by On Friday, August 30th, the Boys Varsity Football Team opened their 2019 season by traveling to take on North Ridgeville High School.
The Bears offense got off to a slow start, but exploded for 4 touchdowns in a 7 minute span of the 2nd quarter and cruised to a 40 to 20 victory over the Rangers.
The Bears offense was sluggish to start the game as the passing game could not find its groove. After an interception and punt on its first two drives, the Bears offense leaned on the running game for a 11 play, 55 yard drive ending on a Simon Antonio run for a 1 yard touchdown run to make the score 7 to 0.
In the second quarter, the Rangers came right back and scored on a 11 yard touchdown run to tie the game 7 to 7. That is when the Bears offense went into video game mode with 4 straight 1 play drives.
It started with a 74 yard catch and run touchdown down the sidelines for Nick Evanko from Marousek. Then a North Royalton High School record 96 yard catch and run up the middle by Riley Knurek from Marousek.
Another rushing touchdown for Antonio, this time an 8 yard scamper. The scoring barrage ended with a with a nifty 27 yard touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone by Michael Singer from Marousek. Halftime rolled around and the Rangers did not know what hit them. Bears 35 Rangers 7.
The Bears also added a safety when the Rangers snapped the football over the punters head through the endzone.
The Bears defense was solid all game long and finished with 4 turnovers, 5 sacks and a safety. Killian O’Callahan had 2 interceptions. Matthew Van Steenlandt had an interception. Hunter Kupniewski recovered a fumbled snap and recorded two sacks.
Timothy Root and Patrick McDonnel each had a sack. Rory O’Malley was a tackling machine all over the field including 3 tackle for losses and a sack.
Benjamin Kaniecki, Raimo Palmiero, Michael Camardo, McDonnel and O’Callahan all had tackle for losses. A great start for the defense to start the season.
Marousek finished the game with 237 yards passing, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception all in the first half. Knurek finished with 3 catches for 136 yards and a touchdown.
Evanko with 1 catch for 74 yards and a touchdown. Singer with 1 catch for 27 yards and a touchdown. Antonio rushed for 71 yards on 11 carries and 2 touchdowns.
The Boys Varsity Football Team will take on Brunswick High School at home on Friday, September 6th at 7:00 PM. GO BEARS!!
