ORWELL —
Grand Valley cleansed itself of two poor performances as it handled an undermanned Lutheran East team, that was without eight players due to ineligibility in the last couple weeks, as the Mustangs rolled, 50-24.
“Our offensive and defensive lines both played very well tonight,” Grand Valley coach John Glavickas said. “They needed to have a game like this after how things have gone the last two weeks. Our defensive line controlled the line on their offense from the very start, and the offensive line opened some great holes for our runners.”
Prime beneficiaries of the efforts of the O-line were Stanley Sirrine, who charged through several gaping holes in the first half, especially, totaling 149 yards on 16 carries.
He garnered 104 of those yards on 13 tries in the first half as the Mustangs gained 313 yards on the ground, with 215 of them in the first half.
Tyler Drenski also had a solid night, rushing for 94 yards on 13 carries. Drenski scored on runs of 2, 18, and 5 yards. Sirrine tallied from 3 yards out, and Sean Szitas scored twice in the third period, the first from 2 yards out and the second from 13.
All six offensive touchdowns for GV (3-3, 1-0 in Northeastern Athletic Conference) came on the ground as GV only tossed five passes all night. Drenski had the only reception for 12 yards.
The capper for the Mustangs came in the fourth period.
After the Falcons scored two quick touchdowns on long plays to start the fourth period, Luke Baldwin followed the second one with a 69-yard kickoff return to paydirt, and after East recovered a fumble, one of three GV lost on the night, the Mustangs defense pushed the Falcons all the way back to their own 2, where GV subs swarmed over a ballcarrier in the end zone for a safety.
“I felt our lines were dominant tonight,” Glavickas said. “Glenn Zaller, Alex Oscar, Jason Takacs, and Jacob Wilcom opened some huge holes for our runners, and on defense, they completely stuffed their ground game except for big plays.”
The Falcons (0-6,) did have a few of those, but other than scoring plays of 13 yards on a scoring pass from Thomas Jackson to Bryce Harper, set up by another 61-yard play on the snap before to Brandon Rivers, and early fourth period scores from Rivers of 80 yards on a halfback option from Robert Blake, and a 36-yard run by Daniel Brown.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
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