by Medina, Ohio – The Medina Battling Bees hosted the Cleveland Heights Tigers at Ken Dukes Stadium for a conference rivalry game. The Tigers ground game was too powerful and resulted in a 44-0 week-eight win over the Battling Bees on the road.
Medina started off the game with the ball on their own 26-yard line. The drive was pretty short-lived on only five plays, forcing the Battling Bees to punt. Cleveland Heights started their first drive on their own 31-yard line. The Tigers offense was electric on the ground, marching into Medina territory with ease. Quarterback Asher Wilson kept the tempo moving, handing the ball off to running back Marquise Davis for a 2-yard rushing touchdown to give Cleveland Heights a 7-0 lead with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter. Medina started their next drive on their 24-yard line. The Battling Bees were looking to rebound after a short-lived first drive, but once again a strong Tigers defensive surge forced Medina to punt. Cleveland Heights started their next drive in Medina territory on the Battling Bees’ 47-yard line. Cleveland Heights continued to hand the ball off on the ground to Marquise Davis and Elijah Harris on consecutive plays. The Tigers remained in possession of the ball going into the second quarter.
Starting the second quarter off with a roar, Cleveland Heights’ Marquise Davis exploded for a 20-yard rushing touchdown to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead with 10:56 remaining in the first half. Medina started their first drive of the second quarter on their own 36-yard line. Cleveland Heights’ defense yet again swarmed the backfield and kept the ball out of receivers’ hands, forcing yet another Battling Bees’ punt. The Tigers started their next drive on their own 40-yard line. The ground game picked up where it left off. Running back Marquise Davis took off for a 58-yard dash to make the score 20-0 Cleveland Heights with 9:30 remaining in the second quarter. The extra point was blocked, keeping it a 20-0 Tiger lead over the Battling Bees. Medina started their next drive on their own 40-yard line. The Battling Bees were making good progress, but their drive was stopped just short on a fourth and two conversion, giving the Tigers the ball back on a turnover on downs on their own 43-yard line. Cleveland Heights continued to move the ball with great tempo, and yet another Marquise Davis rushing touchdown, this time for 32-yards, gave the Tigers a 26-0 lead. Cleveland Heights went for a two-point conversion and were successful from a short pass to tight end Landon Pol, giving the Tigers a 28-0 lead with 4:26 remaining in the first half. Medina on their next drive, feeling the pressure from the Tigers defensive line, threw a costly interception to set Cleveland Heights up on the Battling Bee 40-yard line. The Tigers split the carries between Marquise Davis and Elijah Harris, this time getting a score from Elijah Harris on a 21-yard rush to give Cleveland Heights a 34-0 lead. The Tigers had the same mindset to go for a two-point conversion yet again, converting on another pass to Landon Pol to grow the lead to 36-0 with 2:17 remaining in the second quarter. Cleveland Heights kicked the ball off and recovered a muffed ball, setting the Tigers up on the Battling Bees’ 27-yard line. Elijah Harris took the ball into the endzone to give Cleveland Heights a 42-0 lead. The Tigers yet again went for a two-point conversion and scored again on a pass to Landon Pol to give the Tigers an outstanding 44-0 lead with 0:07 left in the first half. Medina received the kick and took a knee to head to the locker rooms at halftime. Cleveland Heights went a perfect 6-6 on their drives in the first half, all resulting in touchdowns as well as converting on all their third-down plays.
Cleveland Heights received the ball to begin the second half. The Tigers started on their own 31-yard line with a change at quarterback. Senior Justin Godbolt came in for Asher Wilson and led a Elijah Harris and Mercellus Harris rushing duo down the field into the Battling Bees’ redzone, where Medina’s defense held strong and forced a turnover on downs. This was the first time the Tigers were not successful in scoring on a drive. Medina started their first drive of the third quarter on their own 18-yard line. The Battling Bees had a promising drive in the air, managing to get into Tiger territory before going into the fourth quarter. Both teams only had one possession in the third quarter due to the running clock from Cleveland Heights being up 30+ (an official high school football rule to have the clock run until the deficit is below 30 points).
Going into the fourth quarter, Medina had great field position on Cleveland Heights’ 34-yard line to try and score their first points of the game and avoid a shutout. The Tigers’ defense had other plans. Medina was attempting to make a deep throw but a Cleveland Heights’ cornerback intercepted the ball, giving the Tigers offense the ball back on their own 5-yard line. Cleveland Heights’ quarterback Justin Godbolt made great progress down the field on five consecutive short passes, setting the Tigers up in good field position. Their drive was ultimately sent in the opposite direction after taking three straight penalties to make it second and forty-one. Cleveland Heights ran the ball with Elijah Harris on 3 consecutive plays, taking chunks at a time but were stopped short as the Battling Bees’ defense forced a turnover on downs to take the ball over on their own 45-yard line. Medina was on their final drive with under 1:00 remaining in the game. The Battling Bees were able to get to the Cleveland Heights 35-yard line right as time expired. The visiting Tigers produced a 44-0 shutout on the road for a huge conference game win. It was all Cleveland Heights from the beginning, and there was no looking back.
Next Week
The Medina Battling Bees (2-6) look to rebound from a tough loss as they travel to Russell H. Rupp Field to take on their conference rival, Shaker Heights Red Raiders; Kickoff at 7 PM on Friday, October 18th.
The Cleveland Heights Tigers (4-4) are looking to stay hot as they travel to Euclid Community Stadium to take on their conference rivals, Euclid Panthers; Kickoff at 1 PM on Saturday, October 19th.
Player of the Game:
Marquise Davis (RB)- Cleveland Heights: 21 rush attempts, 177 rush yards, 4 rush TD
Top Performers
Cleveland Heights Tigers
Marquise Davis: 21 rush attempts, 177 rush yards, 4 rush TD (2-yd, 20-yd, 58-yd, 32-yd)
Asher Wilson: 7-7 pass completions, 81 pass yards
Elijah Harris: 13 rush attempts, 2 rush TD (21-yd, 3-yd)
Medina Battling Bees
Cason Diiulio: 9-19 pass completions, 3 rush attempts, 2 INT
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
Cleveland Heights 3:52 – Marquise Davis, 2-yard run (kick good) (7-0 Cleveland Heights)
2nd Quarter
Cleveland Heights 10:56 – Marquise Davis, 20-yard run (kick good) (14-0 Cleveland Heights)
Cleveland Heights 9:30 – Marquise Davis, 56-yard run (kick no good) (20-0 Cleveland Heights)
Cleveland Heights 4:26 – Marquise Davis, 32-yard run (2-pt good) (28-0 Cleveland Heights)
Cleveland Heights 2:17 – Elijah Harris, 21-yard run (2-pt good) (36-0 Cleveland Heights)
Cleveland Heights 0:07 – Elijah Harris, 3-yard run (2-pt good) (44-0 Cleveland Heights)
3rd Quarter
No Score Changes (44-0 Cleveland Heights)
4th Quarter
No Score Changes (44-0 Cleveland Heights)
Re-watch the KEE On Sports Game of the Week here: Cleveland Heights @ Medina
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