by Trevor Bycznski of the Titans continued his monster senior season with 375 yards in the air, on 18 of 27 passing with 5 touchdowns. The strong-armed quarterback was well on his way to shattering every school record in existence by the time he was done. His touchdown passes consisted of 56, 71, 63, 29 and 25 yards.
He didn’t do it alone however, not by a long shot, he had plenty of weapons all night who all had career games. Running backs Jabriel Williams and Bryce Agnew combined for 306 yards rushing on an incredible night. Agnew scored twice on the ground with carries of 4 and 59 yards. Agnew also scored on a dump off pass that he took to the house from 24 yards out. When Agnew starts running downhill, opposing defenses needed to gang tackle him to have any chance at bringing the beast down.
Williams was every bit as incredible that night. Simply put, the young man could not be stopped. Williams piled up 178 yards on only 12 carries, scoring three touchdowns of 27, 34 and 64 yards. Williams was the game changer as he couldn’t be tackled. When both Agnew and Williams were getting their touches, the team was nearly impossible to stop.
The big targets through the air for Bycznski were Garrett Waite with 151 yards on 7 catches. He scored twice on touchdowns of 56 and 29 yards. Dwayne Holland was also not to be denied, piling up 147 yards on 3 catches. He also scored twice, from 71 and 63 yards.
As amazing as all of that was, the biggest stat line of the night came from a player on the losing team for the second straight year. Jack Spellacy of Olmsted Falls had the game of his life. Spellacy, finished with 400 rushing yards even and 5 rushing touchdowns of 57, 43, 5, 68 and 42 yards. He also caught a pass and took it 60 yards for a touchdown, giving him six total on the game. The Bulldogs as a team, ran for 528 yards total.
DeLuca had this to say about Spellacy that night and his entire Bulldog career, “Jack was one of the greatest players that I have ever had the opportunity to coach. He really had everything you were looking for in a player. Outstanding strength, speed and football knowledge. He was a great leader! And he was a fantastic person, he always treated everyone with respect!
The two teams combined for over 1,000 total yards, 127 points, 19 total scores, and 18 touchdowns. A wild game for sure that had Berea-Midpark head coach Jon Hunek extremely proud of his team afterwards.
The Bulldogs stunned the Titans by converting an onside kick to start the game. Four straight runs later saw Grendzynski rumble in from four yards for the game’s opening score. The Titans wasted no time as they would score only minutes later on their opening drive. The Titan score came courtesy of a 4-yard Bryce Agnew scamper. Agnew had four carries on the drive, for a quick 23 yards. Shockingly, no more points were scored by either team for the remainder of the quarter.
The Titans used Anthony Miller as a battering ram for six straight runs the first time they touched the ball in the second quarter. It was a good way to settle down Bycznski after an early pick. The Titans couldn’t cash in with a touchdown as the drive would eventually stall. However, they did pick up 3 points on an impressive 39-yard field goal by Nick Ruggiero.
Any thoughts of a low scoring game would quickly go out the window as the rest of the quarter would become a wild shootout. Olmsted Falls would pour on the offense with 2 touchdown runs by Spellacy, one of 57 yards, and another of 43 yards. Grendzynski would have one of 63 yards as well.
Coach DeLuca spoke about what made Grendzynski such a special player, “Teddy was one of the smartest football players I have ever coached. When he was a senior he would call the play before coach would be finished giving the signal. He was in sink with what coach Rivera was thinking and could execute the offense very well. Teddy was one of the best QBs in the area. I think he threw 22 TDs to 2 INTs that year. He was also an outstanding baseball player. “
As impressive as the Bulldog attack was, the Titans would answer them with an even better one. Bycznski tossed touchdowns on 3 straight passes covering nearly the entire field. The damage saw touchdown passes to Holland of 71 and 63 yards, and Waite of 56 yards. The scoring blitz also saw Williams bust off a beautiful 27-yard touchdown run.
Jabriel Williams would continue his big night in the third quarter with another long touchdown run. This time he put it in from 34 yards out. The quick strike gave the Titans their largest lead of the night at 43-28.
As it was in the first half, the Bulldogs wasted no time in answering with a score of their own. It was Jack Spellacy scoring his third touchdown of the night. This time from 4 yards out. The two-point conversation was good by Grendyznski, closing the gap to 43-36 with 1:43 left in the third quarter. The quarter would end by that same score.
The fourth quarter picked up where the third quarter left off. Bycznski threaded the needle perfectly as Garrett Waite caught his second touchdown pass of the game. This time from 25 yards to give the Titans a 50-36 lead with 10:51 left to play. The Bulldogs weren’t fazed however, and Jack Spellacy took off one play later for a 68-yard touchdown run.
Coach DeLuca gives his thoughts on why Bycznski was so tough to stop that night, “Well I remember that our best cornerback Michael Howard did not play that evening so we had adjusted our coverage for this game. It was a mistake on my part to do this. We would have been better off playing our normal defense and just trying to slow Trevor down. We would not have been able to stop him but we maybe could have eliminated a few of those big plays. “
This latest score, his fourth, made it 50-43 Titans following the extra point, with 10:33 still to play. Two plays later, the Titans would score on a terrific Agnew 59-yard run that saw him break no less the five tackles.
This latest score in the blitzkrieg of points made it 57-43 with 9:43 left to play. Olmsted Falls head coach Tom DeLuca would dial up Spellacy once again, this time he steamrolled for a 42-yard touchdown. It was his fifth of the night to cut the lead to 57-50 with 8:36 to play. Agnew would answer, taking a dump off pass from Bycznski 24 yards to pay dirt, increasing the Titan lead back up to 64-50.
It wouldn’t last, seconds later it was Spellacy again, however this time it was through the air on a 60-yard hookup with Grendzynski. Cutting the lead to 64-57 with 6:53 left to play. Two plays later the Titans took their turn, a 64-yard touchdown rumble by Jabriel Williams. The extra point was no good, and the score rested at 70-57 with still over six minutes to go in the contest. It was a total of 7 touchdowns in under 6 minutes to begin the quarter. Remarkably, no one else would score the rest of the game.
With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 5-2 while the Titans rose to 5-2. Amazingly enough however, the Titans would go on to lose three straight games to end the season to Avon Lake, North Olmsted and Avon. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs went on a tear beating their last three opponents including undefeated Avon Lake in a classic at home, week 9, to eventually make the playoffs themselves. They would then lose to Avon Lake in the first round however.
Coach DeLuca touches on what his Bulldogs were able to turn around from the loss, to rebound so strong and beat Avon Lake a few weeks later on their way to the playoffs, “That Senior class was very talented in so many ways. They were great players but also had great leadership! It was not surprising to me that we were able to move on from that lose and finish the season strong.”
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