Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils dominate Hurricanes 42-8
JOEY SCHNEIDER
STAFF
(WICKLIFFE, OH) - The Wickliffe Blue Devils played host to the Brooklyn Hurricanes on Friday night. The chill of Autumn was in the air at Wickliffe Memorial Stadium as it was Senior night for the Wickliffe Swing Band.
Wickliffe ran wild all game long starting on the opening drive in the first quarter, which ended with junior quarterback Frankie Bucar taking the ball five yards around the end and scoring the first touchdown of the game.
Rushing and defense was the name of the game all night for the Blue Devils. After a holding penalty which backed Wickliffe up to their own eight yard line, senior running back Logan Ruscin would take the hand off around the right end, breaking multiple tackles, cross the field and was off to the races outpacing the Hurricanes defense and taking the ball 92 yards for another Blue Devils touchdown, giving them the lead 14-0.
After another defensive stop from the Blue Devils, the offense drove the ball down the field and senior running back Nunzio Zivnoska wanted to get in on the action as he ended the drive with a three-yard rushing touchdown with 3:21 left in the first quarter.
Brooklyn would fumble the snap on a punt attempt giving Wickliffe the ball at the 41-yard line and the Blue Devils would again capitalize on the next play with Frankie Bucar finding senior wide out Jim Wheeler streaking down the sideline and delivering a strike for a 41-yard touchdown connection. The point after was missed and the first quarter ended with the Blue Devils leading 27-0.
The second quarter was dominated by a long drive by Brooklyn taking the ball down to Wickliffe's nine-yard line. Two false start penalties would stifle the drive, and the Blue Devils would stop them on a fourth and long with three minutes left in the first half.
Wickliffe would score once again on a 14-yard run just before halftime by junior running back Jimmie Feaster. Wickliffe would head into the locker room with a 34-0 lead.
The Blue Devils had 320 team rushing yards by halftime.
When the teams came back out for the second half, the running clock was in effect as The Blue Devils led by more than 30.
Wickliffe would play their second string players in the latter half of the game.
Wickliffe's freshman running back would add to the Blue Devil's lead at the end of the third quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Cole Vanatta. Wickliffe would then convert on a two-point attempt giving the Blue Devils the lead 42-0.
The fourth quarter went back and forth until Brooklyn showed a lot of resilience and it paid off as they scored with 1:01 left in the game when freshman quarterback Mason Vega found senior wide receiver Tyler Cox for a 25 yard touchdown. Brooklyn converted a two-point attempt of their own. Wickliffe would run out the clock and take the win with a final score of 42-8.
Wickliffe head coach Marce Porcello was asked after the game about six different players scoring. "That's something that we kind of stressed all season. We get multiple guys the ball and I think it makes us pretty dangerous on offense, and we have a lot of weapons this year."
Wickliffe improves to 6-3 this year and will finish off the regular season next week at home taking on the Beachwood Bison. Brooklyn falls to 2-7 on the year and will cap off their season hosting the Cuyahoga Heights Red Wolves.
POSTED 10/19/2024 00:50
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Photo by Joey Schneider
