THE DAY AFTER THE BIG WIN
By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer
Saturday night, September 6, 2014
NORTH ROYALTON – In the 24 hours since the Bees 26-8 victory over arch rival North Royalton players savored the big win, the teams second in as many starts this young season. Physically tired, bruised but not defeated, smiles were evident all day from Brecksville-Broadview Heights players who spent Saturday taking in the myriad of athletic events pitting the Bees against the Bears.
And even though Royalton grabbed possession of the Principal’s Cup, the Bees football team has in its grips the trophy that matters most to them. The Golden Shoe.
For the second straight year and for the fourth time in the last five, the old gold painted boot will rest comfortably in the BBHHS trophy case. Brecksville has bragging rights over its longtime rival to the west for the next 364 days.
“I’m a little sore, but I’m all right,” said sophomore quarterback Luke Strnad at this evenings boys soccer game at Community Stadium.
“I’m tired,” Nick Sokolowski mentioned when he, along with Tyler Tupa, took in the Lady Bees volleyball match this afternoon at the Bears Den.
From Josh Underwood to Danny Shirilla, from Ryder Seballos to Joe Dimitrijevs, the Bees basked in the glow of a hard- earned victory.
It was 86 degrees upon arrival at Serpentini Stadium last night. The time was 6:00 pm. When the game ended at about 9:15 the air temperature had only dropped four digits. It was warm and windy but the rain and the lightning held off until everyone was either home or “getting soaked at Swenson’s” as senior volleyball player Dani D’Anna said this morning.
As expected there was a large crowd at Serpentini last night. The Bees side was a sea of red. Seniors painted their bodies red. On the Bears side the white-clad “Royalton Rowdies” packed their section nearly to the top of the seemingly sky-high grandstand.
The annual battle for the Golden Shoe is a red circle date on both teams calendar. “There’s no better place to be. This epitomizes what high school football is all about,” said longtime North Royalton head coach “Papa” Nick Ciulli about 45 minutes before kickoff at midfield. “North Royalton coaches are from Brecksville. Brecksville coaches are from North Royalton. We are all friends. But tonight let’s get after it.”
Pregame Pageantry
Fans filed in. The Marching Bees made their grand entrance and filled the northernmost section on the visitors side. Their traditional drum line tunes added to the fantastic atmosphere. Brecksville’s cheerleaders had their sneakers painted gold. Surely on the opposite side the Bears cheer squad did the same.
“Painting our shoes gold for the Golden Shoe game is a tradition that goes back to when my mom was in high school,” said BBHHS senior cheerleader Morgan Zeleny. And then added sheepishly. “She was a cheerleader at North Royalton.”
“Painting our shoes it what makes it intense. And I have faith in our boys tonight. I really do,” Zeleny said. “And with us and North Royalton being in the same conference next year the rivalry will even be more intense. And it will last a lifetime.”
The North Royalton class of 1964 celebrated its 50th class reunion. One couldn’t help but think of how they must have felt, as high school seniors, on that fateful day of November 22, 1963 when the world changed because of a lone madmen with a rifle in the sixth floor window of a school book depository.
The Bees kept it conservative last night with their uniforms. They wore their black trousers for the opener against Holy Name. But on Friday Brecksville looked crisp in all white. Their red helmets making a statement that the Bees were in town.
The Bears outfits looked like a grape processing plant had exploded.
Royalton kicked off. It’s kicker got some leg into it. The pigskin looked like it was on its way to Route 82. The Golden Shoe Game was underway. There was electricity in the air.
Brecksville scored first on a three-yard pass from Strnad to Tupa. NORO’s David Steward blocked the extra point. 6-0 Bees.
Turnover City
Neither team could do much with the ball. They punted back and forth a few times. Then the roof caved in on Royalton. Victor Bierman stripped a Bears ball carrier of the football and Troy Walter pounced on it. Three plays later Strnad hit Tupa on a wheel route down the left side and the visitors had a 12-0 lead.
Incredibly Brecksville would score again just 15 seconds later. On the Bears first play from scrimmage Nick Sokolowski and Ryder Seballos nailed the hosts quarterback and Bierman was Johnny-on-the-spot for the Bees, falling on the loose ball.
The quick-strike guys from Beeville made them pay. On the first play after the Bears second fumble Strnad went down the left side again where he hit senior wide receiver Garrett Patterson in the end zone for the teams third touchdown. It was erroneously reported in yesterdays game story that Danny Shirilla made that TD catch, but it was indeed G-Pat.
Patterson would go on to catch another Strnad pass for the Bees fourth and final 6-pointer. That made the score 26-0 with two ticks remaining in the third quarter. Patterson’s second tally of the game was set-up by an interception by Troy Walter.
Barring a miraculous comeback The Shoe would go back to where it has resided the previous 364 days, to Mill Road.
Royalton would punch in a fourth quarter score and add the two-point conversion on an impressive performance turned in by its back-up quarterback. But the damage had been done. The big play Bee defense put the offense in a position to make the Bears pay. It was one hand washing the other. And, as Strnad said after the game, the Bees all have each others backs.
Halftime With Coach Herrick
While the 286-member NRHS Band performed at halftime former Brecksville coach Ed Herrick joined the scribe on the bench. For 39 years, since 1972, Herrick, now retired from teaching and coaching, had been part of the Golden Shoe rivalry game as either the Bees head coach or as an assistant. “In this game something will happen that you can’t predict,” Herrick said.
Herrick, the sage, was right. Who would have thunk Royalton would have suffered so many self-inflicted wounds?
A barefoot kicker booted a 20-yard field goal at halftime as part of a promotional give-away. His bounty? A free years worth of Chick-Fil-A. Cows all over North America were glad about that.
