By Phil Keren

Correspondent

“It’s nice to be on the winning side.”

Ravenna head coach Brian Coman smiled when he shared those thoughts following his team’s dominant 43-0 victory over Springfield on Friday night.

He had plenty of reasons to smile.

It was truly a team win as the Ravens scored on the ground, through the air and on special teams.

The defense forced two turnovers and kept Springfield’s offense bottled up throughout the evening.

Ravenna (2-5, 1-3 Metro Athletic Conference) opened the game with an 8-play, 62-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard touchdown run by senior running back Marcus Hutchinson on a nifty play. Senior quarterback CJ Ross faked a throw with one hand while using his other hand to hand the ball off to Hutchinson. That moment of trickery froze the Springfield (1-6, 0-4 MAC defenders long enough to allow Hutchinson to burst through the middle of the defense, cut to his left and head down the sideline for the score.

On that touchdown march, Ross connected with senior wide receiver LaDarion Askew twice for a total of 39 yards (22 and 17).

After Ravenna’s defense recorded a three-and-out, the Ravens’ offense strung together a 9-play, 52-yard drive that culminated with Ross throwing a 13-yard scoring pass to senior tight end Braylon Burks on a crisp timing play. That touchdown put Ravenna ahead 13-0 at 1:12 of the first quarter.

The next scoring drive was much shorter thanks to the Ravenna defense.

Ravens senior linebacker Sanders Zaire recovered a Springfield fumble on the Spartans’ 26-yard line.

Four plays later, Ravenna took a 20-0 lead when Askew hit paydirt on a 9-yard end around early in the second quarter.

Midway through the second period, Ravenna junior running back Asygh Gaines capped a 4-play, 50-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown run. The key play of the drive was a 27-yard scamper by junior running back Mark Miller.

After engineering four touchdown drives, Ross asked Coman if he could try his hand at punt returning. It worked out well: Ross fielded the kick at the Springfield 47-yard line, found a lane, and sped through the Spartan coverage untouched for the score and a 33-0 lead.

“He asked me could he get back there on punt return and (he) took one to the house,” Coman said. “I’m glad he asked to get back there.”

The Ravens closed out the first half with junior kicker Jose Carpenter booting a 39-yard field goal through the uprights.

As they prepared to take the field in the second half with a 36-0 lead, Coman said he emphasized the importance of remaining focused and continuing to play with energy.

He said he reminded his team “that two weeks ago we got our butts kicked when we had a 21-7 lead and we better come out and apply ourselves and keep going.”

The second half was played with a running clock. Ross had the lone second-half touchdown on a 5-yard keeper.

Coman praised the play of Ross, who completed 5-of-6 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.

“He directed the team,” Coman said. “We run a little option. He made the right reads. He made the right throws on the throws he had.”

On the other side of the ball, Coman said he thought his defense “played solid.” A couple games ago, Coman noted his defenders struggled with lining up in the right spots and “people were gashing us. We got lined up today and we were in the right positions to make plays.”

Miller led the Ravens in rushing with 93 yards on 10 carries, while Askew was the top receiver with three catches totaling 48 yards.