MIDDLEFIELD —
The Pymatuning Valley Lakers are a determined group of young football players this season.
In recording their second straight win to open the 2010 season with a 22-7 non-conference victory over Cardinal at Richard A. Moss Field, the Lakers have focused on the task at hand against a pair of foes who have destroyed them in past seasons. But this year’s Lakers have worked hard to prepare to exert their wills to win against Berkshire and Cardinal.
First, the Badgers fell last week as PV would not be deterred. On Friday night, the Lakers jumped on the Huskies early, pounded away throughout the first half, then held off a Cardinal comeback in the second half by taking advantage of a couple mistakes that kept the Huskies from getting close.
It gave the Lakers their first 2-0 start in several years. What’s more, it was PV’s first win over Cardinal since 2007, its first win at Moss Field since a 33-14 win over the Huskies in 1993 and ended a seven-game losing streak at Middlefield.
“The kids did a great job in the first half of moving the ball and moving Cardinal players off of the ball,” PV coach Neil Croston said. “We have a pair of tough running backs in Josh Kirby and Nick Marshall who can move people on their own, and our front six on the line have some experience in doing the same thing.
“They hit the weight room in the offseason to make themselves stronger, and we took advantage of some mistakes Cardinal made in the first half to score. I told the kids at halftime we didn’t need to score any more, but we had to stiffen up even more on defense to keep them from scoring.
“Cardinal really stepped up in the second half, but we stopped them when we had to,” Croston said. “Now we just need to keep working consistenly hard in practice, and that’s something we coaches don’t need to tell the kids now that they have tasted victory a couple times.”
In forcing four turnovers by Cardinal, the Lakers got things rolling quickly. On the third play of the game, the Cardinal runner was separated from the ball and a host of Lakers were right there to smother the pigskin at the Cardinal 35. The Lakers combined the running of Marshall and Kirby, along with Kurtis Marsh, to go the distance in nine plays, Marshall going the last two yards.
Starting from their own 26 on their next possession, PV used 12 plays to cover the distance, with Kirby going the last nine yards early in the second quarter to open a 15-0 lead.
With less than a minute left before halftime, Cody Conley recovered another fumble at the Cardinal 30. Two plays lost a yard, so the Lakers took to the air for the second, and last, time in the game.
Josh Adkins fired a Hail Mary-effort toward the goal line, where a pair of Cardinal defenders were unsuccessful in doing a basic defensive ploy in that area. They were not able to bat the ball down to the turf. A.J. Kovach snared it out of the air after it was batted up, and leaned into the end zone for the final Laker score of the game, completing a 31-yard play.
“We made those proverbial adjustments at halftime and executed better in the second half,” Cardinal coach Eric Cardinal said. “My hat is off to PV for making what they wanted to do work for them.
“We made five big mistakes that killed us tonight, and it’s rare that you will see a team turn the ball over four to five times like we did, make mistakes in basics of the game, and still come out on top. It just doesn’t happen.
“We played Garrettsville last week, and they are tough and physical. PV is, too, so when they play next week, I’d like to be able to see them battle it out. If we can avoid mistakes like we had tonight, we have the talent to be successful, and I am confident the kids can do it.”
PV controlled the ball in the first half behind Marshall and Kirby, who gained 103 and 64 yards, respectively, on the ground in the game. Kovach’s scoring grab at the end of the first half was its only completion of the night, but a stellar defensive effort kept the high powered attack of Vinnie Polverine and Adam Farmwald running and T.J. Minnick passing from really getting any steam up.
Polverine rushed for 54 yards to lead the way there. Minnick, the victim of a trio of dropped passes in the game that may have altered the outcome a little, still threw for 111 yards and ran for another 40. His efforts to get his team back into the game were foiled in the fourth period when a pass completion was fumbled away at the Laker 13. Cardinal’s last drive into PV territory was halted at the 24 when Kovach picked off an errant pass, with PV running out the clock.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
Sports
PV pounds its way past Cardinal to move to 2-0
- Sports
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Lakers make it four in a row
Amid a sea of pink and a blaze of red all over the court defensively, the Pymatuning Valley Lakers accomplished something many thought they couldn’t at the beginning of the season: Win the Northeastern Athletic Conference championship.
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Scholastic Schedule:
FRIDAY, FEB. 3
Boys Basketball
n Jefferson at Lakeview
n US at Geneva
n Lakeside at Riverside
n PV at Badger
n Mathews at Grand Valley
n Madison at North
n Andrews at Edgewood
n Perry at Chagrin Falls
n Lake Ridge Academy at Grand River Academy -
An appreciation for the past
In 1958, a mere 54 years ago, the Grand Valley High School and Ashtabula County boys basketball career scoring record belonged to Jim Dodd. The ACBF hall of famer scored 1,377 points in his career as a leading post player for the Mustangs.
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ALL-TIME ASHTABULA COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL SCORING LEADERS:
- RK. PLAYER SCHOOL YEARS POINTS
- 1. A.J. HENSON GRAND VALLEY ’09-'12 1,531
- 2. Matt Zappitelli Conneaut ’85-’88 1,454
- 3. Steve Savel Pymatuning Valley ’05-’08 1,440
- 4. Jim Dodd Grand Valley ’55-’58 1,377
- 5. Adam Schumann Edgewood ’99-’02 1,341
- 6. Frank Zeman Deming ’52-’54 1,338
- 7. Sean Freeman Pymatuning Valley ’87-’90 1,301
- 8. Corey Shontz Pymatuning Valley ’05-’08 1,292
- 9. Fred Scruggs Harbor ’86-’89 1,248
- 10. Randy Linsted Pymatuning Valley ’73-’76 1,223
- 11. Emilio Parks Lakeside ’08-’10 1,221
- 12. Jemal Harris Harbor ’90-’93 1,214
- 13. Chuck Naso Jefferson ’54-’56 1,210
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Geneva doesn’t miss a beat
A team that knocks down half of its shots and takes care of the basketball is awfully difficult to beat. For a half, that’s exactly the kind of team Geneva was in downing Premier Athletic Conference rival Lakeside, 50-32, Wednesday night at Lakeside Gymnasium.
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Abbie answers call
When the game is on the line — no pun intended — it’s nice to have the ball in the hands of the area’s leading free-throw shooter.
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Maplewood too much for GV
The Maplewood girls basketball team has been a traditional power in northern Trumbull County while Grand Valley has struggled in recent seasons.
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Scholastic Statistics:
GIRLS BASKETBALL
PREMIER
Geneva 50, Lakeside 32
at Lakeside Gymnasium -
Area High School Boys Basketball Statistical Leaders:
INDIVIDUAL
POINTS PER GAME
1. Harry Story Lakeside 26.1
2. Cody Blizzard Lakeside 22.4
3. A.J. Henson Grand Valley 19.7
4. Tim Cross PV 17.7
5. Stephon Ortiz Madison 17.2
5. Quintin Ratliff PV 17.2
7. Mitchell Lake Grand Valley 16.3 -
Dibble can’t save Falcons
Gia Dibble scored a game-high 17 points, including a 3-pointer, but the Jefferson seventh-grade girls came up just short against visiting LaBrae on Wednesday, 25-21.
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Lakers make it four in a row
