With cool temperatures, blustery winds, and on-and-off showers in the area on a Friday night, conditions were looking uncomfortable for football players and coaches alike. But just before game time, conditions eased up, and Josh Soltis decided to supply some lightning in scoring three quick touchdowns.
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With cool temperatures, blustery winds, and on-and-off showers in the area on a Friday night, conditions were looking uncomfortable for football players and coaches alike. But just before game time, conditions eased up, and Josh Soltis decided to supply some lightning in scoring three quick touchdowns.
It was a fast start for the Cardinal Huskies in a 40-0 Chagrin Valley Conference victory over the visiting Crestwood Red Devils.
Cardinal won the coin toss and chose to defer. There must have been a premonition for Head Coach Chris Perrotti, as his defense forced a quick three-and-out for Crestwood.
Taking the first punt of the game at his own 26 yard line, Christian Cowle weaved his way back to the Crestwood 47. Soltis took a handoff from Logan Strever and headed around right end. And, one broken tackle near the line of scrimmage later, he found daylight and dashed down the right sideline for the first score in electrifying fashion.
After another punt, Soltis took another handoff around left end, and his wideouts and pulling linemen gave him a crease that a tank could have gone through as he went 66 yards to paydirt.
As those in attendance blinked to realize what happened, another punt from Crestwood was downed, again on the Cardinal 34 yard line. Soltis took the next handoff around left end again, hit the hole without giving the required “BEEP BEEP” notification, and was off to the races.
All that came with just 6:10 gone in the game.
Comeback in the works for the Red Devils? Not tonight, folks. The Cardinal defense, with everybody making huge contributions on each snap, stopped the next drive on downs, and on the first play after taking over, the Huskies got a 53-yard run from quarterback Logan Strever.
Those celebrating Senior Night at Richard A. Moss Field could only wonder how bad this game might get.
“I really wasn’t sure what happened on that first play for Josh,” Perrotti said during postgame celebrating. “I thought we might get to a situation where a tackler might get too high to get outside and stop the play, but we got the safety to go down, and that gave Josh room to get free without being tackled.
“He’s just such a high motor runner, he’s been fantastic for us his entire career, and when you get to it, it’s just Josh being Josh tonight.”
Josh being Josh Soltis had a pretty good night, gaining 231 first half yards on 12 carries, but he also had plenty of help.
Josh Ripley got into the act with a 46-yard dash to the end zone with 9:44 left in the second period.
As a running clock greeted the second half kickoff, Troy Domen put the final nail into the Red Devil coffin by taking the kickoff at his own 11 yard line and splitting the Crestwood special team right up the middle to score for the final points of the night.
Beside the quick strike offense, the Huskies defense played one nasty game of football. They allowed only two entrances into Cardinal territory all night. They allowed only 72 total yards, with Crestwood’s power back Nate Blasiole being the only offensive threat in white jerseys all night, gaining 89 tough yards on 24 carries. Blasiole had several Huskies defenders as company all night.
Five sacks and seven tackles for loss made sure Crestwood would have a long bus ride home. Andrew Tucholski had one of each, and also made some nasty blocks on those early scoring runs as he celebrated his last home game as a Cardinal Husky.
“This was just a great game tonight,” he said as the celebration began to wind down and light misting began again. “We’re just having a great second half to the season now. We’re 3-0 as we head to the finish, and I just want to keep it going.”
The efforts for Soltis are coming up big individually as well. His huge effort in this game comes on the heels of a 913-yard season this point. Friday evening’s yardage set him up at 1,144 yards for the season. He can now focus on what lies ahead in the remaining two games.
That focus is quite close to a season-rushing record for him. With 1,390 yards the magic number, it is really possible, and he knows it, but team efforts are his main focus, too.
“I feel like I just need to keep pushing myself harder now,” he said.
Getting him to look at what he has accomplished is not easy, as team success is what he sees ahead.
“I need to keep pushing us to be motivated each play,” he finally articulated. “It keeps me pushing on every play as we go along.”
With linemen like Tucholski, among many, sealing the edges on those running plays around end, and wideouts like Aidan Gallagher and Josh Ripley sealing the edges to create lanes for running, the Huskies are looking good.
