H.S. Football: Lorain falls victim to Medina special teams

Landen Cusick booted the Medina football team into the Division I, Region 1 playoffs in ways most people don't expect.The sophomore was the star of the evening Friday with two successful onside kicks and two field goals as the Bees held off Lorain 33-30 in another action-packed Greater Cleveland Conference game.Medina (3-7, 2-5) snuck into the postseason as the No. 12 seed and will travel to Perrysburg (8-2) for a 2024 postseason rematch. The Titans wrapped up their GCC debut season at 2-8, 1-6.Cusick's onside kicks were recovered by Nicholas Morano and Brayden Pidgeon and led to touchdowns in the first quarter. They were sandwiched around his 25-yard field goal, helping Medina to a 16-0 lead, and his 21-yarder made the score 33-22 with 10:04 remaining in the third quarter.Those points were key because Lorain nearly rallied from a 30-6 deficit. The Titans eventually cut to 33-30 with 5:23 left and got the ball back on their 20-yard line with 2:58 to go, but poor clock management, two conservative runs by Toriano Allen (20 carries, 135 yards), a third-down swing pass broken up by cornerback Dylan Pay and a fourth-down heave resulted in an anticlimactic ending.Medina couldn't have gotten off to a better start after Morano recovered a surprise onside kick to begin the night. Kellen Hathaway capped the opening drive with a 6-yard screen from Beckett Vogrin.Things then got wild to end the first quarter, when Medina scored twice in five seconds. Cusick pushed the score to 9-0 with his first field goal, Pidgeon recovered another onside kick and Brian Wuchter took a jet sweep 49 yards to the end zone, giving the Bees a 16-0 lead with Lorain only possessing the ball once.The Titans finally regrouped when Allen scored from 1 yard, but Medina came right back when Ashton Knowles caught a 19-yard TD from Vogrin and Korde Carey scored from 2 yards just 2:21 apart. The Bees appeared to be in complete control at that point with a 30-6 lead, only to flirt with disaster for the rest of the night.Lorain regained life with an 11-yard TD run from William Jones with 1:52 left before halftime. Medina elected to try to score again on the ensuing possession and turned the ball over on downs in Titans territory, and Lorain simply tried a simple handoff on third-and-10 that Allen busted for 24 yards. A bubble screen to Jazion Moore then covered 45 yards for a stunning TD down the visiting sideline that brought the score to 30-22 at halftime.Both defenses did a great job regrouping in the second half, when the pace of the game slowed. Cusick's second field goal provided insurance, then the teams traded interceptions — two by Lorain, one by Pay — and a high snap led to the Titans missing a 23-yard field goal to set up the final seven minutes. Vogrin carried Medina for most of the first half and eventually joined an exclusive club of players with 100 yards apiece rushing and passing, carrying 15 times for 119 yards while completing 13-of-29 passes for 167 yards. Wuchter had four carries for 72 yards and three catches for 73 yards, while Caleb Sherman (4 catches, 39 yards) and Knowles (3, 39) also contributed.Lorain finished with 382 yards total offense but was plagued by 12 penalties for 125, including a 15-yard unsportsmanlike on the final snap from scrimmage when a defender plowed Vogrin after Vogrin took a knee. Allen, Jones (6 carries, 50 yards) and Moore (4, 45) combined for 230 yards on the ground, while 240-pound quarterback David Whitaker completed 9-of-20 passes for 115 yards.Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.Medina 33, Lorain 30LORAIN 0 22 0 8 — 30MEDINA 16 14 3 0 — 33FirstM — Kellen Hathaway 6 pass from Beckett Vogrin (kick blocked), 7:35.M — Cusick 25 field goal, 0:05.M — Brian Wuchter 49 run (Cusick kick), 0:00.SecondL — Toriano Allen 1 run (Jazion Moore run), 9:29.M — Ashton Knowles 19 pass from Vogrin (Cusick kick), 8:11.M — Korde Carey 2 run (Cusick kick), 5:50.L — William Jones 11 run (pass failed), 1:52.L — Moore 45 pass from David Whitaker (Jones run), 0:08.ThirdM — Cusick 21 field goal, 10:04.FourthL — Moore 14 run (Allen run), 5:23. L MFirst downs 17 17Rushing 43/267 29/187Rushing average 6.2 6.4Passing 9/20 13/29Passing yards 115 167Total offense 63/382 58/354Punting 0/0.0 1/29.0Penalties 12/125 6/48Fumbles 5/3 0/0RUSHING: Lorain — Allen 20-135, Jones 6-50, Moore 4-45, Jay'l Diaz 3-19, Malaki Hasan 4-13, Whitaker 6-5. Medina — Vogrin 15-119, Wuchter 4-72, Carey 5-9, Sydney Lloyd 2-4, Team 3-(-17).PASSING: Lorain — Whitaker 9-20-115-1. Medina — Vogrin 13-29-167-2.RECEIVING: Lorain — Moore 3-66, Brad Adamini 1-29, No. 6 1-8, Allen 2-4, Jones 1-3, No. 22 1-5. Medina — Wuchter 3-73, Caleb Sherman 4-39, Knowles 3-39, Hathaway 2-13, Lloyd 1-3.