Paying a Monday morning visit to the variety store...



Gift of grab

Mitchell Lake of Grand Valley had the most productive game by wideout in the 2009 high school football season, saving his best for last.

The 6-foot, 160-pound sophomore for coach Tom Henson’s Mustangs hauled in 11 passes for a season-high 171 yards in GV’s 35-21 non-conference loss at Newton Falls on Friday night.

Lake grabbed scoring strikes of 4 and 17 yards in the contest and, just for good measure, made good on all three of his extra-point attempts.



Passing fancy

Six of the area’s 10 starting quarterbacks surpassed the 100-yard mark in their Week 10 performances:

n Zack Kuzma of Riverside had 220 yards, completing 13 of 21 attempts, in the Beavers’ 24-17 Premier Athletic Conference loss to visiting Madison on Friday night.

n Grand Valley’s A.J. Henson had 182 yards while making good on 20 of 41 attempts in the Mustangs’ loss at Newton Falls before being knocked woozy on a cheapshot hit out of bounds, a play that resulted in a 15-yard penalty. Henson hurled the two touchdown passes to Lake.

n Tyler Erb of Geneva had to wait until Saturday afternoon, but came up big as he completed 7 of 13 attempts for 169 yards. Three of his seven completions resulted in touchdowns, the most important being a 29-yard strike to standout receiver Jimmy Haines with 1:22 to go in the game — on a fourth-and-22 play — that gave the Eagles a 22-18 victory at Gilmour Academy. Erb also fired a 34-yard TD pass to Haines and got the ball rolling with a 37-yarder to Ryan Colby.

n Andy Karlson of Madison had 133 yards and was a marksman while doing so — completing 9 of 10 on the night — in the Blue Streaks’ 24-17 victory at Riverside.

n Jake Simek of Conneaut had 107 yards and completed 4 of 13 attempts in the Spartans’ 41-12 loss at archrival Edgewood.

n Mitchel Hokavar of Perry had 106 yards, making good of 5 of 15 attempts, in the Pirates’ 35-6 loss at undefeated and top-ranked Chagrin Falls on Friday night.



What a rush!

Area running backs matched their signal callers in Week 10, with half a dozen of them surpassing the century mark in their season finales:

n Workhorse Miles Iverson of Madison registered area season highs in terms of carries (44) and yardage (263) in the Blue Streaks’ hard-fought victory at Riverside on Friday night. The senior had a 21-yard touchdown scamper in the win. The 263 yards give Iverson, who led all of Ohio in rushing attempts through the first nine weeks of the season, the top three rushing performances by an area running back this season.

n Devon Anderson of Edgewood had the night of his career Friday night in the big win against archrival Conneaut, scoring six touchdowns — on runs of 9, 5, 15, 34, 54 and 54 yards — and compiling a career-high 230 yards rushing on but 16 carries for the Warriors.

n Josh Simon of Jefferson had a big night for the Falcons in their 46-14 loss at the hands of a solid University School team Friday night at Falcon Pride Stadium. Simon carried the mail 14 times and had a 57-yard touchdown sprint on the Falcons’ first possession of the contest.

n Kurtis Marsh of Pymatuning Valley had 127 yards on 23 carries in the Lakers’ 40-14 defeat at the hands of visiting Youngstown Christian on Friday night at Laker Stadium.

n Joe Kelly of Lakeside made it back-to-back big nights to end his season for the Dragons as he carried the football 11 times for 108 yards in the Dragons’ thrilling 28-24 PAC triumph at North on Friday night.

n John Studio of Riverside had 100 yards on 18 carries in the Beavers’ 24-17 loss to visiting Madison at Riverside Stadium on Friday night.

For the complete list of the top single-game performances by area players in the 2009 season, please see Page D2.



Yikes!

Aggravated assault charges have been filed against two New Jersey men who allegedly attacked a referee after a close high school football game.

Bogota police say 54-year-old Paul Mueller and his 25-year-old son, Derek, approached the man and started yelling at him shortly after Bogota beat Emerson 28-27 in overtime on Saturday.

The elder Mueller — who has another son who plays for the Emerson team — then allegedly attacked the referee, and his older son soon joined in.

Bogota police responded to the school after getting multiple 911 calls about a riot there, but the fighting had ended by the time officers arrived.



The Associated Press contributed to this report. McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite224.net.