by If Medina’s postseason opener with Shaker Heights was a horror movie, it would have received an R rating for violent content.
Almost as soon as the lights came on at Ken Dukes stadium, the slaughter was underway, as the Bees stung the Raiders over, and over, and over again on their way to a 54-0 blowout win. For those in red, it was a haunting night in every way. But for those green Medina Bees, a statement of a victory to start a playoff run.
“I thought our team came out, played well,” Medina head man Larry Laird said after the game. “We tell our kids all the time, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. Our goal is to get better, and I thought we got better tonight.”
Per usual, star quarterback Drew Allar was brilliant, igniting his team with a flawless opening series as he went a perfect 4-for-4, for 71 yards and beautiful 28-yard touchdown pass to fellow senior Drew Hensley. The onslaught was on like a runaway train, as Allar went on to throw five touchdowns and nearly 300 yards before the half. With his team up 40-0 midway through the second quarter, the five-star talent spent the rest of the night on patrolling the sideline with his teammates.
“That first drive really set the tone,” Allar said. “We’ve done a really good job of this whole year coming out and setting the tone offensively and it’s really helped us pick up momentum throughout the game.”
The five scores gave Allar a Medina county record 40 touchdowns for the season. His 3,443 passing yards are also a country record as he surpassed the 3,332 mark set by Wadsworth’s Mike Hoover in 1999.
A humbled Allar couldn’t help but thank his teammates for helping him get there. “It’s super cool, but I couldn’t have done it without any of my teammates,” he said. “The offensive line up front, the receivers making plays after the catch. And really the defense too giving us opportunities on offense. So it’s not just me, the whole team helped me get to that point.”
Allar’s effort was part of six consecutive drives that ended in paydirt for Medina. In fact, only one of their eight first half drives ended without points, when backup quarterback Dan Stoddard threw an interception in the end zone late in the second quarter. Otherwise, the Bees offense made it look easy, with Allar tossing touchdowns of 10 yards, 13 yards, 12 yards and – the highlight of the night, a beautiful 65-yard bomb to Brennan Schramm – before he took a seat. His touchdowns went to three different targets, including Hensley and Schramm twice and senior Ben Butler.
The offensive dominance seemed to be contagious as it carried over to the defense as well. As a unit they forced three Shaker three-and-outs and four Shaker turnovers – three of which came in the first half. The Raiders didn’t pick up a first down until the nine-minute mark of the second quarter and didn’t cross the 50 until the final 90 seconds of the first half. A zero on the visitor’s side of scoreboard certainly speaks for itself as, the second team defense did it’s part to preserve the shutout. In every sense of the phrase, it was a complete performance by Medina.
“Our guys are playing very confident right now, and I said it last week, we’re playing very complimentary football,” Laird remarked. “Our kids came out, they were focused. We talked Shaker Heights up all weak about how athletic they were and I thought we showed tonight, we’re pretty athletic too.”
Unfortunately for the Raiders, their short playoff run served as more of a tune-up game for a high powered Medina team with much bigger aspirations – call it a byproduct of the OHSAA’s expanded playoffs. Their season ends comes to an end with a 3-7 record, As for the Bees, they’ll look to carry the momentum established in this game into next week’s Region 1 quarterfinals where they’ll meet an athletic Cleveland Heights opponent that is coming off of a dramatic win over Elyria.
Players of the game:
Medina – (No Surprise) QB Drew Allar: 14-17, 273 yards, 5 TDs, 13 yards rushing
Shaker Heights: QB Adam Diaz: 16-29, 174 yards, 2 INT, 57 rushing yards
Medina V. Cleveland Heights will be a great game. Great article.