H.S. Football: Highland caps off an undefeated regular season by beating Copley

John Urchek The Gazette GRANGER TWP. — Seeking its first undefeated regular season since 2013 and only the fifth in school history, the Highland football team left no doubt. The Hornets dominated every phase of the game on the way to beating Copley 63-0 Friday night to keep the Suburban League American Conference championship all to themselves. "We knew this was the biggest game of the season if we wanted to go 10-0," running back/linebacker Lukas Stiles said. "We wanted it really bad." The only person capable of stopping Stiles was Highland coach Mike Gibbons, who limited the senior wrecking ball to 14 carries, on which he gained 138 yards and scored four touchdowns. Stiles broke the school's career rushing touchdown record with his last score, a 25-yard scamper through the middle of the defense with 1:14 left in the first half. It was his 45th career rushing touchdown, topping Jim Kendel's 44 scores on the ground. Stiles also scored on runs of 4, 2 and 15 yards. Stiles led the Hornets to the fifth most rushing yards in a game in school history, with the team going for 450 yards on 45 carries behind gigantic holes formed by the line of tackles Andrew Tatulinski and Zach Waibel, guards Logan Waddell and Ben Fearn and center Brody Davis. "They were opening ginormous holes. It was crazy," Stiles said. "I felt like you could have run a truck through them." Fellow senior Noah Robinson also benefitted from the line, running nine times for 125 yards and a 34-yard touchdown on his last carry, which put Highland ahead 49-0 with 8:47 left in the third quarter. "We put in a lot of hard work in and out of the season," Robinson said. "Practices are as intense as they can be with everyone pushing each other. It starts with the O-line, honestly, because they've been putting in the work like no other this year." It was also another stellar night for the Hornets defense, which is allowing just 4.3 points per game, ahead of the 1952 team's record 7.3. Highland's fifth shutout of the season might have been the most impressive yet. While Copley quarterback DaOne Owens flashed his excellent athleticism, which has allowed him to pass for 2,412 yards and 23 touchdowns and run for another 1,292 yards and 17 scores through 10 games, the Hornets held him to 104 yards on 12-of-29 passing and minus-12 yards rushing on eight carries. "It was an outstanding performance from everyone, pretty dominant," Gibbons said. "We knew they had a heck of a quarterback, and we had to be prepared for him. He's a special player that can make all the throws and run the ball, so you have to defend the whole field." Matt Ciryak intercepted Owens on the Indians' second drive of the game. It also was the drive that Copley got as close to the end zone as it would all night when the play began from the Highland 36-yard line. Two possessions later, Ciryak returned a Carter Noel punt 53 yards for a touchdown. "We just did our thing and got things done," Ciryak said of the defense. "We played our Highland defense and did what we do best — get the shutout." The Hornets forced the Indians into eight punts and, along with the interception, got a turnover on downs when Copley took over in Highland territory after a long kick return. Conversely, Highland scored on eight of nine offensive drives before ending the game with a pair of kneel downs by backup quarterback Peyton Janickas. Janickas took over for starting quarterback Andrew Lurtz (3 rushes, 27 yards, TD; 4-of-6 passing, 48 yards, INT) midway through the third quarter and scored touchdowns on both of his drives prior to the kneel downs. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Highland 63, Copley 0 COPLEY &emsp;&emsp; 0 0 0 0 — 0 HIGHLAND &emsp;&emsp;14 28 14 7 — 63 First H — Andrew Lurtz 5 run (Jacob Dobkowski kick), 5:59. H — Lukas Stiles 4 run (Dobkowski kick), 0:36. Second H — Matt Ciryak 53 punt return (Dobkowski kick), 10:13. H — Stiles 2 run (Dobkowski kick), 6:49. H — Stiles 15 run (Dobkowski kick), 5:16. H — Stiles 25 run (Dobkowski kick), 1:14. Third H — Noah Robinson 34 run (Dobkowski kick), 8:47. H — Peyton Janickas 13 run (Dobkowski kick), 2:47. Fourth H — Janickas 11 run (Carson Kwiatkowski kick), 5:40. &emsp;&emsp;C &emsp;&emsp;H First downs &emsp;&emsp;7 &emsp;&emsp;24 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;18/2 45/450 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;0.1 &emsp;&emsp;10.0 Passing &emsp;&emsp;12/29 &emsp;&emsp;4/6 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;104 &emsp;&emsp;48 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;47/106 51/498 Punting &emsp;&emsp;8/38.4 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;4/30 &emsp;&emsp;3/35 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;3/0 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 RUSHING: Copley — Carter Noel 9-19, DaOne Owens 8-(-12), Team 1-(-5). Highland — Stiles 14-138, Robinson 9-125, Janickas 4-40, Jonny Siliko 4-40, Evan Grant 3-39, Lurtz 3-27, James Plevris 3-24, Casey Myser 3-17, Team 2-0. PASSING: Copley — Owens 12-29-104-1. Highland — Lurtz 4-6-48-1. RECEIVING: Copley — Ben Firestine 5-72, Carter Noel 4-17, Scooby Stanford 2-9, Andrew McKnight 1-6. Highland — Siliko 3-39, Tommy Turk 1-9.