4 TD PASSES SINK GREEN WAVE
By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer
Friday night, August 29, 2014
NORTH ROYALTON – Bees head coach Jason Black said that his teams offensive philosophy is to throw the ball to who is open and do what works. It doesn’t matter who throws it, who catches it or when it happens. As long as it does Brecksville-Broadview Heights will be just fine.
And fine and dandy the Bees were tonight in a 28-13 season opening non-league victory over Holy Name in a game played here at Serpentini Stadium on a glorious night for football.
Two different Brecksville quarterbacks, the two-headed monster if you will, combined to throw four touchdown passes as the Bees defeated the Green Wave for the second straight year.
Junior wide receiver Tyler Tupa was on the receiving end of three of those aerials. Junior wide receiver Niall Lewison snagged the other. Sophomore quarterback Luke Strnad fired a trio of TD passes in his varsity debut. Junior starter Danny Shirilla found Tupa early in the opening quarter for Brecksville’s first score of the season.
It was an impressive win for Brecksville (1-0) who graduated 20 starters from a team that went 10-2 last year and claimed the outright Southwestern Conference championship.
“It was a good start but we have a whole heck of a lot of work to do. It’s extremely hard to replace experience in this setting. Under the Friday night lights, where everybody is watching and when the wins and losses count,” said Black shortly after the victory. “We are growing through this together right now. We’re going to have our ups and downs throughout the game. There were times tonight where we weren’t stopped offensively and defensively. And there were times where we couldn’t do anything right. We’re going to have those growing pains. We’re just going to have to minimize them.”
Capitalizing On The Carpet
On Holy Names first possession the Bees forced the Green Wave into a mistake of their own. Senior linebacker Joe Dimitrijevs picked up a botched hand-off at midfield and returned it 16 yards to set-up Brecksville’s initial scoring drive.
When everyone in the ballpark thought that Tom Tupa, the Bees wily offensive coordinator, would immediately go for the jugular with a bomb to Tyler Tupa, Brecksville handed off four straight times. How is that for the element of surprise?
Shirilla, who got the starting nod at QB, then hit junior running back Josh Underwood for a ten-yard gain to the Namer’s 15. Shirilla followed that by calling his own number, picking up seven yards to the eight. On a first and goal play he connected with Tupa on an inside screen play that was executed to perfection and resulted in an eight-yard touchdown.
Out of the fabled muddle-huddle alignment Shirilla went virtually untouched into the end zone for the two-point conversion. The drive took seven plays and covered 66 yards in 2:41. That put the visitors on top 8-0 just 4:18 into the game.
H-N Rolls To A Score
The Green Wave (0-1) wasted little time in answering. They took the ensuing kickoff back to the Bees 40. On first down senior quarterback Christian Klink raced 20 yards to Brecksville’s 20. On the next play Klink fired a bullet across the middle to junior running back Shakif “Fish” Seymour. Seymour broke three tackles and romped 20 yards into the end zone. Collin Fabian’s kick made it 8-7.
Strnad entered the game at quarterback for Brecksville. On his first varsity carry he went 28 yards on a keeper right up the middle. Underwood galloped for eight more. And then Strnad completed his first varsity pass to senior wide out Garrett Patterson for a first down at the Waves 40.
Strnad found Tupa for 16 yards to the 22. And then, on a first and goal from the H-N five, Strnad drilled a nine-yard strike to Tupa for the Bees second tally. Ryan Lambert’s two-point pass attempt on the extra point was broken-up by Dean Cassell.
The TD march covered 80 yards in nine plays and took 3:17.
The quarter ended with Brecksville on top, 14-7. The second stanza would go scoreless as both teams appeared to have settled into the game after somewhat of a frenzied start.
Practice Makes Perfect
Midway through the second quarter Troy Walter, a senior defensive back, picked off Klink in front of the Bees bench. Walter would go on to intercept his second pass of the night when the Wave scored late in the final frame and attempted a pass play for the extra points.
“We go over those things in practice. Holy Name ran the same routes that we went over in practice and I just jumped them,” Walter said of his varsity debut and night to remember. “We did it in practice and we carried it over into the game.”
Neither team did anything with the ball for the duration of the half and the score remained 14-7 Brecksville at intermission.
Introducing Niall Lewison
Strnad started the second half at quarterback. He engineered an impressive drive that resulted in a score. Strnad completed back-to-back passes to Lewison (for eight yards) and to Tupa (for nine). Patterson hauled in a five-yard toss on the march. But the play of the drive was when, on a fourth down and two from Holy Names 23, Strnad dialed-up his own number and went around the right side for three big yards and a fresh set of downs.
Strnad drilled a pass to Lewison who picked up 15, giving the Bees the ball with a first and goal at the Green Wave five. He then rolled to his right and tossed the leather to Lewison who had nothing but green turf and the end zone staring him in the face. “We ran a bubble to the right. The receivers did a great job blocking. It was wide open.” Lewison said.
Jakob Nypaver, the Bees senior kicker, added the point-after for a 21-7 lead with 7:45 remaining in the third quarter as soccer horns blared from the area near the east concession stand.
The second half opening drive covered 59 yards in ten plays and ate up 4:04 of clock.
“There is another guy who stepped up offensively, defensively and on special teams; with his punt returns, kick off returns, everything,” Black said of Lewison.
