ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP —
What a difference a week makes for the Edgewood Warriors. After bowing last week to Champion, Edgewood came out with fire in its eyes and was ready to slug it out with the Berkshire Badgers.
Berkshire picked a bad week to travel to the northeastern part of the state as Edgewood made them it the piper to the tune of a 41-21 romp at Gerald M. Corlew Field on Friday.
Hopes are high and in full swing for the Warriors to field a very quick and aggressive offense and defense. They also unveiled sophomore quarterback Lou Wisnyai to the rest of the county.
Wisnyai didn’t disappoint the Warrior faithful as he filled in for regular quarterback Peter Mackey while he recuperates from an illness.
Coach Dom Iarocci won’t hear anything about a quarterback debate. Iarocci was very diolomatic about the situation.
“I really thought that Lou Wisnyai did a great job out there tonight,” Iarocci said. “He ran our offense as good as anyone could have, especially as young as he is. But instead of a debate over who plays, I would rather say that we’ve got two good quarterbacks on our team.”
“We’ve got 12 sophomores on this team,” Berkshire coach Jack Arnold said. “We were completely outplayed by Edgewood tonight, but this is a learning experience for us.
“They hit real hard and they are hard to elude. You can tell they are a well coached team. The main difference between them and us is that they are fundamentally sound. This is something that we’ll learn as time goes on and I have to thank their coach for calling off the hounds early in the third quarter.”
If Edgewood is going be a real player in the area, it will have to run the ball. The combination of Devin McCaleb and Matt Anderson, along with a quarterback (Mackey-Wisnyai) that can run the option and will hopefully make the Warriors one of the best in the county.
Anderson took center stage for Edgewood as he ran for 66 yards on 14 carries, but he also found his way into the end zone three times. One was on a 41-yard pass from Wisnyai at 6:06 in the first quarter. The others were on runs of 20 and five yards.
By halftime, the Warriors were up, 33-0. Iarocci called off the dogs and gave his younger players much needed experience.
McCaleb was no slouch either as he ran for 58 yards on 15 carries. He scored twice on a 32-yard hookup from Wisnyai and a five-yard run.
As the third quarter commenced Berkshire started to drive on the young Warriors, but they didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry as they plodded their way down the field on short bursts up the middle. They were able to score on a 54-yard Tim Miller run and a two-yard plunge by Jai Perrin, but they rarely tried to open up with a more high-powered passing game.
With the score 33-14. Iarocci decided that was enough. He wasn’t going to go that far and then give the game away. Back in went the regulars.
If there were any doubts, Wisnyai put those to rest as he faked a pitch to his runners and took off upfield, cutting back behind some superb blocking by his line. Forty-eight yards later, Edgewood was back in the cat bird’s seat with a comfortable 41-14 lead.
Berkshire came back with Jason Kaser’s two-yard run.
Iarocci was ecstatic about how well his team performed.
“I knew this team was better than it showed last week,” Iarooci said. “Today we wrapped up and made the tackles that we had to. We stayed at home on defense and didn’t give up the big play. What you saw tonight is the way we are capable of playing.”
McClimans is a freelance writer from Ashtabula.
Sports
Warriors bounce back in a big way
Edgewood rolls past Berkshire
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Falcons impress
The Jefferson Falcons used an 8-2 early run and an 8-0 late run, both in the first quarter, backed by hot shooting, to open a big lead on the Conneaut Spartans that reached double digits early, paving the way to a solid 65-47 Falcon win Tuesday night at Falcon Gym.
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Eagles knocked off perch
The Geneva girls led at the end of every quarter but the final one Tuesday night. And that may turn out to be somewhat symbolic of their season in the Premier Athletic Conference.
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Lakers done in at Girard
When freshman Craig Randall began practice for Girard on Nov. 4, he walked in thinking he may start for the junior-varsity team.
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Pirates cruise as Eagles ‘lay egg’
Late in the second quarter, Geneva’s Dan Camplese hit a 3 to bring the Eagles within 4 points of the Perry Pirates, 21-17.
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Beavers scalp Warriors
Chandler Smith had the answer. The question — how do you overcome a poor shooting performance?
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Scholastic Schedule:
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8
Girls Basketball
n Geneva at Perry
n Kirtland at Madison
Wrestling
n Jefferson, Grand Valley at PV (6) -
Lakers clinch NAC outright
Pymatuning Valley coach Jeff Compan thought that his opponent was the aggressor on Monday night. But his side still came out on top. And with that, the Lakers clinched the Northeastern Athletic Conference title outright.
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Warriors edge Heralds
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Eagles fly to top seed
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SECTIONAL SUCCESS:
- 1. Jefferson 17
- 2. Madison 11
- 3. Perry 8
- 4. Geneva 7
- 5. Conneaut 6
- 5. Pymatuning Valley 6
- 7. Riverside 4
- 8. Grand Valley 1
- 9. Edgewood 0
- 9. Lakeside 0
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