Medina wins second-highest scoring game in county history

John Urchek The Gazette MEDINA — The Medina football team was happy to come away with a victory in the second-highest scoring playoff game in Medina County history. The Bees are also experienced enough with postseason football to know they have plenty to clean up if they want to reach the regional semifinals for the fourth straight season. Sixth-seeded Medina kicked off its postseason journey with a 70-40 trouncing of No. 11 John Marshall in a Division I, Region 1 first-round matchup in the final game of the season at Kenneth Dukes Stadium. "I feel like we still have to clean up some things," quarterback Danny Stoddard said. "The leaders on this team need to step up and stay more focused. This is the playoffs. We can focus up more and put together a full game." The only higher scoring game in county history was a 73-38 loss by Medina against St. Edward in 2019. With the victory, Bees (8-3) advanced to the quarterfinals, where familiar foe and Medina County rival third-seeded Wadsworth (9-2) will be waiting at Art Wright Memorial Stadium. Medina beat the Grizzlies 40-23 in Week 3 of the regular season, but the Bees are not taking anything for granted after a game in which they turned the ball over three times and were outscored 20-7 in a second half that was played mostly with a running clock. Medina is well aware that the Bees beat Mentor in the regular season last year before the Cardinals knocked them out of the playoffs in the regional semifinals. "We've got to definitely practice hard this week," senior receiver Brayden Walker said. "Just because we beat them before doesn't mean we can beat them again. I know they are coming with a vengeance, so we've got to stay focused." Walker, who entered the game with nine catches for 96 yards, led 11 receivers that caught a pass for Medina with five catches for 116 yards, all in the first half. Four of his catches came from Stoddard, including Walker's long catch of 31 yards late in the first quarter. "I was just finding holes in the defense and coach (Larry) Laird was calling some good plays for me," Walker said. "I was excited to put on a show during the playoffs." Along with Walker's big night, Sydney Lloyd had a team-high seven catches for 94 yards. Jack Wojciak (2 catches, 59 yards) and Dylan Whitehill (5, 58) each caught two touchdowns. Stoddard was 18-for-25 for 306 yards before being relieved by backup Chris DePasquale early in the second quarter. The talented signal caller, who now needs only 171 yards to break Drew Allar's Medina County record for career passing yards, threw six touchdown passes on six drives. Stoddard also led the team with 26 yards on three carries. "We were playing loose and how we should," Stoddard said of the start. "We were finding openings and the line was giving us time. We were just doing our jobs." Lawyers defensive back Jaylen Ledger returned an interception for a touchdown to make it 49-13 and later returned another interception for John Marshall's final score. Both came against the backups. Defensively, Medina started out on fire by intercepting Lawyers quarterback Cason Diiulio on the first three drives of the game and six of the first seven. Junior safety Tallen Hulvey led the defense with two interceptions, the second of which he returned 60 yards for a touchdown that put Medina ahead 49-7. "The interceptions gave us momentum and we just took it from there," Hulvey said. "Turnovers can change the game completely. It is huge and we need way more of those big moments in big games." John Marshall linebacker Tylar Cooper was injured with 1:39 left in the first half when he was hit in the head by a teammate as they both attempted to make a tackle. Cooper was taken from the field in an ambulance. Trailing 63-20 at halftime, the Lawyers rebounded against mostly Bees reserves to score three consecutive touchdowns that trimmed the lead to 63-40 with 5:25 left with Ledger's second pick-six. Diiulio finished 16-for-34 passing for 183 yards and three touchdown passes. Running back Anthony Hempstead also found success using his speed to get to the edge of the defense, rushing for 71 yards on 11 carries. "It's good that we put up the points that we did, but our leadership role needs to play a lot more into it," Hulvey said. "I feel like our leadership was not there after giving up as many points as we did against this team. "I hope next week we come out strong and attack the Grizzlies." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Medina 70, John Marshall 40 JOHN MARSHALL 7 13 13 7 — 40 MEDINA 35 28 0 7 — 70 First M — Jack Wojciak 40 pass from Danny Stoddard (Finn Kelps kick), 10:54. M — Nathan Angus 13 pass from Stoddard (Kelps kick), 9:01. M — Dylan Whitehill 8 pass from Stoddard (Kelps kick), 8:11. M — Wojciak 14 pass from Stoddard (Kelps kick), 5:49. J — Tramell Reese 20 pass from Cason Diiulio (Irene Mucyo kick), 3:55. M — Whitehill 6 pass from Stoddard (Kelps kick), 1:36. Second M — Camryn Hathaway 11 pass from Stoddard (Kelps kick), 11:49. M — Tallen Hulvey 60 interception return (Kelps kick), 10:37. J — Jaylen Ledger 38 interception return (kick blocked), 8:30. M — Hayden Chenevey 1 pass from Chris DePasquale (Kelps kick), 6:59. J — Randall Henry 9 pass from Diiulio (Mucyo kick), 4:26. M — Sydney Lloyd 16 pass from DePasquale (Kelps kick), 1:27. Third J — Anthony Hempstead 2 run (kick failed), 7:31. J — Payne 20 pass from Diiulio (Mucyo kick), 0:00. Fourth J — Ledger 43 interception return (Mucyo kick), 5:25. M — Jackson Riffle 17 pass from Beckett Vogrin (Kelps kick), 1:01. &emsp;&emsp;J M First downs 14 22 Rushing 25/145 19/73 Rushing average 5.8 3.8 Passing 16/34 33/51 Passing yards 183 526 Total offense 59/328 70/599 Punting 2/40.5 2/45 Penalties 11/76 3/20 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;2/1 2/1 RUSHING: John Marshall — Hempstead 11-71, Jaylan Salmon 12-59, Diiulio 2-15. Medina — Stoddard 3-26, Kaeden Kostilnik 2-22, Wojciak 1-16, DePasquale 1-15, Hayden Chenevey 3-5, Lloyd 5-4, Vogrin 3-(-5) Team 1-(-10). PASSING: John Marshall — Diiulio 16-34-183-6. Medina — Stoddard 18-25-306-1, DePasquale 8-14-114-0, Vogrin 7-12-106-1. RECEIVING: John Marshall — Payne 4-73, Henry 5-60, Reese 4-30, Ledger 3-20. Medina — Brayden Walker 5-116, Lloyd 7-94, Whitehill 5-58, Wojciak 2-54, Hathaway 2-48, Chenevey 3-39, Austin Knowles 2-38, Jackson Riffle 2-29, Braylon Schramm 2-23, Nathan Angus 2-21, Kaeden Kostilnik 1-6.