SWC WIN IN DOUBT UNTIL THE END

By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer

Friday night, September 19, 2014

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS – The collective and audible sigh of relief you heard coming from the field was the Bees coaching staff and players exhaling when the clock struck zeroes here tonight.

Brecksville-Broadview Heights had an impressive 21-0 lead at the half and then had to hang on by the skin of its teeth to hold off hard-charging Olmsted Falls for a 28-21 Southwestern Conference victory at Community Stadium.

It wasn’t until Tyler Tupa intercepted Aaron Zawadzki’s pass at the Bees 40-yard line on the games final play that Brecksville could walk off the field victorious.

Tupa, a junior wide receiver, punter and as-needed defensive back, caught three touchdown passes. His 36-yard TD reception with 11:50 remaining in the game proved to be the difference. But few would have thought that at the time because that tally gave the hosts a handy 28-7 margin.

Olmsted Falls (1-3, 0-1 SWC) scored all its points after intermission. To make the game a nail-biter until the very end the Bulldogs scored a pair of touchdowns in the tilts final 8:57. They had the ball last with Brecksville on the ropes.

Even when Troy Walter recovered the Fall-Dogs onside kick with 2:45 left the Bees could not shut the door. Like the neighbors pesky dog that was silent all day and awoke to bark loud and long into the night O-F nipped at Brecksville’s heels until the final gun.

“We have a lot of issues closing out football games. That’s part of being a young football team,” said veteran BBHHS head coach Jason Black. “This was a lot of these guys’ first time in a conference game where we were up at halftime. You should finish the game out. But we struggled to do that. Hopefully we will respond better the next time we are in that situation.”

Olmsted Falls senior quarterback Nick Fritz did not play. In his stead was junior Aaron Zawadzki. The unpublished book on Zawadzki was that he could throw.

But before Zawadzki had a chance to show off his arm Brecksville had turned three Bulldog mistakes into a 21-0 advantage.

Opportunistic Bees

The first miscue came at the end of Falls’ opening possession. On a fourth down and 14 situation from his own 35 Rickey Castrigano was back in punt formation. The long-snap from center sailed over his head. Emerging from the scrum was the Bees Joe Mandato who fell on the loose pigskin at the 7-yard line.

“I saw the ball go straight over his head. Once I saw that I just reacted and went in. Either Ryder Seballos or Victor Bierman made a great play by hitting the punter, which caused him to lose the ball. And I came up with it,” Mandato, a senior linebacker, said.

A buzz-killing delay of game penalty moved the ball back from the seven to the 12. On first down Bees sophomore quarterback Luke Strnad completed an 11-yard pass to Garrett Patterson at the Falls’ one. In the next two plays Brecksville moved the ball approximately 34 inches. On fourth and goal from the two-inch line Strnad carried the ball over left tackle for a touchdown.

Jakob Nypaver’s extra point kick gave the Bees a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest. Nypaver, a senior, would go on to boot three more extra points.

The first quarter ended 7-0.

On the Bulldogs first possession of the second period Troy Walter intercepted Zawadzki at his own 27. It was Walters’ fourth pick in as many games. And it ended a ten-play O-F drive that went for naught.

Brecksville (3-1, 1-0 SWC) put together a solid 8-play, 73-yard drive and would make the Bulldogs pay for their second mistake.

Strnad hit Tupa for a 17-yard gain on a key third and ten play. Junior running back Josh Underwood galloped 23 yards to the Bulldogs 25. Strnad ran for 14 on first down.

And on a second and 11 play from the visitors 12, Bees offensive coordinator Tom Tupa dug into his deep bag of tricks. Strnad handed off to junior wide receiver Danny Shirilla who lined up on the left side and reversed to the right. Shirilla stopped on the dime and threw a perfect pass to Tyler Tupa in the end zone. Tupa was covered like a table. Three Bulldogs were on him and one was flagged for pass interference. But that mattered little as Tupa made a one-handed grab in heavy traffic while being fouled.

Capitalizing Again

Trailing 14-0 Falls became a run dominant team rather than airing it out to get back in the game quicker. With Spencer Linville and Alex Wildenhaus picking-up good chunks of yardage behind a physical offensive line that was dictating its terms, they methodically moved the sticks from their own 20 to Brecksville’s 30.

In impressive fashion the Bulldogs went 50 yards on nine plays. They then went to the air. Turnover number three.

Zawadzki’s first down pass from the Bees 30 was intercepted by Joe Dimitrijevs. It was another solid drive that would not render a fruitful harvest for O-F.

In business at the ‘Dogs 33 with 48 seconds remaining in the half, Strnad connected with Patterson for a 7-yard gain. He called his own number the next two plays and netted 20 more yards.

With 9.6 seconds on the clock Strnad lofted a 40-yard pass that Tupa never broke stride on down the right hash marks. He twisted and turned his body to keep his defenders at bay and Strnad’s strike found Tupa’s soft hands in the end zone.

With that play Brecksville took a 21-0 lead with them into the clubhouse.

One of the many things that makes Tupa so difficult to defend is that he adapts to whatever the defenses are trying to do to thwart him. In this case tight double-coverage.

“Shielding is a lot like playing basketball. Going up to get a rebound you have to put your body between the defender and the ball,” Tupa said. “That’s what I’ve taken from basketball and incorporated into football.”

Dogged Determination

The Bees punted away the ball on their opening possession of the second half. Falls took advantage.

On a second and nine play from his own 30 Zawadzki showed the passing ability that had Brecksville defensive coordinator John Shirilla concerned coming in. He hit junior wide receiver Kevin Meehan for a 70-yard touchdown. Meehan easily raced away from blown Bees coverage. Castrigano’s extra point made it 21-7 two and a half minutes into the third stanza.

