There are not many people around Northeast Ohio who don’t think we’ve had enough big winds come through our area the last couple of months.
Game photos click here.
There are not many people around Northeast Ohio who don’t think we’ve had enough big winds come through our area the last couple of months.
With clear skies and a soft breeze in the air Sept. 15, the Brooklyn Hurricanes blew into Richard A. Moss Stadium to do battle with the Cardinal Huskies. But the Huskies unleashed a hurricane in black uniforms immediately, and before anybody could grasp what was happening, Cardinal went on to a comfortable 35-0 Chagrin Valley Conference win.
Troy Domen got things going with a 54-yard return off the opening kickoff. As he sped down the left sideline, only an ankle tackle from Kevin Nguyen stopped the run. Two plays later, Kyle Sinclair scored from the 2 yard line, and Landon Gallagher drilled the extra point kick through the uprights.
A pooched kickoff set up Brooklyn (1-4) on its own 32. Max Soltis began his own efforts to create a storm on the first two plays by breaking through the line to tackle runners in their tracks. Soltis had the tackles on four of the Hurricanes’ first five plays, and they had nobody to stop him.
Another punt set up the Huskies (3-2) on their own 42. Logan Strever dropped back and fired deep down the right sideline, and Aidan Gallagher, who had beaten the cornerback by five yards, snared the pass and went the distance for another score.
The defense forced another punt. Domen got it 16 yards downfield, to the 32 of Brooklyn. A personal foul penalty took it back 15 yards, but Sinclair gained 14 yards to the 27, and Strever went up the middle for a touchdown with 5:33 left in the first period.
With 2:54 left in the quarter, another punt was gathered in by Domen on Cardinal’s 23. Several silent beep-beeps later, he danced into the end zone, and a 28-0 lead looked good for the Huskies faithful.
Strever scored again with 8:11 left before halftime for the final scoring, and a running clock the rest of the way got everybody home early.
“We took it upon ourselves early to take control of the game tonight,” Cardinal Head Coach Chris Perrotti said. “Now that we’ve gotten some things taken care of from early in the season, we’ve kind of taken a simple meat-and-potatoes attitude about how we play. We’ve adopted a mantra of All Gas, No Brakes when we go out on the field. This was a tough game for us to get into because we’ve also had games when we got beat up like this. Things are falling into place for us, though, and we are looking to make a good run to, hopefully, a playoff game.
“This coming week at Berkshire will be huge for us.”
Numbers don’t tell the story of this game, either. With a running clock just before halftime, the Huskies gained 220 yards, compared to just 70 total for Brooklyn. Sinclair gained 69 yards, and Strever added 37 and two scores on three tries.
Cardinal’s defense never even gave the Hurricanes a chance to sniff the end zone.
“I’m trying to gear myself that way all the time now,” Soltis said. “So is everybody else, and with Berkshire coming up this next week, we have to do that to be ready.”
The Huskies were crisp and quick in this game, and a repeat effort will be needed as they travel to their next door neighbor’s Great Lakes Cheese Stadium for an annual battle royale. With CVC and playoff implications on the line, being ready should not be a problem for either team. Get there early.
