Garfield quarterback Jack Neikirk (4) relays a play call to his teammates in the huddle.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Garfield G-Men offense entered the 2024 season absent of 3,229 yards rushing.

Keegan Sell (1,389 yards), Eric Geddes (1,226) and Deacon Sommer (614) all graduated, leaving an enormous void in the team’s backfield.

While most programs would struggle through a rebuild, the G-Men had the pieces in place to transition accordingly.

Naturally, Mike Moser had some uncertainties about how smoothly the transition would be, but uncertainties are different from question marks.

The backfield answers were already there in Devin Bates, Brandyn Bogucki, Harper Troyer and Jack Neikirk. All had moments to integrate into the offense last year and after waiting patiently, their expanded roles have come to be in 2024.

Garfield running back Harper Troyer tries to pull out of the grasp of a Southeast defender.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

The quartet, along with a truly dominant offensive line led by senior Ivan Trent, had their fingerprints all over the team’s commanding 42-7 victory over Southeast on Friday.

The win improved Garfield to 5-1 overall and kept them unbeaten in Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference play at 3-0.

The game ended with 8:45 remaining on the fourth-quarter clock, following a series of second-half personal fouls that had slowed play and led to some after-the-whistle reactions from players. The decision to end the game early was made by Southeast football head coach Patrick Youel.

“It was an administrative decision,” Youel said. “The high school principal and myself had both determined that if there was another incident, we were going to end the game. We had another and so that call was made by me. I think there was a little bit of blame for that on both sides, but we need to be in control of our actions and behavior better than what we did tonight so that we can represent our school better.”

The game ended about as abruptly as Garfield’s points racked up in the first half.

Two first-quarter touchdowns gave the G-Men the lead and set the stage for a four-score second quarter that put the game out of reach at 36-0 at halftime.

Garfield’s Brandyn Bogucki pops the ball loose on a tackle of a Southeast ball-carrier during Friday’s first half.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

Bates opened the scoring on a 16-yard run, which was followed by an extra point from Hannah Timmons to give the G-Men a 7-0 lead. Six minutes later, Bogucki raced in from 20 yards out on a third-down play that pushed the advantage to 14-0 after another Timmons successful kick.

Bates reached the end zone a second time with 8:06 on the second-quarter clock to make it 21-0, which was followed by a safety on Southeast’s next offensive possession. Stuck back in its own territory, and rain falling heavily, a snap to the punter was low and left of the kicker. Once it hit the grass it skipped through the back of the end zone for the safety and a 23-0 Garfield lead.

The G-Men scored twice more in the second quarter, on a 5-yard run by Bates and a 61-yard sprint by Bogucki.

Troyer became the third G-Men runner to score a touchdown, crossing the goal line from 12 yards out in the third quarter.

“We have some young guys in the backfield for us this year, and we are younger up front, but we are starting to learn some things,” said Garfield head coach Mike Moser, who graduated from Southeast in 1990. “They have been very focused, and they worked very hard this off-season.

Garfield running back Nate Baczkowski attempts to break free from the tackle of Antonio Mejia.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

“This is a group that is a really fun team to coach,” Moser added. “They have been enjoying the process.”

For the game, Garfield rushed 29 times for 292 yards (10.1 yards per carry). Bogucki led the team with 108 yards rushing on only four carries. Bates added 63 yards on the ground, while Neikirk had 41 and Troyer 29.

The G-Men went to the air only three times, but all three were set up nicely by the run game and all three were completed, including a 79-yard pass to Will Simon that set up Garfield’s second score of the game. The completion came just after Southeast had downed a punt on the G-Men 1-yard line. Neikirk stepped back to pass in the back of his own end zone and found a wide open Simon in the middle of the field. Simon raced down to the Pirates’ 20 before he was brought down on a touchdown-saving tackle.

Neikirk finished the game with 133 yards through the air, with Simon taking in two of them for 117 yards and Bates had one reception for 16 yards.

Southeast’s offense was led by sophomore running back Bryer Pickana, who finished with 155 yards on the ground, with 123 of those coming on three carries of 64, 37 and 22 yards, as he showed off his speed and game-breaking abilities.

Pickana scored the Pirates’ only touchdown, pulling in a 10-yard screen pass from Sharish early in the fourth quarter.

Southeast sophomore running back Bryer Pickana scores on a 10-yard touchdown reception.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

The Pirates reached the red zone two other times in the game, but did not produce points on those trips.

“We knew we needed to execute tonight, and we knew we had to put plays together to do that,” Youel said. “But we have struggled this year to put plays together, and there have been times that we are our own worst enemy.

“We had some moments tonight, but things kind of snowballed on us and spiraled away from us,” Youel added. “Garfield is a really good football team and they have a lot of weapons. They deserve a lot of credit for how tonight went, especially up front with their linemen. They pushed us around. We ran the same offense for four years, so I know it well, and Garfield runs it as well as anybody.”