High school football: Any opponent's a good opponent as Cloverleaf beats Maysville

WESTFIELD TWP. — Kevin Bittaker, Philip Hamilton, Blake Benko and the rest of the Cloverleaf football team's seniors woke up Wednesday morning without an opponent and in a precarious situation in the Division III, Region 10 playoff chase. My, can things change quickly in fewer than 2½ days, as D-IV Zanesville Maysville agreed to come to the corner of Friendsville Road and U.S. Route 224 and hung around a bit before imploding, giving the Colts a desperately needed 45-14 non-league victory in what may have been their best all-around effort of an inconsistent season. Cloverleaf (3-5) entered play 15th in Region 9 — this is the first season with 16 teams qualifying — and picked up valuable points against the Panthers (3-6) that wouldn't have been available otherwise. The seniors also got to play a final game at Gene Clark Stadium and go out in a blaze of glory, with Benko taking two knees to end the game as a downpour suddenly commenced on an otherwise gorgeous night for football. "Being able to play, first of all, is awesome," All-Gazette guard/linebacker Bittaker said. "Throughout the week we weren't sure if we were going to have a game, but being able to play is probably the best thing ever because each week is not guaranteed. We're grateful for what we have. "With the uncertainty during the week, we were kind of unmotivated, but we tried to stayed motivated and had fun with what we had. Throughout practice we had a lot competition and tried to pick each other up. When we found out we had a game, we were ecstatic." Other than committing two turnovers and allowing Maysville (3-6) to pound the ball down their throats on their first defensive possession, the Colts got big plays from all over the place, racked up 413 yards total offense and scored the final 24 points to make the final a tad misleading. Turnovers were paramount. The Colts went up 21-7 on a quick sequence of a Benko 90-yard pass to Griffin Petrocci on a double-move, a Hamilton interception and a 31-yard seam route by Cass for another TD. Oakley Kemp then recovered a fumble with 3:04 left in the first half, and Cloverleaf marched down the field and scored when Benko hit Hamilton for a 2-yard score on a designed rollout with 6.6 seconds on the clock. Victory was later all but sealed on a hair-raising punt attempt by Petrocci, who chased down a high snap and got off a 25-yarder that caught the jersey of a Panther who had his back turned to the play. Cloverleaf's Connor Hitchcock recovered and Dylan Bresnahan made the score 31-14 on a 25-yard field goal with 9:31 to play. The Panthers melted down after that, and the Colts tacked on another Hamilton TD reception and a 44-yard Cass TD run. "Turnovers are a huge, huge, huge part of the game," Hamilton said. "When we got that interception and fumble recovery, that made the whole crowd hyped for us." Benko threw for 191 yards in the first half and finished 15-for-26 for 217 yards and a school-record-tying four touchdowns. Petrocci had five catches for 121 yards, Hamilton added five for 44 and bruising Emilio Rivera had 21 carries for 139 yards, including 10 for 62 and a 1-yard touchdown on the opening drive. Located just south of Zanesville similar to how Buckeye is just west of Medina, Maysville played tough for most of the first half behind running back Hayden Jarrett (19 carries, 100 yards) and Nate Harper (12, 31, 2 TDs) but couldn't get much going through the air despite featuring 1,000-yard passer Alex Bobb (5-for-11, 50 yards, INT). Led by end Tommy Price wrecking havoc up front and Bittaker stuffing Harper on fourth-and-1 from the Cloverleaf 29-yard line with 6:19 left in the third quarter, the Colts stiffened and shut out the Panthers in the second half. "We just got our heads out of our (butts)," Bittaker said as his nearby teammates roared in laughter. "Our D-line definitely picked it up and did what they were supposed to do." Cloverleaf now heads to Coventry (2-6, 1-4) for the Metro Athletic Conference finale. There's not a whole lot at stake other than playoff positioning. The win Friday was an unexpected surprise — not because of the result, but for the fact athletic director Craig Walkup could find a game at all after COVID quarantines wrecked havoc twice earlier in the season. "I'm not going to lie. We didn't think we were going to get a game at all," Hamilton said. "We got to Wednesday and didn't have a game and our coach (Justin Vorhies) sent us a text saying we had a game. To get to play a senior night after all these years after waiting for it, it's crazy." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Cloverleaf 45, Maysville 14 MAYSVILLE&emsp;&emsp;7 7 0 0 — 14 CLOVERLEAF&emsp;&emsp;7 21 0 17 — 45 First C — Emilio Rivera 1 run (Dylan Bresnahan kick), 5:23. M — Nate Harper 3 run (Sammy Scott kick), 3:04. Second C — Griffin Petrocci 90 pass from Blake Benko (Bresnahan kick), 11:47. C — Cade Cass 31 pass from Benko (Bresnahan kick), 10:03. M — Harper 5 run (Scott kick), 2:38. C — Philip Hamilton 2 pass from Benko (Bresnahan kick), 0:06.6. Fourth C — Bresnahan 25 field goal, 9:31. C — Hamilton 20 pass from Benko (Bresnahan kick), 7:44. C — Cass 44 run (Bresnahan kick), 4:45.