by The Barberton Magics traveled to Akron to take on the Archbishop Hoban Knights in the second round of the playoffs. The Knights would be the ones walking away with a win, 41-13.
The players of the game for Barberton were Kenneth Larry and Noah Dehart.
Larry caught five passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing a 64 yard touchdown. Dehart caught three passes for 42 yards while also being the leader of the defense.
The stars for Hoban were Jayvian Crable and Lamar Sperling.
Crable had two catches for 52 yards and a score, while also having an interception. Sperling was a workhorse. He had 258 yards and 4 touchdowns on 29 carries.
Barberton won the toss and took the ball to start the game. Facing an early third down, Rylan Angeloff caught a slant route. He took a hard hit and fumbled the ball. Hoban’s Jordan Pritchard-Sewell recovered the ball and took it back 17 yards for a touchdown, giving the Knights a 7-0 lead with 10:56 left in the first.
When Barberton got the ball back they couldn’t do anything with it and were forced to punt quickly.
The Knights first offensive drive was headlined by a 19-yard run by Lamar Sperling and a handful of penalties. After a good Magics stand on defense, Hoban was forced to attempt a 31-yard field goal, but it was blocked.
After the block the Magics’ offense we’re still unable to move the ball. A three and out forced them to punt once again.
Hoban’s offense couldn’t do much better on their next drive. They drove the ball to midfield but turned it over on downs after.
Barberton’s offense continued to struggle, punting for a third time in a row, but Hoban was ready this time.
Sperling had rushes of 29 and 11, the latter being a touchdown run inside the tackles. Hoban led 14-0 with 9:35 in the second.
The Magics’ offense finally looked prepared on their next drive. Dominic Wilson completed 4 straight passes ending in a 33-yard post route to Kenneth Larry to get Barberton on the board. The lead shrunk to 14-7 with 5:48 in the half.
A few incompletion forced Hoban to punt. Barberton also punted after Pritchard-Sewell and Eli Lee met at the quarterback for a sack.
The Knights looked good in the two minute drill with a 38-yard scramble from quarterback Jacqai Long and a 1-yard touchdown run right up the middle from Sperling. A penalty after the touchdown would back the PAT up, and the kicker would miss it short. Hoban led 20-7 at half.
The second half would start out with a punt from both sides, but it would be all Hoban after.
Sperling would find room on the outside for a 44-yard run, and follow it up with a 5-touchdown run to the outside. The Knights led 27-7 with 5 minutes left in the third.
Barberton’s next drive looked promising as Larry caught a pass and ran for 61 yards. Wilson ended up throwing an interception to Tysen Campbell a few plays later.
Hoban wasted no time making the turnover into points. Sperling ran for a 72-yard touchdown on an outside zone. Hoban extended the lead to 34-7 with 3:56 left in the third.
Nick Crawford sacked the Magics on the next drive, forcing them to punt.
Hoban scored their last touchdown of the day on the next drive. Long found Jayvian Crable for a 43-yard touchdown on a corner route. The lead was 41-7 with 1:19 in the third.
Magics again started out strong on their next drive with Angeloff returning the kickoff down to the 18 and getting a pass interference call. However, Wilson threw his second interception of the game to Crable.
Hoban would keep their backups in for the fourth quarter to try and run the clock out.
Barberton did get one more score, a trick play on a double pass that led to Larry finding Xzavier Macon wide open for a 64-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked for a 41-13 game with just over 4 minutes left.
The Barberton Magics will end their season 7-5.
Hoban will advance to round 3, where they will take on the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish
