by The 4-4 North Royalton Bears traveled to Wadsworth to take on the 5-3 Grizzlies in a windy game and won 22-21.
The stars for North Royalton were Cody Miller, Conner Vranic and Logan Petit.
Vranic had 2 late game interceptions which helped seal the win for the Bears. Petit only had 3 catches for 32 yards, but his threat helped open holes for Miller.
Miller was the player of the game. He had 28 carries for 161 yards and one score, while also catching 3 passes for 31 yards.
The stars for Wadsworth were Aaron Keating and Nathan Metzger.
Keating caught 2 catches for 88 yards and a score, while drawing multiple pass interference and defensive holding penalties. Metzger played hard filling in for the injured Kyle Figuray. He had 25 carries for exactly 100 yards and one touchdown.
Wadsworth won the toss and differed. North Royalton received and Cody Miller went to work. He ran for over 40 yards on the first drive until finally stalling out at the 12-yard line. Kingston Lugo hit a 29-yard field goal to make the score 3-0 with 8:31 in the first.
The Grizzlies wasted no time scoring. On their first play from scrimmage Luke Fischer found Aaron Keating for a 66-yard touchdown to make the score 7-3 with 8:17 in the first.
Cody Miller continued to lead the Bears offense. He had a few more big runs before quarterback Joseph Kinney was able to find Paul Kalevakis for an 8-yard touchdown on a slant route. The Bears led 10-3 with 1:44 left in the first quarter.
Will Stack flipped the field for Wadsworth on the kickoff. He took them all the way to the opposing 35. A holding penalty and a failed draw play led to the Grizzlies punting though.
Miller had runs of 17 and 19 on the way to put the Bears back in field goal range. Lugo hit again on a 33-yard field goal. North Royalton led 13-7 with 8:21 in the half.
The Grizzlies passing game continued to look strong. Fischer hit Tommy Arnold coming across the field, and Arnold bulldozed his way into the pylon for the 33-yard touchdown. Wadsworth led 14-13 with 4:29 in the second quarter.
On the first drive of the second half, the Grizzlies moved the ball well behind the strong running of Nathan Metzger and a couple of pass interference penalties. Metzger finished the drive with an iso run right up the middle from 4 yards away. Wadsworth led 21-13 with 6:27 in the third quarter.
The run game for the Bears stayed strong on their first drive. Miller continued to dominate with hard runs. He scored his first touchdown of the game on a run right up the middle from the 1-yard line. They attempted to go for two on a pitch to Miller, but he came up a yard shy. The Bears cut the score to 21-19 with 56 seconds left in the third.
The Grizzlies were driving and looking to extend their lead. Metzger broke off a couple good looking runs to get Wadsworth in the redzone. The drive ended when Fischer threw a pick on a fade route to safety Conner Vranic.
The Grizzlies defense were doing a good job holding the Bears to a three-and-out, until a fake on the punt led to Grady Baugh catching a pass for 53 yards. The Grizzlies then held them to just a field goal. Lugo hit the 30-yard field goal to give the Bears a 22-21 lead with 4:43 left in the game.
Wadsworth started the drive with a 22-yard completion to Keating. Fischer then struggled, throwing multiple incompletions including a missed opportunity to Keating wide open in the end zone. The Grizzlies would turn the ball over on downs.
With the game on the line Wadsworth was ready to stuff Miller. North Royalton was ready as they found Logan Petit, who after bobbling the ball, caught it for 19 yards. The game seemed out of hand… until Miller fumbled the ball and Gavin Madigan recovered.
The craziness did not end there though. After a toe-tap for 13 yards to Davis Nye, Fischer threw his second interception of the game, to Vranic again, sealing the game.
Wadsworth will look to bounce back before the playoffs against the Twinsburg Tigers.
North Royalton will look to continue the momentum next week against the Brecksville Bees.
The kicker for Royalton Sasha Sunjevaric was injured and was D/P. The kicker was Freshmen Kingston Lugo