Holy Name, out of the North Coast League, got five yards from Seymour on first down. Then Klink, a transfer from St. Ignatius, threw two incomplete passes. The Wave were forced to punt.
The Clinching Drive
Strnad, who had the hot hand, remained in the game. He found Tupa for eight yards and Patterson for five more. On second and two from the H-N 24 Strnad raced 13 yards to the 11 for a chain mover.
On third and goal from the nine Strnad threaded a laser to Tupa who was on a crossing pattern in the end zone. The ball was low but right on the money. Tupa laid out and hauled in the dart for Brecksville’s fourth and final touchdown. Nypaver’s kick made it 28-7 with 1:40 remaining in the third.
The drive took 4:38 and covered 66 yards in nine snaps.
“That last touchdown catch that Tyler Tupa made. How did he do that? How did that happen? I thought he was covered,” Black said in recalling the play. “I was looking at somebody else. All of a sudden the ball goes to him and he’s got it and he’s holding it up. Did you expect anything different when the ball got to him? You expect him to make catches like that. That’s how spoiled we are. We expect Tyler to make those kind of catches.”
For Tupa, his three-touchdown performance seemed like just another day at the office. “We had great protection from our line and our quarterbacks found us. I got off my defender a couple of times. I was able to shake him and get open,” Tupa said.
The Bees Steve Klaus, a sophomore defensive back, broke-up a Klink pass to end a Green Wave drive midway through the fourth period.
On the Green Waves next possession Klink connected with Mickey Williams on a long ball that gave them a first and goal at the Brecksville five. On the next play Klink scrambled to his left, saw an opening, and ran hard to pay dirt. That made the score 28-13 with 2:05 to go. Which is how the game ended when Walter thwarted the hosts extra point pass attempt with his second interception.
Nice Night For The D
“How about Walters’ two picks? He broke on the ball. He had some nice hits. He’s definitely a kid who needs to do well and he stepped-up in his first varsity start. How good is that?”, said Black.
The Bees defense did a fine job on Seymour, who came into the game with some press clippings. “I thought we did a really good job of containing Seymour,” said Brecksville junior defensive tackle Nick Sokolowski. “We went with a straight defense and we played them hard and we came out with the victory. This win was huge. It pumps us up for the rest of the season. It get’s us going. We’re 1-0, but that’s not good enough. We have to work harder.”
Brecksville’s simple defensive philosophy was effective in containing Seymour and limiting Klink. “We swarm and attack. Get multiple helmets to the ball. That’s how we play defense. We can’t do it any other way,” Black said of a unit that, other than the two-play, 40-yard scoring strike that Holy Named used to answer the Bees first possession touchdown, was held in check until the games final two minutes when it was out of reach.
Two Heads Are Better Than One
The Bees two quarterback system, that really isn’t systematic at all, was more effective than even the most cold-blooded cynic would admit. Both Shirilla and Strnad moved the team with authority. They looked comfortable and completely at ease in the position.
That was impressive considering that Shirilla came on only in mop-up duty of Timmy Tupa last season when Beeville had large leads. And, think about this, Strnad was on the freshmen team a year ago. “Both our quarterbacks were good tonight,” Tyler Tupa said. “It was a good start for both Danny and Luke.”
Black and his staff are perfectly fine with letting both quarterbacks do what they do best. And each brings a different skill-set to the playing field. “They both do things well. And situations will dictate who plays quarterback. They are both unselfish kids. They don’t care who plays they just want to win,” Black said.
Coming Into Focus
With each passing week Black is getting his questions answered. When you replace 20 starters from an excellent team, that can make for some sleepless off-season nights. “1-0 is better than 0-1 any day of the week. It looks a lot better,” Black said with a laugh when asked how important opening the season with a win was considering his inexperienced lineup took on a much-improved Holy Name team.
“What’s nice to see in replacing 20 starters is that they grew together tonight. You saw sophomores, you saw juniors and you saw seniors who, in their first time on a Friday night, really grew,” Black said. “They gained experience, got some confidence and got a win under their belt. So now you go and play in week two with a win.”
“It was a big win for us,” Lewison said. “We have to keep on improving and keep it going.”
LINE SCORE:
BEES (1-0) 14 0 14 0 = 28
GREEN WAVE (0-1) 7 0 0 6 = 13
SCORING SUMMARY:
1) – BEES ….. Danny Shirilla 8 pass to Tyler Tupa. Shirilla run. 8-0 Bees (7:42).
1) – H-N ….. Christian Klink 20 pass to Shakif Seymour. Collin Fabian kick. 8-7. Bees (7:04).
1) – BEES ….. Luke Strnad 9 pass to Tyler Tupa. Pass failed. 14-7 Bees. (3:41).
2) – No scoring.
3) – BEES ….. Luke Strnad 5 pass to Niall Lewison. Jakob Nypaver kick. 21-7 Bees. (7:45).
3) – BEES ….. Luke Strnad 9 pass to Tyler Tupa. Jakob Nypaver kick. 28-7 Bees. (1:40).
4) – H-N ….. Christian Klink. 5 run. Pass intercepted by Troy Walter. 28-13 Bees. (2:05).
FINAL SCORE: 28-13, Brecksville.
Please stay tuned to the Bees football website for Saturdays sidebar story on the Holy Name game. On Sunday we will take a look inside the statistics from the lid-lifter. And on Monday there will be a preview of next Friday nights big battle for the Golden Shoe.
See You At The Bee Hive!
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