Tim Cross has caught a truckload of passes during a stellar career at Pymatuning Valley.
However, the second-quarter pass he hauled in from quarterback Grant Nowakowski in a 49-0 Northeastern Athletic Conference whipping at Mathews was one for the record books.
Literally.
Cross grabbed an aerial from Nowakowski and sprinted 99 yards for a touchdown in the Lakers’ romp over the Mustangs.
The 99-yard touchdown reception set an Ashtabula County record and matched the state record for the longest pass reception.
The mark will never be broken, unless the Ohio High School Athletic Association enlarges the playing field to more than 100 yards, of course.
According to the OHSAA website, Cross’ 99-yard touchdown Friday night was the 13th time it has happened during a high school football game in the Buckeye State.
The OHSAA website lists a 99-yard grab by Konnor Baker of Ada during a game against Delphos St. John on Oct. 23, 2009 as the most-recent time it has happened.
The Star Beacon will be submitting Cross’ long-distance catch and run from Nowakowski to be included on its list of state records.
Cross was one of 10 area players profiled in our Little Giants series that appeared in our annual preview section, Kickoff ’12.
What a rush!
Five area ballcarriers carried the mail for more than 100 yards during their Week 6 games:
Mark Murray, Madison — Obviously fully recovered after a recent bout with mono, the Blue Streak ran for 190 yards on 29 carries and scored from 7 yards out in Madison’s big win at North.
Stanley Sirrine, Grand Valley — He had 149 yards on 16 carries and a 3-yard touchdown run in the Mustangs’ whipping of visiting Lutheran East. Sirrine, like the aforementioned Cross, was one of our Little Giants.
Scott Davidson, Jefferson — The senior feature back ran for 130 yards on 20 carries, including a 37-yard touchdown gallop, in the Falcons’ homecoming conquest of visiting Newton Falls.
Quintin Ratliff, Pymatuning Valley — The Laker had 116 yards on but 6 carries, including scoring sprints of 75 and 28 yards, in PV’s blasting of Mathews.
Nick Knight, Madison — The Blue Streak quarterback carried 20 times for 101 yards and scoring scampers of 12 and 1 yard in Madison’s PAC triumph at North.
Passing fancy
Five area quarterbacks bettered the century mark during their Week 6 contests:
Maxx Brubaker, Riverside — Double-X had 205 yards, completing 17 of 23 passes, including a 76-yard touchdown connection with Matt Milostan, in the Beavers’ PAC win against visiting Geneva.
Tyler Loftus, Lakeside — The Dragon made good on 17 of 33 attempts for 171 yards, including an 18-yard scoring strike to Chad McAfee, for Lakeside’s only points against visiting University School.
Tony Chiacchiero, Jefferson — Tony the Tiger had 169 yards on an efficient 11-of-15 performance — including touchdown tosses of 15 and 25 yards to Brett Powers and 62 yards to Kyle Ashburn — in the Falcons’ All-American Conference win against Newton Falls. Incidentally, Ashburn, like Cross and Sirrine, one of our Little Giants, also returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in the win. Last week, he had a two touchdown receptions, from 12 and 15 yards, at Liberty, though the 15-yarder was credited to teammate Joey Baitt.
Grant Nowakowski, Pymatuning Valley — Want to talk about efficiency? Look no further than this young man, who threw only three passes in the Lakers’ blowout at Mathews, and completed all three of those attempts... for touchdowns! His connected with Cross on the aforementioned 99-yarder, as well as a scoring strike from 20 yards to him, as well, and had a 7-yard touchdown pass to the aforementioned Ratliff, which was credited to Cross in our boxscore. Along those lines, in the story about the 49-0 PV win, it said running back J.T. Willis fumbled the football, which he did not.
Cale Burdyshaw, Perry — He had 125 yards, making good on 7 of 16 attempts, including a 21-yard touchdown toss to Shane Raddatz, in the Pirates’ blasting of visiting Harvey.
Gift of grab
Both of the receivers who surpassed the 100-yard mark in reception yardage in Week 6 have already been mentioned.
Cross, PV — He caught 3 passes in the game for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns. By the way, he also blocked a field-goal attempt, recovered it and sped 80 yards for a touchdown in the win.
Milostan, Riverside — The Beaver caught 4 passes for 118 yards, including his 76-yard touchdown grab, in the CVC Chagrin Division win against Harvey at Alumni Stadium.
Stop, thief(s)!
Two area defenders picked off 2 passes last week, both returning them for a total of 26 yards:
Shawn Gilbert, Lakeside, against visiting US, and Riis Smith, Edgewood, in the Warriors’ 23-12 victory against the club-team Cleveland Knights on Saturday night at Corlew Stadium.
Gilbert leads the area with 6 pickoffs this season.
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