Many football fans believe Bill Belichick is one of the greatest professional football coaches of all-time. It is no secret within the football world that a statistic that Belichick believes is key to football success is winning the turnover battle.
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Many football fans believe Bill Belichick is one of the greatest professional football coaches of all-time.
It is no secret within the football world that a statistic that Belichick believes is key to football success is winning the turnover battle.
Just like in professional football, high school coaches also emphasize the importance of gaining a positive turnover differential.
After the Kenston Bombers defeated the Solon Comets, 30-13, in their home and season opener in front of a huge crowd at Bomber Stadium on Aug. 22, head coach Jeff Grubich expanded on this important concept.
“Ball security and takeaways, it’s everyday for us,” said Coach Grubich. “It’s something we hang our hat on.”
Although the Bombers won the turnover differential (plus 2 on 5 takeaways and 3 giveaways) and the game, Coach Grubich emphasized the necessity of limiting offensive turnovers.
On offense, the Bombers threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. In fact, all three of the Bombers giveaways occurred in the second quarter resulting in the Comets scoring 13 second quarter points.
“The takeaways are great, but you know what my concern is, the three we lost on offense,” said Coach Grubich. “That’s what we have to clean up, because against great teams, you’re going to lose (with so many giveaways). We can not have three turnovers.
“So we’re going right back to work.”
After the Bombers three giveaways in the second quarter, their defense played a dominant second half as they did not allow a point and had three interceptions.
Bomber second half interceptions were made by sophomore defensive back, Kahlil Hinton, (one interception), and senior linebacker Colin Weiland (2).
Senior Linebacker Colin Weiland, who had two of his team’s five crucial takeaways, said that on his first interception the Bombers secondary did a great job of forcing an errant throw.
“The first one (interception), our coverage guys, the db’s, had perfect coverage, he had nowhere to throw it. So he just tries to throw it away, and it goes right to me,” Weiland said.
On the second interception, Weiland said that his teammate did a great job of pressuring the quarterback.
“Second interception, my other linebacker, he’s in pressuring the quarterback, (and) another little lofty pass, I get it again,” Weiland said.
“That’s our teammates being amazing, rallying against the ball and working as one cohesive unit.”
Weiland emphasized that mental toughness and focus is key to having success on the defensive side of the ball. As a senior in anticipation of the season opener against the Comets, he stressed to his teammates the importance of concentrating on what they needed to do to be successful and not worrying about what anybody else is doing.
“Something I’ve been getting on the guys all week, is do your job,” said Weiland. “Don’t worry about the guy next to you, behind you, the other side of you. Your job is all that matters, and if you start worrying about other people’s jobs, that’s when you mess up your job, and we can’t have that. All eleven need to do their one job.”
Along with accumulating five takeaways throughout the contest, the Bombers also scored five times (4 touchdowns, 1 field goal).
The Bombers scored first, when senior quarterback Jack Bryner connected with sophomore Ethan Burge on a 13-yard touchdown pass as the Bombers took a 7-0 lead with 5:52 left in the first quarter.
The Bombers then took a 13-0 lead with 2:57 remaining in the opening quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run by junior Will Hamm.
Solon put seven on the board early in the second quarter on a 52-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Cooper Walker from quarterback Brody Cowan.
The Bombers added a second quarter touchdown on a 9-yard run by Burge, while Solon added a late first half touchdown to make the score 20-13 heading into halftime.
The Bombers scored ten points in the second half to make the final score 30-13.
The Bombers final touchdown came in the third quarter on Hamm’s two-yard run with 4:06 left in the third quarter.
As the Bombers accumulated touchdowns and caused turnovers, senior kicker Grady Kucharson had the Bombers final three points on a record setting field goal with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter.
Kucharson’s 44-yard field goal was the third longest in school history. In addition, with the made field goal, he broke two school records for most career field goals (16) and most points by a kicker (144).
“When I set the record, I was just really happy because right when I hit it, I knew it was in,” Kucharson said.
With the victory the Bombers start the season 1-0 and will travel to Perry on August 29th to take on the Pirates.
