Strongsville Dominates Shaker Hts 50-0 to Improve to 5-3

It’s not as if first-year coach Jason Trusnik imported a bunch of ultra-talented football players into the Strongsville program. The team this year consists of many of the same players who struggled through consecutive 3-8 seasons.

But this year, something is different. After Thursday night’s complete domination of visiting Shaker Heights to the tune of 50-0, the Mustangs are 5-3 and have won four consecutive games. They currently are alone atop the standings of the Greater Cleveland Conference with a 4-0 mark, with Mentor a step behind at 3-0 before playing at Brunswick Friday night.

“The difference is that we have more belief in our team,” said junior defensive end Braelin Dally, who spearheaded a defensive effort that held the Red Raiders to minus-15 yards of offense in the first half. “Coming out at the beginning of the season, we believed, and that’s what helped us get to where we are today.”

Senior quarterback Nolan Beard who passed for a season-high three touchdowns against Shaker, went even further when asked what was different this year.

“I just think the energy is different,” he said. “There’s one word we’ve been focusing on, especially this week, and that’s belief. I think we have belief as a team that we can do it, that we can win games. We haven’t really had that in the past, and it showed. But this year it’s shown that we believe in each other as a team, and we believe in the coaching and in ourselves.”

Clearly, much of the credit has to go to Trusnik, who had a 10-year career in the NFL but now is demonstrating his chops as a high school coach.

“When you have a bunch of guys who believe in themselves and they want to fly around and play football, great things happen,” Trusnik said. “It’s not by luck. It’s not by chance. They work hard, they believe hard, and they play hard.”

While many coaches give lip service to winning all three phases of the game, Trusnik makes it a mission. He was a linebacker at Ohio Northern and in the NFL, but as a pro he was known more as a special teams player than anything else. Two weeks ago, in a 28-6 victory over Cleveland Heights, the Mustangs scored on a muffed punt that they recovered and returned for a touchdown.

Against Shaker Heights, Strongsville had a touchdown on special teams and one on defense. The special teams score came in the second quarter with the Mustangs sitting on a 15-0 lead. At the end of a three-and-out possession that netted negative 10 yards, the Red Raiders were forced to punt from their own 7-yard line. The ball bounced just beyond the 35 and right into the arms of J.J. Pleasant, who returned it 43 yards up the left sideline for a touchdown.

Later in the same period, Shaker was deep in its own territory after a Strongsville kickoff was muffed and recovered at the 2-yard line. A run up the middle ended in a 1-yard loss. On the next play quarterback Jacire Eaddy went back to pass and was swarmed by a host of Strongsville defenders. The ball was knocked from his hands and Austin Adkins recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. It was one of five sacks the Mustangs had in the first half alone.

“No disrespect to Shaker, but looking at their offensive line, we knew once we got on the field it was game over for them,” said Dally. “That was the game plan.”

Led by underclassmen Dally and Storm Miller, the Strongsville defense is developing into a formidable unit that is becoming more and more dominant.

“I thought we executed a great defensive game plan,” Trusnik said. “It’s something I say all the time, just do your job and trust the guy next to you. They’re doing that and they’re understanding. Every week we’re taking another step forward. We’re growing as a unit and we’re growing as a team and we’re growing together.”

The offense was led by Beard, who had scoring passes to Will Dasher (51 yards), Sam Dimacchia (38 yards), and Alex Espay (20 yards). The Mustangs also got 120 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries by sophomore running back Kendrick Boddie. Strongsville piled up more than 330 yards in the first half, leading Trusnik to praise his offensive line.

“At the end of the day, the passing game’s moving, the running’s game moving,” he said. “It all starts up front. It’s something we’ve worked on since Day 1, and that’s the front five. When they’re running on all cylinders, the backs can run hard and hit the holes and get those extra yards. But, honestly, it’s all phases. The backs are running hard, the offensive line is blocking hard, the receivers are blocking hard.”

The victory sets up a showdown next week at Mentor. Should the Cardinals defeat Brunswick Friday night as expected, the teams will be playing next week for the GCC crown.

“We’ll soak this one in,” Trusnik said. “You’ve got to take 24 to 48 hours. You’ve got to enjoy the win. They work hard for it all week, so enjoy it. But we know what’s ahead of us. We knew we needed to handle this week and now it’s on to next week. We’re going to play a good team. We know what they’re about. We’ll come, we’ll bring our best and we’ll see what happens.”