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[Rocketcorner News]

By Andrew Marcum
http://www.pitmanstats.com/
http://www.facebook....35602521&type=3

Coming into Friday night’s Division IV Region 13 championship game between two undefeateds - the defending DIV state champion Norwayne, and the challenger, Brookfield – much of the talk was about how much difference a year can make. The Warriors returned many key starters from last year’s 9-2 team, and were a much better, more experienced, motivated team this time around. Then there’s Norwayne, who followed up a 14-1 state championship season with an undefeated year so far, breaking their total points records from 2011 in the process.

Everyone’s asking: Is this year’s Norwayne team better than last year’s? We know Brookfield is far better than last year, but are they improved from last year by enough margin to overtake the Bobcats? Well, after both went 9-1 in the regular season last year, Norwayne ran Brookfield out of the stadium with a 42-7 victory in the 1st round of the playoffs. This time around, it was Norwayne 42, Brookfield 7 again… less than 2 minutes into the 2nd half! The rout was on, as the Norwayne Bobcats improved to 13-0, repeating as Region 13 champions, with a 49-28 victory over the Brookfield Warriors (12-1). With Norwayne’s win, it sets up a Division IV Final 4 of all undefeated teams – Norwayne (13-0) vs St Clairsville (13-0, Region 15 champs), and Bishop Hartley (13-0, R14) vs Clinton-Massie (13-0, R16).

With as long and slowly as it may have taken everyone to get to the game because of outrageous traffic and pitiful parking, my fiance Jennifer and I finally made it to the sidelines about 10 seconds before the game kicked off. (While we both were focused on the game, Jennifer had a blast taking photos – check out the photo album on my Facebook page!)

The game itself sure started off with a bang as Norwayne, who routinely squib-kicks to avoid long runbacks, recovered the game’s opening kickoff after a Brookfield returner tried to pick up the bouncing ball on the run. The Bobcats weren’t able to capitalize, however, and turned the ball over on downs inside Brookfield’s 30. Brookfield was unable to move the ball and punted back to the Bobcats who used a nifty 4th down conversion pass to Brady Berger to move into Brookfield territory, eventually getting a goal-to-go situation. The Warrior defense stepped it up once again, putting together a variety of blitzes and getting to Norwayne QB Joe Dreher. After a failed 4th-and-goal from the 21, and an ensuing Brookfield punt, we were 4 possessions into the game and no score, something I don’t think anyone expected from these 2 high octane offenses (Norwayne averaging 52.8 ppg, Brookfield 46.4 coming into the game).

That was basically all she wrote, as Norwayne went on to score 42 of the next 49 points, scoring touchdowns on 6 straight possessions. On yet another drive where they were moving the ball, Norwayne went to a hurry-up, this time finally cashing in. They snapped the ball immediately after it was whistled live, catching the Brookfield D off-guard. DIV AP Northeast Inland District Offensive Player of the Year, RB Jon Zimmerly took the handoff, bounced to the outside, and outran a defender to the corner for a 37-yard touchdown run. After a Kollin Moore PAT, Norwayne had a 7-0 lead with 1:55 to go in the 1st quarter, and that was the score at the end of the frame.

The 2nd quarter was when the Bobcats did most their damage. After Brookfield failed to muster much offense against a stout defensive front and athletic backfield, Norwayne took advantage of a few key plays to get on the board. Near midfield, a Dreher (427 yds passing, 5 TD) fumble recovered by Brookfield was eventually ruled an incomplete pass, extending the drive. Then, on a 4th-and-short, Dreher’s hard cadence drew Brookfield offsides for the 1st down. That led to Dreher finding Caleb Harris behind the defense, wide open for a 25-yard touchdown with 9:46 to go in the half. It started a theme – getting behind the defense – as Harris burnt them again a short while later for a 70-yard score to put them up 21-0 with just over 6 minutes left in the half.

The Brookfield sideline was starting to groan a bit, while the other side of the field was seeing what they had been accustomed to all season. That didn’t last long, though, as the Warriors finally responded to get on the board with a solid drive, capped off by speedster RB Ryan Mosora (9 rush, 87 yds) finding paydirt from 16 yards out on the ground, making it 21-7 with 3:31 to go in the 1st half.

