Strongsville Pulls Off A Large Victory Over Cleveland Heights, Ends 28-6

There was a phrase being bandied about following Strongsville’s shocking domination of Cleveland Heights Friday night, and that was, “Mustang football.”

Not a new phrase, certainly, but it seems to be taking on a new meaning, with first-year coach Jason Trusnik perhaps laying the groundwork for a budding giant.

Hosting a team that it lost to by 41 points last year, Strongsville ignored the wind and rain and dominated the game in every way that it could, taking a 28-6 victory. The Mustangs are now 3-3 overall and 2-0 in Greater Cleveland Conference play, while Cleveland Heights falls to 2-4 and 0-2.

“That was Mustang football right there,” said junior linebacker Storm Miller, who spearheaded a defense that completely shut down the high-powered Tigers in the second half, holding them to just 41 yards. “It was physical, and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”

Earlier in the week, Trusnik spoke of how the Mustangs needed to try to control Marquise Davis, who rushed for more than 2,200 yards last year and scored 35 touchdowns. Davis had a big first half at Strongsville, gaining 142 yards on 16 carries and scoring on a 51-yard burst in the second quarter. But the Kentucky commit had only five carries for five yards after halftime.

“We did a great job, in my opinion,” Trusnik said. “It was just playing Mustang football. We swarmed to the ball. We played physical. We did what we needed to do and just controlled that part.”

Since they were trailing by three scores, 21-6, at halftime, Cleveland Heights was forced to go away from its bread-and-butter, which is handing off to Davis and watching work him work between a massive offensive line. But each time Davis touched the ball in the second half, the Strongsville defense was up to the task.

“The game plan was always the same,” Miller said. “He’s the center of their offense. A lot of respect to him. He had over 140, and that’s crazy. We knew that we had to stop him. We didn’t change up the game plan too much, we just knew we had to focus on him. We just knew we had to stay sound and read our gaps. That’s what we did. Just staying sound was the name of the game.”

Things went badly for the Tigers right from the start. They opened the game with a decent drive, getting all the way to the Strongsville 37 before being forced to punt. Cleveland Heights then forced the Mustangs into a three-and-out possession. But that’s when things started to get ugly for the visitors.

First, Strongsville punter Austin Adkins booted a 59-yard punt that was downed on the Cleveland Heights 25. In addition, the Tigers were called for holding on the punt, moving the ball to the 15. On the very next play from scrimmage, there was a mixup on the exchange between Davis and quarterback Emere Atkins, with Braelin Daily recovering the fumble for the Mustangs on the 14-yard line. It was one of three turnovers for the Tigers. Four plays later, Sam Dimacchia scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night.

“It was a bad night for the Tigers,” said Cleveland Heights coach Mac Stephens. “It didn’t start out on a good footing, and it just kind of snowballed. To their credit, they had a great gameplan on both sides of the ball and took advantage of us. They were more physical tonight. They outcoached us and they came away with the victory.”

The next Cleveland Heights possession ended badly as well, as Davis attempted to run on fourth down from the punt formation. He is the team’s punter, but he was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-three, giving Strongsville the ball on the Heights 43-yard line.

Sparked by a 35-yard screen pass from Nolan Beard to Dimacchia and a 19-yard run by Dimacchia, Strongsville needed only six plays to find the end zone. A 2-yard plunge by Dimacchia gave the hosts a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The Tigers answered with their only TD of the night as Davis broke through the line of scrimmage and raced 51 yards to the end zone untouched. The PAT kick failed, but Cleveland Heights was back in the game at 14-6.

There were two key plays that determined how the rest of the game would go, one in the second quarter and one late in the third. After the TD scamper by Davis, the Mustangs put together their longest drive of the night of 65 yards. They found the end zone on a spectacular 52-yard pass from Beard to Alex Espay, who got behind the Heights defense and made a fingertip catch while fighting to maintain his balance. That made it 21-6.

The first half was played in a light rain, but at the start of the third quarter the intensity of the downpour increased dramatically. The Mustangs were forced to punt from their own 27, and Adkins hit a low kick that bounced right next to returner Henry Perrymond and then continued toward the end zone. Eventually, the ball bounced up toward Perrymond, but when the junior tried to secure the ball, he muffed it, with Strongsville’s Eric Bly grabbing it inside the 5-yard line and running it into the end zone for the game’s final score.

“This is about a group of young men believing in themselves,” Trusnik said. “That’s what it is. You can put it as underdogs, or you’re not going to win, all that kind of stuff. But, honestly, the group of men on this field is what they believed in. We talk about three phases. The offense did a great job, getting first downs when we needed, ran when we needed, passed when we needed. Defense played great, and special teams did a great job. The punting and the handling of the ball in the rain, and a big play by one of our seniors, Eric Bly, for a touchdown. I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”

Strongsville plays at Medina next week, while Cleveland Heights hosts River Rouge, Michigan.