DEFENSE UP TO THE CHALLENGE TOO

By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer

Sunday morning, September 7, 2014

NORTH ROYALTON – For some it may come as a surprise that the eight touchdowns the Bees have scored this season have all come via the forward pass. To others, they might just shrug their shoulders and say, “That’s Brecksville.”

Either way, the one thing that Brecksville-Broadview Heights (2-0) has been able to do this season on offense is pass the ball consistently and efficiently. And the Bees have accomplished that without the benefit of a single home run ball.

Its defense, which had allowed only 9.6 points per game during last years regular season schedule, is permitting 10.5 per game so far in 2014. It has been an opportunistic group as well. Through two games the Bees are plus four in the turnover department.

Brecksville turned three North Royalton miscues into 20 points in a 26-8 non-conference win over the Bears on Friday night at Serpentini Stadium in the Golden Shoe Game.

The Bees passing game, which completed 78.6 percent of its throws against Holy Name in the season opener, was spot-on Friday as well. Luke Strnad and Danny Shirilla combined to complete 71.4 percent of balls thrown.

Strnad, a sophomore in his first varsity start, went 19 for 26 for 202 yards. He tossed all four scoring passes against the Bears (0-2). Strnad was not intercepted. He completed 73 percent of his throws. Shirilla was one of two for 13 yards.

Ground To a Halt

Neither the Bees nor the Bears did much on the ground in week two. Brecksville ran the ball 29 times for 88 yards (3.0). Royalton carted the pigskin 25 times for only 65 yards (2.6).

The games only rushing touchdown came with 5:35 to play when the Bears Shane Tyson rambled in from seven yards out. TJ Hoffman started at quarterback for North Royalton. The sophomore played well into the fourth quarter. He was relieved by classmate Nick Coberly who finished off the Bears lone scoring drive.

The Royalton quarterbacks went a combined 14 of 26 for 165 yards. Hoffman had the majority of those numbers.

All-in-all Brecksville out-gained its arch rival, 303-to-230.

Room For Improvement

Strnad led the Bees running game with 28 yards on seven carries. Shirilla added 27 on four totes. Four others combined to pick-up 33 yards.

“There are a lot of things we have to work on in terms of the running game. You can’t throw the ball all the time to win consistently no matter what the defenses give you,” said Bees head coach Jason Black on Friday. “We have to get on people and stay on people a lot more. Our offensive line is young. For a lot of them this is their first varsity experience. So they need to figure out what the intensity level is and what the aggression level is in a varsity game. That’s not an easy thing. It’s a learning process. But it’s good to learn it with wins.”

Strnad, who has been confident and consistent in a pair of Friday night appearances, understands the value of an effective ground game as well. “We’ll work on that in practice. This is only week two. We’ll improve there,” Strnad said.

Making a Haul

For the last four years Brecksville’s receivers have become the teams golden boys. They have been aided by incredibly gifted quarterbacks in Tommy and Timmy Tupa. The fact that one-hundred percent of the Bees touchdowns this season have been air-mailed perhaps isn’t that big of a surprise.

Leading the way in the ball-catching department is junior Tyler Tupa. That is definitely not a surprise. North Royalton, much like Holy Name, had match-up challenges in attempting to defend him. Tupa hauled in a game-high eight passes for 92 yards. He scored the Bees first two touchdowns and has five scoring receptions in total.

Garrett Patterson had a night against the Bears. He grabbed six passes for 81 yards. He scored the Bees other two touchdowns. Junior two-way standout Danny Shirilla was on the receiving end of four Strnad passes for 35 yards. Josh Underwood and Joey McGonegal each caught one.

Shirilla, as the Bees only returning starter on defense, is multi-skilled. And because he is such a student of the game he is multi-tasked. When he is not ball-hawking or making tackles from his position in the secondary he is lining-up behind center, out at wide receiver or running the ball. In his spare time he holds for kicks and is the pivot-point of the Bees muddle-huddle extra point package.

Rising To The Occasion

Not overshadowed by the teams passing parade the Bees defense now has eight varsity quarters of experience under their green belts. In two games it has allowed only three touchdowns. The late one that Holy Name scored was of the token variety. On Friday night, when Royalton went on a lengthy drive to score its only TD, the Bees defense was slightly stymied by the infusion of Nick Coberly to the Bears offense.

But by that time the game was pretty much out of reach. The damage had been done. And it was by Brecksville’s defense that forced the Bears into three costly turnovers. Senior defensive back Troy Walter recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass, his third of the season. Sophomore defensive end Victor Bierman pounced on a fumble.

The leading hit man was Joe Mandato. The senior defensive end was in on 11 stops including three solo tackles. Ryder Seballos was in double-figures in tackles for the second straight week with ten.

Junior defensive tackle Nick Sokolowski had nine pops, including three solo’s. Senior linebacker Joe Dimitrijevs and classmates Ryan Lambert and Troy Walter all were in on seven tackles. Niall Lewison added a half dozen. Dimitrijevs had two quarterback hurries.

The Bees bottled-up the Bears running game with six tackles for a loss. The hounded its quarterbacks by sacking them three times (Sokolowski, Mandato and Seballos).

Brecksville held North Royalton to 12 first downs. Seven of them came via the pass. The Bees registered 13 chain-movers. Ten of them through the air. Coach Black was right on when he said that his team will need to do a better job of moving the ball on the ground.

Senior kicker Jakob Nypaver averaged 50 yards on five kick offs. He booted a duo of extra points. The game was clean. Only six total penalties were accepted. Four of those were walked off against the red and gold.

Two Week Tallies

Through two games Josh Underwood is Brecksville’s leading rusher with 86 yards. Strnad has 83. In the air Strnad is completing 76.4% of his throws. He is 39 of 51 for 367 yards and seven touchdowns. He has only been intercepted once.

Tupa is the squads leading scorer with five touchdowns. He has snagged 16 passes for 173 yards. Patterson has 102 yards and two TD’s on 10 grabs.

Brecksville’s top defenders have been; Seballos, Mandato, Dimitrijevs, Sokolowski, Walter, Lambert and Shirilla. Walter has been the turnover king. He has three picks and one fumble recovery. “When you are around the ball good things happen and Troy has been around the ball,” Black said.

The Bees are averaging 27 points per game and allowing 10.5. They are doing it with two totally rebuilt units after losing 20- of 22 starters to graduation. They have won 12 of their last 14 football games and are headed home to face one of the teams that beat them during that stretch.

Getting There

Although Brecksville is a little less green than it was two weeks ago, it is far from a ripened product. This week will determine either how much the Bees have truly progressed. Or it well tell how far they still have to go.

 

Please stay tuned to the Bees website for Monday nights preview of the week three home game against Hudson.

 

See You At The Bee Hive!

To contact: Ddipa67834@aol.com.

Follow the Lady Bees volleyball team on-line at:  beesvolleyball.com. Brecksville entertains Olmsted Falls Tuesday night.

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