by Packed stands. Fans screaming. Friday nightunder the lights, and boy, is there nothing better than that.
August is an interesting month, as there is so much newness around. New faces, positions and new fans. For the 2026 Copley Indians, there was nothing new about their 2-0 start after defeating the Firestone Falcons by a whopping 56-6 Friday night.
What started as a back-and-forth campaign quickly shifted gears as the Indians would not let up on offense, scoring four passing touchdowns in the first half. Those all came from junior quarterback Dane Wininger, who went 13/14 for 251 passing yards and 4 touchdowns.
Although scoring wasn’t as important in the second half, it’s no doubt the performance in the first half was stellar. It almost seemed like Firestone just couldn’t keep up to pace.
Copley scored on all six of their starting drives, including a out-of-this-world play where Wininger rolled out right and hit a wide-open man in junior Noah Slattery in the corner of the end-zone for six.
Junior Jalen Owens was a monumental help to the Indians, providing both a punt-return touchdown and a forty-three-yard touchdown right before halftime, where he split defenders and took it to the house.
While the Indians were scoring more than most teams ever do, the Falcons proceeded to only pass the football 5-10 times, which in any book will not win you football games. Their run game was their only weapon on the field, as their two backs, juniors Evan Riley and Kyrel El-Travis combined for a total of 11 carries, 49 yards and a touchdown.
That only score came from the first quarter, where El-Travis took a great boot by the punter and took it 80 yards to the house.
For firestones sake, too many mistakes dragged them behind. In the second quarter with 6:16 to go, the falcons committed delay of game and false start before a poor punt of 24 yards. They also failed to convert on two separate fourth downs— one in each half.
After half time, Copley ran away with the win. Firestone attempted that in the third quarter, as all twelve minutes were all run plays.
What’s Next for Each Team?
Copley and Head Coach John Kromalic will start their 2026 campaign at 2-0, with Garfield on the horizon at home against the Indians next Friday, September 4th.
Firestone now sits at a two-game losing streak, with another brutal loss to Barberton 41-6. They look to bounce back next Saturday, September 5th against Lutheran East.
Kee-On Players of the Game
Copley:
The Kee-On player of the game for Copley was Quarterback Dane Wininger, who stunned the crowd in the first half with accurate, well-placed passes. Wininger made every correct decision in the book and kept the ball secure. He made quick, deep passes count and took advantage of every throw given to him. Wininger spread the ball evenly as well, hitting 4 different receivers throughout the game.
Firestone:
Although the score suggests otherwise, Firestone did in fact have a few productive players of the game. The one selected, though, is junior running back Cincere Moore. Moore didn’t put up the stats you’d want to see from one of your starters, posting only 55 yards on 13 carries, which averages 4.2 yards per carry. Moore stayed in the game for about 80 percent of all snaps, and stayed resilient against a great Copley D.