But that chicken lover wasn’t the only one who went home happy. The person who had ticket number 633459 walked out of the ballpark $1,594 richer as the winner of the 50/50 drawing. In all the decades of covering high school football that is one of the largest take-home pots I have seen.
Let The Party Begin
The physical game wound down. “Golden Shoe! Golden Shoe!” chanted the delirious BBHHS student cheering section. Tyler Tupa hugged everyone that moved. Including yours truly. Bees coach Jason Black took off his head-set with 21 seconds to go. Another play would not be run. Black turned, congratulated his coaching staff and un-clipped his power pack. For the first time in a week I saw him smile.
Athletic Directors Dan Kalinsky of Brecksville-Broadview Heights and Bo Kuntz of North Royalton gathered the teams at midfield. The Golden Shoe was presented to the Bees. Tyler Tupa held it high with both hands. It was surrounded by a circle of red helmets. Index fingers were pointed into the dark North Royalton sky as the first flash of lightning was sighted off to the northwest.
The Bees posed for pictures with The Golden Shoe. They were celebrating on the Bears home field. The BBHHS cheerleaders jumped into the photo opportunities and the teams paparazzi clicked away to no end. The cheerleaders squealed and giggled when they went to lift The Shoe and the plastic case came undone from its base. It was all Mr. Kalinsky and I could do but smile and shake our heads. For BBHHS players, coaches, fans and students a weekend of celebrating had just begun.
The young and inexperienced Bees were 2-0 and they haven’t played a home game yet. But they could cross item number one of their list of goals. They had kept The Shoe.
BEE BUZZ:
Brecksville has outscored North Royalton 54-8 in their last two meetings. The Bees, who had never set foot inside NORO’s beautiful new stadium until last week, are now 2-0 there.
Garrett Patterson has to be one of the best number two receivers around. It is he who is a threat when Tyler Tupa is hounded. And G-Pat came through big-time last night with a two-touchdown performance. As a senior leader he spoke for his teammates “This was huge. It’s four wins in the last five years for The Golden Shoe. We’re keeping The Shoe for the second year in a row. This is fun. It’s easy to get excited about this kind of stuff,” Patterson said.
For sophomore defensive end Victor Bierman, who struck gold in his first Golden Shoe game, he understood the magnitude of what was happening around him during the on-field post-game party. “Three out of the last four. We’ll take that any day of the week,” Bierman said before joining his teammates.
LAST NIGHT’S SCORES:
BEES – 26, BEARS – 8.
Holy Name – 34, Normandy – 20.
Hudson – 48, Uniontown Lake – 10.
Olmsted Falls – 10, Canton South – 0.
North Olmsted – 35, Lakewood – 25.
Midview – 39, Amherst Steele – 0.
Bedford – 34, Avon Lake – 0.
Berea-Midpark – 36, Garfield Heights – 21.
Bay – 35, Westlake – 33.
Springfield Kickapoo – 48, Joplin – 42.
LAST NIGHTS RECAPS:
North Royalton (0-2) will be fine. The Bears are too well-coached not to be. Over at NORO for volleyball this afternoon the N-R coaches that were there could not have been more gracious. The Bears are a team that will improve as the season goes on.
Holy Name (1-1) had enough offensive firepower to notch its first win of the season with a 34-20 victory over Normandy (0-2) at Byers Field. Due to the weather the Green Wave and Invaders had to polish this one off this morning.
Hudson (2-0) pasted Uniontown Lake on the road. Senior quarterback Mitch Guadagni threw three TD passes and the second-ranked Explorers rang-up a 48-10 non-league victory. Hudson, who has outscored its two opponents so far this season by the count of 88-16, led 41-0 at the half.
Olmsted Falls (1-1) kicked its way past visiting Canton South 10-0.
North Olmsted (2-0) remained undefeated by outscoring Lakewood, 35-25, at First Federal Lakewood Stadium. Joshua Hufstetler rushed for 191 yards on 23 carries and scored twice. The Eagles registered a pair of fourth frame touchdowns to pull away from the stubborn Rangers.
Amherst Steele (1-1) came back down to Earth in a 39-0 defeat at the hands of cross-county rival Midview. The Middies led 27-0 at the half. The game was called and became an official final score late in the third quarter on account of the weather.
Avon Lake (0-2) continued to struggle. The Shoremen suffered a 34-0 loss at Bedford. It was a game in which A-L had about zero offensive firepower. The Shoremen have been outscored so far this season 78-7.
Berea-Midpark (2-0) had to travel over to Garfield Heights twice this weekend to conclude its weather-delayed contest with the Bulldogs. The Titans emerged from the Blaugrund Field slop with a 36-21 victory.
Westlake (1-1) was stunned at Bay. Due to the weather the Demons had to make the very short trip to The Village today to finish the game. A year ago it was Westlake that came back to defeat a North Olmsted team that had them dead to rights on Friday night in a two-day dual. The Rockets turned the tables on the Demons this year. Bay came back to snare a 35-33 triumph in a shocker.
The Southwestern Conference had a tough night going 4-3. Two teams, Steele and Avon Lake, were whitewashed. The combined scores in those two games was 73-0. Westlake being upset was a surprise.
In The Show Me State Springfield Kickapoo (3-0) handed Joplin (2-1) its first loss, 48-42. Joplin is averaging a shade under 40 points per game. A little defense last night by the Eagles would have gone a long way.
Stay tuned to the Bees website tomorrow evening for a look inside the numbers of Friday nights big win at North Royalton. Monday evening we will look ahead to Brecksville’s week three opponent, Hudson.
See You At The Bee Hive!
To contact: Ddipa67834@aol.com.
Follow the Lady Bees volleyball team on-line at: beesvolleyball.com. Brecksville will entertain Olmsted Falls Tuesday night.
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