Norwayne’s Ritchie Smith (15) scored 2 touchdowns on the night (Jennifer Sturtevant photo)
That was as close as the Warriors would get all night. On the ensuing possession, another Norwayne receiver, Ritchie Smith, got behind the defense for a 26-yard scoring strike at the 1:28 mark. Yet another stalled Brookfield possession gave Norwayne the ball with not much time to work. They made it count, though, as the Bobcats ran the 2-minute drill with great execution. Dreher not only made big throws with players hanging his shoulders, but he also eluded pass rushers and escaped for a long 3rd down conversion using his own legs. With 0:05 left, at the 2 yard line, Dreher rolled right and found Brady Berger in the corner on a physical, perfectly-ran route to the near corner of the end zone, giving Norwayne the 35-7 lead at halftime. It was Berger’s only touchdown reception, but his big night included 9 catches for 129 yards.

Norwayne got the ball to start the second half (kind of like the 1st half), but they were on a roll this time, converting on a big 4th down to the 22 yard line, and scored for the 6th straight time a few plays later, this time on Ritchie Smith’s 2nd touchdown catch from 19 yards out. The largest lead of the game was 42-7 with 8:19 in the 3rd.

The game was over, but Brookfield needed something badly in a hurry if they wanted any hope at all of making it interesting. They did just that, finally garnering some offense through the air, since the ground game was going nowhere, by the arm of Warrior QB Jeremy Quinlan (204 yards passing). On their next 2 possessions, Quinlan connected with Collin Harkulich on touchdowns of 55 and 12 yards to bring the game to 42-21 with still more than a quarter to play.

Right when it was looking like Brookfield was going to make it a 14-point game, driving inside Norwayne’s 25, the Bobcat defense came up with the clincher, knocking the ball loose on one of many Quinlan-to-Mosora option plays, and Norwayne recovered the football. When they needed it most, a methodical drive by the Bobcats wore down Brookfield and got the ball inside their 2 yard line. That is where Brady Berger took the wildcat snap, and while fighting for the end zone, lost the ball, but teammate Caleb Barb was there to recover it in the end zone to take the wind out of Brookfield’s sails. Quinlan threw for his 3rd TD of the night midway through the 4th quarter, a 15-yard strike that capped scoring, and capping a nice season for the 3-sport star athlete who some say has a promising baseball career.

In a game that was somewhat of a snoozer in the 2nd half when Norwayne took out Zimmerly (15 rush, 106 yds, and oustanding play at defensive end) out of injury precaution, it was nice to see a team like Brookfield, who had gotten beaten up last year 42-7 at the hands of the Bobcats, go on a run in the 2nd half to make this one somewhat respectable. In the end, though, it was all about Norwayne and the big play early, and their defense limiting a vaunted Brookfield rushing attack, forcing them to go through the air. The Warriors eventually had some success, but the game was already out of reach.

Reading The Daily Record article this morning, here were some interesting stats for this Norwayne team:
QB Joe Dreher’s 40 TD passes ties last year’s state championship QB Adam Wallce’s area record. Surely Dreher will break that next week against St Clairsville. In addition, Dreher has tallied a whopping 3,609 yards through the air to go along with all those touchdowns.

On the receiving end of most of those yards has been Brady Berger, a big, fast, physical receiver, who has 1,333 receiving yards on the year, which, according to the DR, breaks Will Hansen’s (Loudonville) record of 1,321 set in 2005.

In addition to a 3,600-yard passer and 1,300-yard receiver, Norwayne also has a 2,000-yard rusher! Jon Zimmerly went over 2,000, pushing his season total to 2,076, which is 4th in the area for rushing yards in a season.

The team as a whole has now won 19 straight games, including 27 of their last 28.

It has definitely been an exciting few years for the little town of Creston. Coach Joe Harbour has an amazing program going; but as he openly admitted in my interview with him before this year began, West Holmes’ Coach Maltarich really helped set some of the foundation, upon which Harbour has continued to build. Maltarich is having an outstanding season himself, leading West Holmes to an 11-1 record. The Knights play at Fawcett Stadium tonight for the Division III Region 11 championship against Dover.
It’s an exciting time for area football fans, and we already have another week promised to bring more outstanding high school football action. Can West Holmes make it two? We’ll see!
BOX SCORE (courtesy The Daily Record):
N— Zimmerly 37 run (Moore kick) 1:55
N— Harris 25 pass from Dreher (Moore kick) 9:46
N— Harris 70 pass from Dreher (Moore kick) 6:07
B— Mosora 16 run (Quillan kick) 3:31
N— Smith 26 pass from Dreher (Moore kick) 1:28
N— Berger 2 pass from Dreher (Moore kick) 0:00
N— Smith 19 pass from Dreher (Moore kick) 8:19
B— Harkulich 55 pass from Quillan ( Quillan kick) 6:40
B— Harkulich 12 pass from Quillan (Quillan kick) 1:23
N— Barb 0 yd fumble recovery (Moore kick) 6:41
B— Quinlan 15 pass from Quillan ( Quillan kick) 5:21