Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils move to 2-0 with 24-14 win over St. John
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(GENEVA, OH) - Friday night the Wickliffe Blue Devils (2-0) traveled to Spire Institute in Geneva to take on the St. John Heralds. Early on Wickliffe who throttled Chippewa 42-7 in the season opener found out the Heralds were a much improved team. But in the end Wickliffe, who has improved since last season, held off the Heralds for the 24-14 win.
Wickliffe struck first on a 28-yard field goal by junior Drew Rossman with 5:13 left in the third quarter. Rossman, a soccer player, just joined the football team during the week to help with the kicking duties. He also plays basketball.
The scoreboard didn’t change until there was 8:46 left in the second quarter when Ryan Williams took the ball into the endzone from 11 yards out. The Heralds failed to convert the two-point conversion and led 6-3.
The Herald’s only lead of the night lasted only 22 seconds. Wickliffe took possession after the kickoff at their own 35. One play later Wickliffe led 10-6 after Ralph Jackson took the ball 65 yards for a touchdown and extra point by Rossman with 8:34 left in the first half. The score remained 10-6 at the half.
The second half started off slow as both teams failed to score on their first drives. Wickliffe, however, increased their lead to 17-6 with 1:56 left in the third quarter when Jimmie Feaster jetted 23 yards for the score and extra point by Rossman.
The Heralds were not going away with 7:33 left in the fourth quarter Williams crossed the goal line again. This time the Mike Alstott clone took the ball in from four yards out and converted the two-point conversion on a run to cut the Blue Devils lead to 17-14.
The Blue Devils proved they are an improved team over last season as they took possession and kept the ball running it to sustain the drive and scored on a four-yard Feaster run with just :57 left on the game clock. Wickliffe coach Marce Porcello commented after the game about the final drive, “I told our guys I was really proud about that last drive. We chewed up about six or seven minutes and just kind of smash mouth football and ended up punching it in.” He went on to say, “I think we took care of the little things down the stretch which the past few years we haven’t done that.”
Jackson led all rushers with 14 carries for 156 yards and 1 TD. Feaster rushed 11 times for 70 yards and 2 TDs.
The Blue Devils will travel to Orange to face the Lions (2-0) who defeated Mineral Ridge 50-22 on Friday night. Game time scheduled for 6:50 pm.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 08/31/2024 02:32
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Photo by Tim Shirer
