by Cleveland Heights senior quarterback Bay Harvey went five of seven passing for 185 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and the Tiger defense forced six turnovers, on the way to a 50-6 victory over Lee Road rival Shaker Heights, in the renewal of a
game that had not been played since 2011.
Shaker Heights drove down the field on their opening possession, with several runs by senior running back Victor Ford. Three offside penalties on fourth down put the Red Raiders inside the 10 yard line, but they could not get into the end zone,
so they settled for a field goal attempt. But the attempt was blocked and returned to the end zone by senior defensive back Jalen Boyd for a touchdown. Despite a botched
snap on the point-after attempt, the ensuing two-point conversion was succesful, and Cleveland Heights led 8-0 after the first quarter.
Several different players got into the end zone to help break the game open for the Tigers in the second quarter. Senior running back/ linebacker and University of Cincinnati commit
Justin Wodtly added a five-yard TD run, follwed by a 12-yard TD run by Sincere Davis,a 50-yard TD reception by senior wide receiver Shemar Turner, and an interception
return for a touchdown by senior linebacker Jaylen Benson.
By the end of the first half, Cleveland Heights led 36-0, and would add two more scores in the second half. Ju’Ruan Hardin caught a TD pass from Bay Harvey in the third quarter, and senior linebacker Anthony Little picked off a pass and took it into the end zone for another score.
Victor Ford put the Red Raiders on the scoreboard halfway through the fourth with an 11-yard touchdown run. That was all the offense Shaker Heights could muster as they were stymied throughout the game, even despite Cleveland Heights committing 14 penalties, including the three consecutive offside penalties in the first quarter. Ford had 35 carries for 218 yards on the afternoon.
Cleveland Heights improves to 2-1 and travels to Lake Catholic next Saturday evening.
‘We started out a little slow on defense. Our defense has been phenomenal the first two games but we had
three offsides penalties in a row and a lot of missed tackles on that first series. We just had to get the guys together and get them to relax and play football. I think they were pretty excited about this renewed rivalry. Once we calmed down, we got back to playing Heights defense the way we’re accustomed to.” said
Cleveland Heights head coach Mac Stephens. “We have a big one next week. (Lake Catholic) is a well coached
team and I coached with part of that staff. They’re gonna be excited to play us, and we’re excited to play them.
We’re going to their place, and we just have to keep the momentum going and pressure on our guys in practice
this week.” he added.
“We had a great first drive. We had to get points on the board to put pressure on them with their triple-option offense. I elected to go for the kick when I should have trusted our offense. That’s my coaching decision and I wear that. We’re all in this together. I have to do better and we all have to do better as a coaching staff. These kids deserve better.” said Shaker Heights first-year head coach Alex Nicholson.
Shaker Heights drops to 1-2, and travels to Strongsville next Friday evening to open up Greater Cleveland
Conference play.
