Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils throttle Red Wolves 37-18 to celebrate homecoming
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(WICKLIFFE, OH) - Entering Friday night’s homecoming game, the Wickliffe Blue Devils had not scored in eight quarters and after starting the season 3-1 were 3-3. The two previous games they were outscored 54-0 by Berkshire and Trinity. Friday night was a different story as they welcomed the 2-3 Cuyahoga Heights Red Wolves to Memorial Stadium. After falling behind 6-0 the Blue Devils dominated the rest of the game taking home a 37-18 win.
After a missed field goal by the Blue Devils with 9:46 left in the first quarter the Red Wolves marched down the field 80 yards and took the lead on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Zach Shafer to Zach Unger with 3:06 left on the first quarter clock. The Red Wolves could not convert the two-point conversion giving the Red Wolves a 6-0 lead.
After Wickliffe got the ball back, they took the ball right down the field and scored on a one-yard run by junior quarterback Frankie Bucar. Junior kicker Drew Rossman converted the extra point to give Wickliffe the lead 7-6 with 8:41 left in the second quarter, a lead they never relinquished.
After an interception by senior Jimmy Wheeler the Blue Devils took advantage when Rossman booted a 45-yard field goal through the uprights to extend the Blue Devils advantage to 10-7 with 3:36 left on the second quarter clock. That is where the score stood at halftime as Wickliffe got a huge fourth down stop on a Red Wolves drive with :15 left on the clock.
Wickliffe got the second half kickoff and it took just one play and senior two sport athlete Logan Ruscin who also is the starting catcher on the Blue Devils baseball team took the ball 76 yard to the endzone to give the Blue Devils a 17-6 lead after Rossman hit the extra point with 11:37 left on the third quarter clock. Ruscin said after the game about the TD scamper, “running down the field hearing the crowd cheer feels great.” He went on to say, “getting the touchdown for my team, it’s a big play.”
The Red Wolves were not going away. With 6:44 left on the clock in the third quarter Shafer threw his second of the game when he hit sophomore Kurtis Van Divner from 12 yards to pull Cuyahoga Hts. to within five points at 17-12 after the two-point conversion failed.
After the Blue Devils were able to get a drive going the Red Wolves got the ball back and were driving when Blue Devils junior Ralph Jackson squashed any momentum Cuyahoga Hts. had and completely changed the tide of the game when he pulled down an interception and returned it 46 yard for a pick-six giving Wickliffe a 23-12 lead with 11:01 left on the 4th quarter clock after the extra point was blocked.
The Red Wolves were able to pull to within five points at 23-18 with 6:24 left after Shafer once again hit Van Divner in the endzone again, this time from 13 yards. The two-point conversion once again failed.
Wickliffe put the game out of reach on the next drive when Bucar hit senior and homecoming king Nunzio Zivnoska with a short pass and Zivnoska did the rest taking 81 yards to the endzone basically sealing the Blue Devils victory.
After the Blue Devils stopped the Red Wolves on down with 2:36 left on the clock Rusin finished his big night with a 20-yard touchdown run extending the Wickliffe lead to 37-18 which turned out to be the final score.
Ruscin once again led the Blue Devils on the ground rushing just five times for 105 yards. Zivnoska was Wickliffe’s leading receiver pulling down two Bucar passes for 83 yards. Bucar had a perfect night in the air three completions on three attempts for 93 yards and a TD.
Shafer had a nice night for the Red Wolves in defeat completing 19 of 35 passes for 236 yards, three TD’s and two interceptions. Van Divner caught eight of Shafer’s passes for 111 yards.
Next week the Blue Devils will travel to face Independence who defeated Brooklyn on Friday night 41-6 and are 3-4 on the year and 2-0 in the conference. Game time is 7 pm..
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 10/04/2024 00:35
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Photo by Tim Shirer
