by North Royalton, OH – The North Royalton Bears took home the Golden Shoe with a score of 10-6 at Gibson Field against the Brecksville Bees Friday night, igniting the continuation of their storied rivalry since 1936.
The 90th anniversary of the Battle for The Golden Shoe was kicked off by Brecksville to North Royalton as they brought the heat to the beginning of the game.
Charging up the field with screens from Senior Nolan Klingbeil, Brecksville stopped their push at the 10-yard line showing North Royalton they can fight fire with fire.
This led to multiple conversions across the first quarter without much room for both teams to move, leading into the second, Junior Tyler Soder and Junior Alexander Henegar tried to make some kind of push.
But it was all in vain, as shortly after a 10-Yard push from Henegar, there was a fumble swiftly recovered by the North Royalton defense bringing an end to the first quarter.
Moving into the second quarter with a cascade of penalties from Brecksville, North Royalton responded with a 14-Yard rush from Klingbeil as they drove the ball back up the field to Brecksville.
Midway through the second half, both teams were clearly struggling to make any movement. As any bit of traction was then off-set by a penalty sending the ball back to where it started.
That was until North Royalton’s defense faltered by allowing a 43-Yard pass from Soder to Junior Bryndan Williams at the 22-yard line letting him charge the ball another 9-yards, the play after a penalty for pass interference.
This massive play from Soder was unfortunately snuffed out, as North Royalton’s defensive line stopped them at the 13-yard line.
As North Royalton began to drive again, their momentum carried them yard by yard, but for every yard gained Brecksville was there for the stop. This concluded the first half with the score being 0-0, proving to both teams this would be a battle of attrition going into the second half.
With the opening to the latter half of the game, North Royalton kicked off to Brecksville taking them all the way back to the 27-yard line. As Brecksville pushed up the field, Senior Tut Matchittom drove the ball 9-yards to the 36-yard line.
Williams wanted to match Matchittom’s heart by driving the ball another 8-yards off a catch from Soeder, making up for a sack that happened the play before. Williams kept up the pace with another 4-yard push taking the ball to the 48-yard line.
This momentum kept moving as Soeder passed another ball 13-yards to Williams to keep that momentum they built at the beginning of their drive. But once again, North Royalton came in to stop them at the 40-yard line forcing a conversion.
This started a cascade of pushes resulting in short drives from North Royalton’s offensive line, pushing them up to Brecksville’s 15-yard line, this drive concluded the third quarter.
Going into the final quarter, Cole Beckict kicked a 22-yard field-goal to open up the clock, landing 3-points to the North Royalton Bears. Shortly after the conversion, that field goal put Brecksville’s pedal to the metal as they tried to score.
Williams answered the throttle with a 40-yard touchdown, to send the Brecksville Bees up 6-points and to show North Royalton he’s going to be the all-star this game. But the Bears turned up the heat in the last second, driving the ball play by play to the end zone for another 6-points by Senior Dominic Antonelli and the Bears took the extra point.
This push was the edge the North Royalton Bears needed to take home the Golden Shoe back from the Brecksville Bees, with the final score 10-6.
Players of the Game:
Brynden Williams: (6 carries, 61 Yards, TD)
Dominic Antonelli: (1 completion, TD)
