by Wadsworth had one mission and changed the course of their season to begin their playoff run with a 42-7 win over North Royalton. This was a perfect time to reset after two straight losses cost the Grizzlies a bye causing them to play as the five seed.
North Royalton had the first go on the night with the ball first with runs from Daniel Piper and Bryce Derendorf. Unfortunately, the drive stalled out with two incompletions and gave the ball to the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies pushed the ball downfield, but a Brysen Hall overthrow became an interception for the Bears and picked off from Ameen Suleiman.
Piper helped the Bears offense get going with completions to Ryan Kinney and Robbie Edmiston for double digit gains. Rory Hannah also helped with good runs as well. The Grizzlies forced a big fourth down and got the stop they needed to get the ball back and make their name on offense. Hall looked to his targets OF Jay’len King and Kyle Schmeltzer for good yards. Braydan Todd helped with runs that got them some first downs. After a Hall to Alex Porter pass to get them in the red zone, Todd took a handoff and rode right into the end zone for a 7-0 lead for Wadsworth.
North Royalton then took their turn on offense to make some noise. After a catch from Lincoln Lee and a run from Defendorf, Lee ran right past the Wadsworth secondary and caught a pass from Piper for a touchdown to tie the game at 7 a piece. On the ensuing kickoff, Noro tried an onside kick, and it became successful and got the ball right back. After Wadsworth let North Royalton get to 2nd and 1, The Grizzlies stopped two Hannah runs for no yards and successfully forced a turnover on downs.
Gavin Miller started the drive with a huge 18-yard run to put the Wadsworth offense into good field possession. Hall then made sure to get the ball to different playmakers on offense with many completions to Porter and Schmeltzer. Todd then ran the ball for most of the drive for steady gains to put the Grizzlies into the red zone. Todd then took the ball from one yard out for his second touchdown of the night to break the tie and extend the lead to 14-7.
Kinney then helped the Bears offense with some good catches to give the team some breathing room. The drives stalled after some runs that went nowhere and forced the offense to punt. Wadsworth then took the ball and started with some good runs from Todd and Miller to get the Grizzlies offense going with some hope after being deep into their own territory. After completions to Schmeltzer and a run from Hall, he then found Porter beating his man with speed and threw a perfect pass that led him into the end zone for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead for Wadsworth into the half.
The second half was the end for the Bears season. After a Kolbey Ostervich catch for a few yards Wadsworth got going after a solid return on the opening kickoff. Then, Todd took the handoff and weaved his way through the North Royalton defense and before getting to the goal line, Todd trucked over the NORO defender and got past the end zone on his feet for a touchdown to extend the lead to 28-7.
North Royalton took the ball and was close to converting for a first down. However a penalty caused a ten-yard gain to go nowhere and forced the ball right back to Wadsworth. The Grizzlies then ran the ball right down the field with Miller and Todd taking all the handoffs for a ton of good yards. Hall capped the drive off with him keeping the read option for himself and bounced off a few Bears defenders for a big touchdown for a 35-7 lead.
Lee and Owen Pay took the ball for good gains to give the Bears some hope. But the Grizzlies stopped the momentum with an interception from Brandon Dishauzi to give the ball right back to hall and King. In the first play on the next drive, Hall saw King run right past his man and threw the bomb, in which King caught and sprinted right into the end zone to extend the lead to 42-7 and started the running clock.
Kinney tried to get his team going with some great catches to give the Bears some offense. After a penalty wiped out a first down, the Grizzlies got past the Bears o-line and got two sacks that helped force an incompletion on fourth down to give the ball back to the offense. Wadsworth put in their backups and saw a lot of good from them. Runs from Gus Obendorf and Damian Jackson helped the Grizzlies offense get first downs and helped keep the ball for the entire fourth quarter to give Wadsworth a 42-7 win and to extend their season.
North Royalton is now done for the year at 4-7. Wadsworth will travel to Mayfield for their second-round game next Friday.
Players of the game:
North Royalton- Ameen Suleiman- 10 Tackles and an interception kept the Bears in the game for the whole time.
Wadsworth- Braydan Todd- 102 yards rushing and three touchdowns, kept the pressure off the passing game and kept the Bears on their toes with great runs and stellar play on defense as well.
