ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP —
Edgewood coach Dom Iarocci relied on film study as his Warriors took on an unfamiliar opponent against a club team, the Cleveland Knights.
The study time paid off as the Warriors defeated a tough and speedy band of Knights by a 23-12 score at Gerald M. Corlew Stadium Saturday night.
“This was a physical football game,” Iarocci said. “This is very possibly the most physical game we’ve had all year. You can see on film that they have some talent, but it isn’t until you get on the field that you can see how hard they really hit you. I am really proud of how our kids responded to the nature of the game. We responded well.”
Riis Smith is stepping up in a large way for the Warriors this season, and against a team that had an eye for stopping the ground game up the middle, the Warriors had to get things done in other ways.
Smith did the job leading the way on both sides of the ball.
After the breakout game Dylan McCaleb had last week against Ledgemont, the Knights had a solid game plan and executed it well.
“We saw film of them (Edgewood), and we knew they could run well out of several formations, especially their triple option,” Knights coach Marques Goodwin said. “We’re only in our third year of playing. Some of the kids didn’t want to play for their local school teams, but most of our kids are home schooled. Getting together and playing is tough, but they are doing a great job. We mostly play teams with byes in their scheduling.
“Later this season we travel to Niagara Falls, for example. I saw that Edgewood had pretty good speed, but man for man, I feel confident we can match a lot of teams in speed, so we try to use it as much as we can.”
They tried to bottle up McCaleb, but Smith was able to find some room to the outside on either end, and he made the most of it with three touchdowns and 83 yards rushing on 14 carries.
Being a club team, the Knights (1-4) have a tough time finding time to practice, and a lack of continuity showed as they were flagged for 18 penalties for 113 yards in the game, not including the several flags that were declined by Edgewood as well, making a slow paced game in the process.
Smith drew first blood for the Warriors (4-2) when he split a pair of defenders down the middle on the first play of the second quarter to take a Louie Wisnyai pass in from 36 yards out.
After a short punt set up Edgewood at the Knights 39 with 2:04 left before halftime, Smith got around end from two yards out with 1:04 left after three-consecutive plays were flagged to a halt.
“I was really happy with how our defense played today,” Iarocci said. “The pass defense was good, the rush was good, and the kids played physically enough to match the Knights effort. That No. 3 sure put some licks on our kids, and we gave them right back.”
Iarocci was referring to James Gilbert, a 6-0, 190-pound senior who played a monster game of his own on both sides of the ball.
He ran for 89 yards on nine carries, scored on a 40-yard pass from Harold Greene on the last play of the game, and may have made the biggest hit of the game in the first half when he drilled McCaleb along the sideline in front of the Warrior bench.
Despite the big game, Gilbert didn’t have the impact Smith did defensively. The Edgewood junior picked off passes in each half to thwart Knights comeback attempts in the passing game.
“We played well, we had good balance, and I was thrilled with the way Louie Wisnyai ran our offense tonight,” Iarocci said. “He was extremely efficient. Their speed was something you can’t see when you watch film, and they gave us a real battle we needed. We got to Brookfield next week, they’re the No. 1 team in the state in their region, and it’s going to take a tough effort to stay with them.
“We’re a little dinged up, but we will play our hardest.”
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
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