High school football: Brunswick firmly in control in win over Medina

MEDINA — Finally finding a core identity during a season-changing winning streak, the Brunswick football team had been relying on ball-control offense and bend-but-don't-break defense.With the Tom Fasko Trophy at stake Friday in a Greater Cleveland Conference rivalry game at Medina, however, the Blue Devils had enough explosive ammo to fill a heavy machine gun.From a long rushing touchdown to four deep passes to a half-dozen sacks to multiple forced turnovers, Brunswick had standouts all over the FieldTurf at Kenneth Dukes Stadium and was in control from virtually start to finish in an impressive 35-7 victory that all but sewed up a Division I, Region 1 playoff berth. The Blue Devils (5-3, 4-1), who have won four straight for the first time since 2021, have defeated the reeling Bees (2-6, 1-4) in consecutive seasons for the first time since grabbing four straight from 2012-15."We're excited to (likely) clinch a playoff spot and we're ready to go," veteran Brunswick right tackle Andrew Hayes said. "We need to keep on moving. We have Cleveland Heights next week. They're good, too, but we've got to fight it out."Taking advantage of Medina going three-and-out, three-and-out, interception, punt and lost fumble on its first five possessions, Brunswick roared to a 21-0 lead in the opening 15:26 and simply managed the rest of the game.Running their gap-scheme RPO offense to open up deep passes down the sideline, the Blue Devils also had a 70-yard Eli Nichols touchdown run and Sean Barnett passes that covered 31, 44, 36, 26 and 20 yards en route to finishing with 373 yards total offense, their second-highest total of the season.Barnett fumbled four times but was otherwise brilliant, rushing for 10- and 4-yard touchdowns while also completing 11-of-14 passes for 205 yards that included a wide-open 36-yard scoring strike to Cohen Easa off play-action. Nichols finished with 107 yards on 12 carries and two scores — the All-Ohio defensive end is averaging 81.5 yards during the four-game winning streak — Gavin Moore hauled in four passes for 102 yards and Easa was active again with 84 yards from scrimmage (27 rushing, 57 receiving) on seven touches.An RPO-style offense doesn't work without the threat of the run game, and linemen Prestan Syed, Ty Colbert, Jamaurie Garth, Devan Horay and Hayes have impressed in recent weeks."We've been pounding the rock most of the games with the run game," Hayes said. "The offensive line, we've been together since freshman year almost — besides the center (Garth). We're just doing our jobs."The Brunswick defense finished with six sacks, a Landen Kirchner interception, an early Garth fumble recovery and three fourth-down stops that included a strip-sack from Nichols recovered by Hayes. While Medina finished with 254 yards, the Bees weren't explosive enough to break large gains and not disciplined enough to mount a drawn-out scoring drive.Beckett Vogrin completed 19-of-44 passes for 196 yards and a 26-yard touchdown to Sydney Lloyd that came shortly after Brunswick failed on fourth-and-1 from its own 49-yard line on the opening drive of the second half.While Jayden Tagalicod (8 catches, 69 yards) and Lloyd (4, 70; 6 carries, 23 yards, 1-of-4 passing, 10 yards, INT) also had notable performances, the Bees' last gasp came when Vogrin was stripped by Nichols on fourth-and-6 from the 7 in the second half.Brunswick tacked on two touchdowns and was a wide-left 49-yard field goal attempt from Vincenzo DiTeodoro — it had the distance to clear 55-plus — from obtaining a running clock."Our kids played hard, but we've got to finish drives," Medina coach Larry Laird said. "We had opportunities early that we didn't take advantage of. Credit Brunswick. They finished, and they did a good job.""The game plan was just stop the pass. That's all they do is pass," said Hayes, who also factored in on two sacks. "We had lots of coverage, lots of sacks on the defensive line. All of us played great. It was a good game for us." While the Blue Devils will be underdogs in the next two weeks against Cleveland Heights (3-5, 3-2) and Strongsville (6-2, 4-1), they figure they might as well win out to give themselves better playoff positioning. The goal may appear steep, but Brunswick is gaining momentum under second-year coach Kole Carter and seeking its first seven-win season since 2014 (7-4)."We think we're GCC contenders, and moving forward this is a big-time opportunity for us to take another step in this rivalry game," Carter said. "This is a phenomenal group of senior leaders, and we've been through a lot together — a lot of injuries, a lot of things they can't control — but our core nucleus is a phenomenal group of kids and they really lean on each other." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.ContactBrunswick 35, Medina 7BRUNSWICK 7 14 7 7 — 35MEDINA 0 0 7 0 — 7FirstB — Sean Barnett 10 run (Vincenzo DiTeodoro kick), 3:17.SecondB — Eli Nichols 70 run (DiTeodoro kick), 11:01.B — Nichols 4 run (DiTeodoro kick), 8:34.ThirdM — Sydney Lloyd 26 pass from Beckett Vogrin (Landen Cusick kick), 8:42.B — Cohen Easa 36 pass from Barnett (DiTeodoro kick), 7:03.B — Barnett 4 run (DiTeodoro kick), 9:45. B MFirst downs 14 20Rushing 36/168 30/48Rushing average 4.7 1.6Passing 11/14 20/48Passing yards 205 206Total offense 50/373 78/254Punting 1/60.0 4/33.5Penalties 8/96 5/55Fumbles 5/1 2/2RUSHING: Brunswick — Nichols 12-107, Easa 4-27, Gavin Ballok 9-18, Barnett 11-16. Medina — Lloyd 6-23, Vogrin 21-20, Brian Wuchter 3-5.PASSING: Brunswick — Barnett 11-14-205-0. Medina — Vogrin 19-44-196-0, Lloyd 1-4-10-1.RECEIVING: Brunswick — Gavin Moore 4-102, Easa 3-57, Anthony Gamboa 2-37, Landen Kirchner 2-9. Medina — Lloyd 4-70, Jayden Tagalicod 8-69, Kellen Hathaway 5-43, Caleb Sherman 2-19, Wuchter 1-5.MISSED FIELD GOALS: Brunswick — DiTeodoro 36 (WL), 48 (WL). Medina — Cusick 33 (BLK).