In his 14th season at the helm of Kenston football, Jeff Grubich has already been blessed with a state title. This season he also became the program's leading coach in victories, and his Bombers carried his milestone legacy forward Oct. 30 with a solid 34-8 victory over a good Madison team in Division III Region 9 action.
Game photos click here.
Most special milestones are achievements to be respected and cherished.
In his 14th season at the helm of Kenston football, Jeff Grubich has already been blessed with a state title. This season he also became the program’s leading coach in victories, and his Bombers carried his milestone legacy forward Oct. 30 with a solid 34-8 victory over a good Madison team in Division III Region 9 action.
Coach Grubich is still a young fellow in his career, so future milestones are still in the forecast for him and his players.
Junior Will Hamm took the opening kickoff on his own 13 yard line, dashed toward the middle of the field, broke through the initial penetration of the Madison kickoff team, and at about midfield, did his Roadrunner impersonation and went off untouched to the end zone.
The Blue Streaks had a great season, but the first possession for them set a tone for the rest of the night, which the Bombers used to put together their overall best game of the season.
Two penalties pushed Madison back 20 yards, and on third down, quarterback Will Randall showed why he is a top college prospect by firing a pass from his own 10 yard line that went over the receivers’ outstretched arms at the Kenston 40 yard line. In came the kicking unit, and in faster came the Kenston punt block unit, setting up the Bombers at the Madison 7.
Two plays later, Hamm took the ball in from the 3, with just under two minutes gone in the game, and the Blue Streaks looked like one of those MMA fighters that fell off their chair in the locker room.
After an exchange of punts, the Bombers (7-4) took over on their own 6 yard line. Ten plays later, sparked by three completions from quarterback Jack Bryner to Kahlil Hinton and one to Gianni Tomaselli, Hamm scored again, this time from the 1.
Meanwhile, the Kenston defense was stopping everything Madison tried. After Tommy Seifried recovered a fumble at the Blue Steak 16 with 1:14 left in the first period, Grady Kucharson drilled a 28-yard field goal on the first play of the second stanza for a 24-0 lead.
Kenston was sent back deep in its own territory by a great punt, so play resumed at the 10 yard line. Ten plays later, sparked by three more completions from Bryner, Hamm scored his fourth touchdown of the day from two yards out, starting a running clock for the second half.
A 35-yard field goal from Kucharson capped Kenston’s scoring for the night.
Madison scored with 4:33 left in the game as Payton went in for nine yards out, with the game out of hand, to stop the running clock, but it was far too little too late.
“This was probably our most complete game of the year,” Coach Grubich said. “We executed our game plan almost perfectly. Our special teams got it going early; the defense was superb, too. We worked hard all week on our special teams, in the kickoff return and coverages, and in our punt blocks, too.”
After the first four-touchdown game of his career, Hamm was tired but happy.
“We just have so much love and caring for each other on this team,” he said. “We had a great game plan because we know Madison has a very good team, and we executed that game plan really well. We have a great bunch of young guys, too, who listen to what the seniors have to say every day, and we have worked hard to work together.”
Injuries have been huge for many teams this season, and Kenston is in the mix. Bryner missed several games with injury in midseason, but looked solid in this game in eight of 17 passes for 134 yards, leading the ground game with 57 yards on 10 carries.
“We’ve had so many kids hurt this season,” Bryner said. “I missed some time, but the young kids stepped right in, and it has been great. When I came back, I really didn’t feel quite the same as before, but we had some great practices, especially this week, and it went well tonight.”
The road to Canton gets much bumpier this week, as Kenston takes on top-seeded Canfield in Canfield. But if the Bombers can avoid mistakes while forcing them from Canfield — no easy task — another trip to the state championship would nicely build on the milestones of Kenston football.
