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The Strongsville Mustangs host the Cleveland Heights Tigers tonight, and look to find a win, after racking up two losses in a row to Highland and Olmsted Falls. The Tigers are looking to find their first win of the season tonight against the Mustangs. Cleveland Heights won the toss and elect to receive the ball at halftime.
The Mustangs started their campaign on the 21-yard line and looked to get their offense rolling. Strongsville’s quarterback Jack Kasner took the first snap of the game, and rolled out to his left, threw the ball across his body, and was intercepted by Elijah Gosa. This set up the Mustangs around midfield for their first drive. After some penalties, Cleveland Heights were looking at a 2nd & 24, where Elijah Gosa escaped the pocket and ran for a 23-yard gain. On the next set of downs, Gosa ran for another huge 26-yard gain to get the Tigers just outside the red zone. After another big 3rd down run for Elijah Gosa, the Tigers ran a counter to Julian Wise who found the endzone to open the scoring tonight.
After a missed PAT, the Mustangs looked to get things going. Kendrick Boddie picked up some first downs, but Cleveland Heights was able to force a 4th-down punt. Cleveland Heights went three and out again, and a very short punt and good return gave the ball back to Strongsville in the red zone. Jack Kasner then found Brayden Alfred near the back of the endzone in stride, scoring the Mustangs first points of the night.
Strongsville’s defense was making things very hard for the Cleveland Heights offense, forcing another three and out. The Mustangs started off just inside Cleveland Heights territory due to another short punt. After some more penalties from both teams, Austin Tatulinski got the Mustangs inside of the red zone for a first and goal and another opportunity to score. Jack Kasner was able to make quick work in the red zone, finding tight end Nick Labahn over the middle to put the Mustangs up 14-6 with 7:46 left in the second.
With Cleveland Heights’ offense back on the field, they looked to get back in this game. Quarterback Elijah Gosa then threw an interception to Andrew Cox, who returned the ball 17 yards, setting the Mustangs up on Cleveland Heights 33-yard line. On 2nd & 8, Jack Kasner faked the handoff and looked to find a lane on the right side, where he found Ethan Wolfe on a lateral pass who broke tackles and took the ball for an explosive 30-yard touchdown. After a 30-yard extra point kick due to penalties, the Mustangs lead this game 21-6.
The Mustangs kicked the ball back to the Tigers, and kicker Vincent Roncone made an unbelievable kick that landed on the one-yard line and bounced backwards to around the 5-yard line where the Mustangs recovered the live ball. This play completely changed this game, setting the Mustangs up on the Tigers 2-yard line. Cleveland Heights held the line for the first three downs and forced a 4th and goal. Strongsville, though, came out in a spread-out formation, which led to Nick Carrosellia running the ball right up the center for the Mustangs second touchdown in less than two-minutes. This moved the Mustangs to 28-6.
The Tigers had a very hard time getting anything going offensively, punting the ball back to the Mustangs after three short downs. Another short punt on 4th-down gave the Mustangs the ball inside Cleveland Heights territory. A pass interference got Strongsville inside of the redzone, and a quarterback sneak got them to just before the goal line. This led to Kasner finding Ethan Wolfe over the middle for another Mustang touchdown, and his second of the night. The Mustangs could not stop scoring this half. They quickly got the ball back and Vincent Roncone kicked a 48-yard walk off field goal to end the half. The Mustangs led the game 38-6 over the Tigers going into halftime.
The Tigers needed to start scoring in this second half. They started with the ball on their own 20-yard line and methodically moved the ball down field. Quarterback Elijah Gosa kept this offense alive with clutch runs on 3rd-down and accurate throws in the passing game. The Tigers found themselves in a precarious position on 4th-down, and Gosa again found a way to extend this drive. After two Julian Wise runs, Khalil Al-Amin found the end zone for a Cleveland Heights touchdown. Their PAT was blocked though, keeping the Tigers very far out of reach of this game.
After a turnover on downs by Strongsville, Cleveland Heights was just outside of the red zone, when Andrew Cox came up with his second interception of the night, taking away the Tigers hopes of scoring. This is when Kendrick Boddie started to take over the game. He ripped off a 49-yard run to put the Mustangs right back into scoring position. Jack Kasner found Dylan Malensky and Brayden Alfred for nice completions that set Boddie up for another rushing touchdown. Mustangs now lead Tigers 45-12 with around half of a quarter left to play.
The Tigers got the ball back for one more possession, where Elijah Gosa and running back Khalil Al-Amin slowly moved the ball up the field on the ground. Al-Amin was able to find the endzone, and an intercepted extra point put the game at a final score of 45-18, Mustangs.
The players of the game for Strongsville were Ethan Wolfe, who had a rushing and receiving touchdown, and Kendrick Boddie who rushed for 99 yards and 1 touchdown.
The players of the game for Cleveland Heights were Khalil Al-Amin who had 2 touchdowns and Julian Wise who had one touchdown. These running backs helped to put the Tigers in scoring position throughout the game.
Strongsville moves to 2-2 and will travel to Euclid next week to play the Panthers. Cleveland Heights move to 0-4 and go back home next week to try and get their first win of the season against the Lorain Titans.
