By Phil Keren

Correspondent

A standout performance from the offensive line and a solid outing from the defense were the keys to Southeast’s 29-8 win over Cuyahoga Falls on Friday night.

Southeast (1-2) head coach Pat Youel was happy to see his team notch its first victory of the season after tough losses to Akron Garfield and Grand Valley in their first two contests.

“I’m super proud of our kids,” Youel said. “We had two really, really tough games (to start the season). We were leading at the half in both of those games, and we just faltered at the end. We challenged the kids. They could have quit at any point in time, and I’m just so proud of those seniors that have ridden with me.”

With a couple of running backs unavailable for the game, Youel said his staff called on senior quarterback Joe Sharish to be the ground game’s main weapon.

“We knew we had to ride Joe a little bit more,” he said. “And so we did, and he just came up big run after run after run.”

Sharish ran for 152 yards on 27 carries in a performance that was the primary component of a ground attack that gained 261 yards on 44 attempts. Youel tipped his hat to the Pirates’ offensive line for opening up lanes for runners to pick up chunks of yards throughout the evening.

“The biggest thing tonight was our offensive line,” Youel said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage all night long. … A lot of those guys are playing on defense too, and they’re two way guys and they just battled and battled.”

Southeast opened the game with a 13-play, 51-yard drive that chewed more than 8 minutes off the clock, but the scoring quest came up short when Cuyahoga Falls sophomore defensive back Amir Haynes broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone.

The Pirates bounced back quickly: The defense recorded a three-and-out, and a member of the special teams unit tipped the Cuyahoga Falls punt, giving Southeast the ball on the Cuyahoga Falls 35-yard line. The Pirates drove 35 yards in eight plays (all runs) and took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter when Sharish scored on a two-yard run. On that touchdown drive, Sharish ran the ball five times for 29 yards. en route to posting 152 rushing yards on 27 attempts.

Southeast’s defense again prevented Cuyahoga Falls from moving the chains and the Pirate offense was soon back in business. Sophomore running back Alaunte Massrock found a lane on the right side of the defense and broke away down the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown and a 13-0 Southeast lead at 6:05 of the second quarter (the extra point attempt was blocked by Cuyahoga Falls).

Massrock, Youel said, is “lightning in a bottle. He’s electric and can do the things that he needs to do.”

This time, Cuyahoga Falls answered with a seven-play, 71 drive that culminated with a 4-yard bootleg run by sophomore quarterback Waseem Mustafa. The Black Tigers’ signal-caller then ran the ball into the end zone to record a two-point conversion and narrow the score to 13-8 with three minutes left in the first half.

After scoring on a long running play in the first half, the Pirates hit paydirt on a big pass play early in the third quarter. Sharish completed a pass near the sideline to senior wide receiver

Maverick Wood at about the Cuyahoga Falls 40-yard line, broke a tackle and sped down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown at 8:44 of the third quarter.

“Maverick is a huge playmaker for us…he ran a good route,” Youel said. “Joe completed it.” Sharish then ran the ball into the end zone for a two-point conversion to put his team ahead, 21-8.

Late in the third quarter, following another defensive stand that gave the Pirate offense a short field, Southeast pieced together a 10-play, 38-yard march that concluded with Sharish throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to junior running back Nathanael Rivera on fourth down and goal.

Sharish again scampered into the end zone for a two-point conversion and a 29-8 lead at 9:13 of the fourth quarter.

Youel also praised his coaching staff for giving the players a game plan that paved the way for the Pirates to win in decisive fashion.

“Coach Mike Stiles called an incredible game on offense,” Youel stated. “Bobby Staudt called a great game on defense and they get all the credit in the world for this game plan. I thought we had a really, really good game plan, and I thought our kids executed the heck out of it.”

The yellow flags were a common sight as both teams were whistled for a lot of penalties.

“We got to clean those things up,” Youel said. “We’re not built for penalties and second and long and different things like that.”

Overall, Youel noted he was pleased to see his team bounce back following the two season- opening losses.

“We had to fix ourselves a little bit,” Youel said. “We did a really good job of that this week but we still got a long way to go. We’re really young. Our seniors are doing a great job. We play a bunch of freshmen, a bunch of sophomores, so they’re learning as we go and they’re learning the offense.”