By Phil Keren

Correspondent

A big-play ground game and a strong defensive effort in the second half propelled Mogadore to

a 13-6 road win over Crestwood on Friday night.

Mogadore head coach Matt Adorni described the contest as a “tough, physical, old-school Portage County League football game.”

The game was, to some extent, a tale of two halves.

In the first half, Crestwood made a big play on offense to set up a second-quarter touchdown and kept Mogadore’s offense under wraps with an aggressive defensive approach.

Adorni noted his team also had some costly penalties that put them in long down and distance situations. In the second half, Mogadore made big plays on both sides of the ball to seize the momentum and cross the finish line with a Week 1 victory.

“To (Crestwood’s) credit, they came out with some good stuff on defense with schemes that we haven’t seen (and) kind of tricked us up front a little bit and it took us a while to kind of settle in,” Adorni said. “Their defense was kind of flying around. We felt in the first half they were kind of taking the fight to our side of the field, taking the fight to us, and I think we turned that around a little bit in the second half.”

Late in the first quarter, Crestwood senior wide receiver Wyatt Januska broke a few tackles and accelerated down the sideline for a 63-yard gain to the Mogadore 13-yard line. Three plays later, on fourth down and 1, Red Devil senior running back Bobby Bradley hit paydirt on a 4 yard scamper to give his team a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.

At the start of the second half, Crestwood put together an eight-play, 39-yard drive that included a 19-yard screen pass from sophomore quarterback Michael Kalista to Januska and a 10-yard scramble by Kalista on third and 8. The Red Devils found themselves on the Mogadore 28-yard line facing a fourth down and 2. The Mogadore defense stopped a Crestwood screen pass play just short of the first down marker.

On the very next play, Mogadore senior running back Connor Lehner accelerated through the middle of the Crestwood defense and broke away for an electrifying 73-yard touchdown run at 6:35 of the this quarter. After junior Tyler Pendergast’s extra point kick split the uprights, Mogadore had a 7-6 lead.

“(The offensive line) blocked it perfect and he made a move,” Adorni said. “It was big to get that burst to get the lead,” Adorni said. “It brought our sideline alive…Football’s a momentum game.

You have to have momentum and we got it on our side and I think it lifted our kids a little bit.” Lehner finished the game with 166 yards on 18 carries.

Feeding off the energy created by Lehner’s breakaway run, the Mogadore defense recorded a three-and-out, and got the offense the ball back in short order. The Wildcats marched 83 yards in 9 plays in a drive that culminated with Lehner scoring on a 32-yard run around left end on the first play of the fourth quarter. The scoring drive included solid runs from both Lehner and Smith, as well as an 18-yard slant from Smith to junior wide receiver Kade Thomas on third down and 6.

“That was a real solid drive,” Adorni said. “We found a look with Maddox that we were able to get on that little quarterback sweep. For Maddox, we’re real proud of the way he settled in tonight… He learned some things. He was trying to make a lot of plays and he almost fumbled a couple times back there in the pocket. He got a good learning lesson tonight.”

Smith completed 5-of-12 passes for 46 yards.

The Mogadore defense then stopped Crestwood on downs on the Red Devils’ final two possessions of the game. Noting that Crestwood runs a complicated offensive system, Adorni praised the way his defense found its stride and shut out the Red Devils in the second half.

“It was kind of like a bend but don’t break [defense],” Adorni said. “Crestwood and their system’s very difficult to defend everything they can do out of it. We did a great job shutting down their pass. Our pass defense was really strong, especially at the end…Early we let them break a big run, but we really kind of limited their big explosive plays.”

On the other sideline, Crestwood Head Coach Jack D’Amato tipped his hat to the Wildcats and told his team that they still have a whole season in front of them.

“It’s tough when you give up a 73-yard touchdown run and a 32-yard touchdown run,” D’Amato said. “…Hats off to Mogadore…our guys fought and I’m proud of the way they fought. The season’s not over and that’s what I told the kids. This is one of 10 weeks. We’ve got nine more in front of us. We’re in good shape.”