by Story by Tyrell Jackson
Garfield Heights, Ohio – The Lorain Titans (0-6) are seeking to win their first game as they take on the 1-5 Garfield Heights Bulldogs in Garfield, on a cool Autumn night. The Titans are coming in after a loss to Maple Heights (36-3) and the Bulldogs coming in off a loss to Shaker 27-6.
After a couple of early long but stalled out drives, Garfield Quarterback Noah Werman would connect with Cameron Smith for 12 yards to make the score 6-0 after a failed 2 point conversion late in the 1st quarter.
After another Titan drive that did not go anywhere to end the quarter, the second quarter started with an almost disastrous punt as the ball was snapped high, but Robert Gongzales would be as cool as the night temperature as he was able to punt the ball to the line of scrimmage while running away from multiple Bulldogs. Lorain’s defense would then step up to the plate and would prevent the Bulldogs from scoring any points.
After a couple of more bad drives by both teams, including one drive where Garfield was deep in the red zone, just for the ball to be botched all the way back to the 25. Werman would end up throwing his 2nd touchdown pass as he would connect with Phillip Gill from 35 yards out to make it 12-0 after another failed 2 point try.
With under 5 minutes left to go in the first half, the Titans would then start to run the ball down the Bulldogs throat and would run out most of the clock. They would cap off this 4 minute drive with a 20 yard pass from Joseph Wyatt to Ter’von Williams to pull the score within 5 and with under a minute left to go in the half.
Garfield would move the ball to the 15 yard line but would fail to score on the final play of the half to keep the score 12-7 at half.
Garfield would struggle on the 1st drive of the new half, including 3 straight fumbles, with one occuring on the punt as they got tackled before the ball could be punted.
Lorain would start their 2nd half with the ball at Garfield’s 11 yard line and would capitalize with a 11 yard run for a touchdown from Wyatt to gain the lead 14-12.
After a Noah Werman interception that would be picked off by Noah Smith, Garfield would end up taking over the game. They scored 27 unanswered points including two more touchdown passes from Werman including a 70 yard bomb to Gill and a 52 yard run by JaMykle Benison.
Garfield Heights went on to win this game 39-14.
Both teams would struggle to move the ball and score most of the game, especially Lorain. It seemed like after the Interception by Noah Smith, the Bulldogs woke up and opened the game up. Up until the 4th quarter, this game was closer than what the end score shows.
For Garfield Heights, they will improve to 2-5 and will look to win 2 in a row as they face Shaw.
For Lorain, another tough loss as they fall to 0-7 and will look to bounce back and win their first game against Shaker Heights.
Key Players
Garfield Heights:
Noah Werman: 9-18, 209 yards 4 touchdowns and 1 interception
JaMykle Benison: 21 attempts, 158 yards and 1 touchdown
Phillip Gill: 3 catches, 133 yards, and 2 touchdowns
Lorain:
Joseph Wyatt: 12-21, 96 yards, 1 touchdown, 18 attempts, 63 yards, 1 touchdown
Robert Gongzales: 13 attempts, 61 yards
Players of the Game
Lorain: Robert Gongzales, he was very key in their 4 minute drive that set up the 20 yard touchdown pass, he also kept his composure on the bad snap on the punt. To put his defense in a situation to keep Garfield from scoring.
Garfield Heights: Noah Werman, This kid has an arm attached to him. He would have completed a few more passes if not for a couple of dropped passes or call back because of flags. His 70 yard pass was a thing of beauty and had another 40 yard pass that was thrown perfectly if not called back because of the penalty. He played a better game than the stats show, which is saying a lot, because he put up some good numbers.
