by Chagrin Falls, OH- It was Senior Night from Kenston Bomber Stadium and the home team needed a win to make the playoffs. In a thriller that came down to the final possession, the Kenston Bombers would prevail over the Mayfield Wildcats 28-21.
The Wildcat defense forced a quick 3 and out to begin the game before scoring quickly on the other side of the ball. The first play of the game was a deep ball thrown by Junior Rocco Monastero to Senior Nick Biega for a huge 50-yard pickup into Kenston territory. Two plays later, Monastero connected with Bo Lewis for a 10-yard touchdown on a perfectly timed throw. Kenston answered with a bomb of their own on the ensuing possession.
Quarterback Nikko Georgiou launched a deep ball that Tymir Cardona caught in stride while breaking a tackle for a 63-yard score. Despite not being able to move the ball on the ground, Mayfield was able to move the ball down the field through the air against the Bombers defense into the redzone. But with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter Kenston’s Sean Patrick came up with the first of 4 takeaways by the Bombers defense. He read a quick out route thrown by Monastero and came up with a big interception to keep the score tied at 7.
Sean Patrick would go on to come up with two big plays to begin the second quarter. On 4th down, he came up with a big pass breakup which led to his team getting back on the scoreboard. Lined up in the backfield, Patrick caught a quick pass from Georgiou made one man miss and was off to the endzone. His speed, strength and quickness shined on this play for a huge 67-yard touchdown. Following another interception this time from Charlie Thompson, Kenston would add to their lead. A big 4th down conversion from Wideout Jimmy Richmond setup Sean Patrick on the goal line and he would take care of the rest.
A 1-yard score from Patrick would mark 21 unanswered points by the Bombers. Despite getting a turnover a fumble recovery in Kenston territory, the Wildcats could not muster anything else following that turning over the ball on downs. Jack Novak made quite the athletic play, intercepting a screen pass giving the Bombers the momentum to put this game away up two scores in the 3rd quarter. But the Wildcats would not go away. A huge 4th down stop on a handoff to Patrick at their own 11-yard line was just what the visitors needed to get back into this game.
After not scoring for 2 quarters, Mayfield needed to get the ball back in the endzone soon if they wanted to make this comeback happen. Several times throughout the game Monastero could not connect on the deep ball to Biega as they did back in the first quarter. But this time there was a completion for a pivotal score to put them back down by a touchdown. Monastero bought time in the pocket and threw the ball up for Biega to go get and that’s exactly what he did taking it from the Kenston cornerback for the 33-yard touchdown.
A bad snap led to a huge takeaway by the Wildcats as now the momentum had fully swung into the visitor’s favor. A series of strong runs and personal foul penalty put the Wildcats right on the goal line. Senior Anthony Santoro scored from 1 yard out, and just like that the Wildcats tied the game in just over 2 minutes.
How would Kenston respond to this massive shift in the game? Well, the Bombers would put together a touchdown drive led by Georgiou with precision passing. He made another perfect throw to his leading receiver in Cardona for a gain of 40 yards. But on 3rd down the biggest play of the game would occur. In his only reception of the game, Thomas O’Brien used his big 6-foot 3-inch frame to reach up and grab a ball thrown up by Georgiou for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:04 left. This 20-yard touchdown proved to be a gamebreaker for the Wildcats as they would go on to drive into Bomber territory but a last second hail mary to the endzone was intercepted by Cardona to end the ballgame with a 28-21 final score.
This evenly matched Western Reserve Conference game had some of everything. From big plays multiple turnovers by both teams, it was a game that had quite the finish to cap of another fantastic regular season of Ohio High School Football. With the win, Kenston clinches a playoff spot in the Division III playoffs. As for Mayfield, despite having the same record as their opponent coming into the game (6-3) have already clinched a berth in the Division II playoffs.
Players of the Game:
Kenston Quarterback Nikko Georgiou- 256 yards passing, 3 touchdown passes
Kenston Running Back Sean Patrick- 110 yards total (30 rushing, 80 receiving), 2 touchdowns (1 receiving, 1 rushing), 1 interception