The third quarter ended with the score unchanged.

Tupa hauled in his third TD pass of the picture-perfect night when Strnad found him from 36 yards out. That tally came on the first play of the final frame. And it gave Beeville a 28-7 lead.

Play defense, run the clock and go home with a league win right? It wasn’t that easy. It never is against Olmsted Falls.

Zawadzki threw to Wildenhaus for a 50-yard gain. The Bulldogs were on the prowl. On a first and goal from the Bees eight junior running back Matt Garrett burst up the middle to pay dirt. Castrigano’s kick narrowed the margin to 28-14 with 8:57 left in the game.

The eye-opening Bulldogs drive covered 74 yards (8 plays) in 2:52.

Leaving The Door Open

The Bees had a chance to stave off the comeback and put the game out of reach and appeared to be doing just that. Underwood carried the ball five times for 25 yards on the drive that began at their own 27. Strnad completed a 22-yard strike to Patterson that went from the 44 to the 22.

On first down Underwood broke open up the middle and stampeded 22 yards for a score. But the play, Underwood’s would-be first varsity TD, was called back due to a holding penalty.

The possession was rebooted at the Bulldogs 28. Strnad hurled the pigskin to Patterson who was well-defended in the north end zone. G-Pat nearly came up with a spectacular touchdown reception, but the acrobatic juggle eventually found the turf. The Bees went to Patterson three more times in succession. None found the mark and the red and gold surrendered the ball on downs.

Zawadzki, now playing with confidence, drilled a 21-yard dart to Meehan. On first and ten at the 49 Zawadzki was sacked by Eddie Sternad. “I knew we had to make a big play right there,” Sternad said.

Sternad’s heroics were washed out on the next play when the Bees were flagged for a face mask penalty.

That sense of new life allowed Zawadzki to complete a 33-yard pass to Matt Archual and a 21-yarder to Meehan. The nifty pair of chain-movers gave the Bulldogs a first and goal at the Bees one. Zawadzki sneaked it in from there. When Castrigano’s kick split the uprights with 2:54 remaining you could cut the tension on the home sideline with a butter knife.

Walter’s recovery of the ensuing on-side kick appeared to be the clincher. Incredibly it wasn’t.

Frustrating Final Minutes

In three plays beginning at their own 45 the Bees managed one first down and then things came to a standstill. To rub salt in the wound Underwood was injured on a third down play and had to be helped off the field. It was now fourth and six at the ‘Dogs 40 and Tupa lined up to punt. Only he didn’t. Instead “Roo” took off for the first down marker.

After a measurement he was about two inches short and Falls had one last chance with 3.2 ticks to go.

Zawadzki’s pass down the middle of the field was picked off by Tupa as the clock ran out. Tupa alertly slid to the turf and the Bees had escaped.

“Olmsted Falls played so hard. That’s what the Southwestern Conference is. You are going to have some grinders,” Black said. “We made plays when we had to. I would like to see us not bend so much. We have a lot of things that need to be corrected as we move forward because the games only get bigger.”

Four turnovers sealed the Bulldogs fate. The early fumble recovery by Mandato on the botched punt and first half picks by Walter and Dimitrijevs were huge. Tupa’s game-ending interception was a classic example of big-time players making big plays at critical times.

Back in The Victory Column

 

When all was said and done the bottom line is that Brecksville was able to bounce back from last week’s embarrassing 34-point non-conference loss to Hudson.

“This was definitely needed. You always have that question of how your team is going to respond, especially after the adversity of last week,” Black said. “It was nice to see the guys do that.”

For Mandato the victory was the culmination of a challenging week. He was actually hospitalized with the flu early in the week. And even though far from one-hundred percent Mandato gutted it out. Several times, late in the game, his teammates came over to check on him on the bench. He will sleep like a baby tonight.

“Last week was a rough one. Hudson. Great team. But we didn’t play to our potential. It should have been closer,” Mandato said. “But we needed this win to start conference play off strong and give us a chance to meet our conference goals.”

For Tupa it was imperative that the Bees rinsed the sour taste of last weeks home-opening defeat from their psyche’s. “This was probably our best week of practice all year because we knew that we had to bounce back strong against a good Olmsted Falls team,” Tupa said. “That’s what we did. We came out strong with a lot of intensity.”

 

LINE SCORE:

FALLS ….. 0     0     7     14     = 21

BEES ……. 7     14    0      7      = 28

 

BOX SCORE:

1) – Bees … Luke Strnad 1 run. Jakob Nypaver kick. 7-0 Bees (9:06).

2) – Bees … Danny Shirilla 12 pass to Tyler Tupa. Jakob Nypaver kick. 14-0 Bees (3:42).

2) – Bees … Luke Strnad 40 pass to Tyler Tupa. Jakob Nypaver kick. 21-0 Bees (00:48).

3) – Falls … Aaron Zawadzki 70 pass to Kevin Meehan. Rickey Castrigano kick. 21-7 Bees (9:30).

4) – Bees … Luke Strnad 36 pass to Tyler Tupa. Jakob Nypaver kick, 28-7 Bees (11:50).

4) – Falls … Matt Garrett 8 run. Rickey Castrigano kick. 28-14 Bees (8:57).

4) – Falls … Aaron Zawadzki 1 run. Rickey Castrigano kick. 28-21 Bees (2:54).

 

Please stay tuned to the Bees football website this weekend for the notes and quotes side bar story, the stats story and Monday nights preview story of Brecksville’s week five opponent, North Olmsted.

 

See You At The Bee Hive!

To contact: Ddipa67834@aol.com.

Follow the Lady Bees volleyball team on the web at: beesvolleyball.com. Brecksville plays at Strongsville in a non-league match Saturday evening.

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