ripped off a 90-yard touchdown reception almost three minutes into the fourth quarter and converted a two-point conversion to cut the Topper lead to 38-15.
However, that was it for the Dragon’s offense, who outside of that big play against Chardon’s second defensive unit, struggled to move the ball.
Chardon also score twice on safeties in the fourth — one on special teams and the other on defense.
Despite the big win, Chardon will have a lot to work on this week in practice – correcting the penalty issues and preventing further issues with the kick return.
“It was very frustrating,” said Hewitt. “Here we are at 9-1, the number one seed in our region and we’re not even playing good. We won 42-15, but the silver lining is that we have a lot of potential.”
Henry echoed his coach and called the penalties frustrating, but vowed the players would work eliminate them in their second-round game.
“We could have put up more points on the board without all of those penalties,” he said.
Hewitt was pleased with the way his team responded to East and did not get flagged for any personal foul penalties.
“We try to get as close to Friday nights as we can on Tuesdays and we had some kids close to their breaking point,” he said. “The reason we put them in the room on Tuesday is so they can flourish on Fridays.”
“We know at some point teams in the playoffs are either going to excel or disintegrate,” Liebhardt said. “The coaches put a lot of pressure on us each week, including this week, and try to make us break.”
Playing East for the second straight year, Hewitt emphasized the Dragons are not a 16 seed and urged the Ohio High School Athletic Association to make changes.
“I think coaches need to seed,” he said. “I think we need to use the Harbin System to identify the 16 and then coaches need some say because schedules have to account for something.”
The Chardon senior class, the winningest football class in the school’s history, will have one more opportunity to defend the hill, as the Hilltoppers will host Geneva on Friday night. It will be the final home game of the season, as in round three and beyond will be played on neutral fields.
