When the battles of the Chagrin Valley Conference football teams begin, making mistakes can often make winning a tough proposition.
When the battles of the Chagrin Valley Conference football teams begin, making mistakes can often make winning a tough proposition.
Sept. 23 at Lakeside High School, the West Geauga Wolverines had a rough first possession, forced to punt in a three-and-out situation that included a holding penalty that negated a short gain.
The Dragons took possession after a short punt on the West Geauga 43 yard line, and needed only three plays to score, setting a terrible tone for the night and ultimately claiming a convincing 38-0 CVC win over the Wolverines.
With four of its top five linemen returning, having reached Division I playoffs last season, Lakeside presents a formidable opponent most nights, and is picking up steam. Its line keyed the entire night for the hosts on their Homecoming Night; they dominated the interior action, leading to mistakes and turnovers that prevented any type of consistency for the Wolverine offense.
At least West G answered that first score in fine fashion, giving hope for a hotly contested game. The Wolverines drove from their own 31 yard line to the Lakeside 6 with 3:47 left in the first period. On third down, an illegal procedure penalty pushed the ball back to the 11, and in a bit of trickery that seemed open at first, a double reverse play around right end looked to provide a wide open area to the goal line.
Unfortunately a pass from Angelo DeSciscio was read perfectly by Angelo Collazo of the Dragons, who snared it on a leaping effort and got it back to the nine yard line to stop the drive. That would be the last serious offensive thrust of the night for the Wolverines as the Dragons applied pressure on both sides of the ball, forcing errors and turnovers.
Three second-period scores, with the accompanying two-point conversions succeeding, gave the Dragons a 32-0 halftime lead, and neither team did much with a running clock in the second half.
Sophomore tailback Nate Bartone capped a 91-yard drive after the interception with just 34 seconds gone in the second period to start the onslaught with a three-yard push. That said, as Justin Artino had some success running the ball, in conjunction with Finn Keenan finding open wideouts.
The mistakes began to pile up in bad times. Either penalties or turnovers cropped into the action, as the Wolverines found themselves being toasted by more experienced lines of the Dragons.
With just 27 seconds left in the third period, Caleb Stitt of Lakeside picked off a Keenan pass near midfield and raced to the end zone for the final scoring of the night.
Lakeside’s control of the line of scrimmage was obvious, although the Dragons did play without a couple of key players. One was a lineman, the other their top runner, J’Shon Sanders, out with a knee injury, which explains how the Dragons dropped their last two games after a 3-0 start to the season.
That said, others are gradually stepping up, especially in the lines, and that was key in this game.
The Wolverines did not play poorly overall, but those mistakes, which led to four turnovers and half a dozen penalties, mostly at bad points for such actions, messed up everything the young Wolverines tried to do.
They were out-gained, 269-120, on the night. Artino gained 37 yards on eight carries, mostly in those two early drives. But once the game was out of sight, it came down to Christian Mulica toting the ball, gaining 26 yards on seven tries late in the game.
Keenan hit on 12 of 20 passes for 69 yards, but they all were of short yardage variety, as he never had much time to throw under pressure.
If the Wolverines can halt the mistakes at crucial times and put forth the same effort they did in this game, they should hit the winning side of win-loss records against Orange coming up. Lakeside gave Hudson a battle last fall in playoff action, and is a team on the rise in the CVC. The Wolverines will be back in the blend soon.
