High school football: Wadsworth wallops Wooster 45-13

John Urchek The Gazette WADSWORTH — The Wadsworth football team was in no mood for an amicable split. The Grizzlies proved as much Friday with a 45-13 walloping of Wooster in a non-league game. It was the final scheduled meeting between the longtime rivals after the Generals called for an end to the series after the 56th documented game between the schools. All three phases of the game made huge impact plays to turn in a total team victory. "They tapped out," linebacker Parker Ross said. "They were going to have to earn their way out of the game. We're Wadsworth, and we're always going to be a hard-hitting team. They were doing hitting drills before the game and we were like, 'Save that for us. We don't want you guys to get tired before the game.'" Ross was central to a defense that shut down an opposing running game for the second week in a row. Wooster only mustered 28 yards on 31 attempts, including 16 on nine by quarterback A.J. Likowski. Ross added a third-down sack of Likowski with Zach Wise that set up a 43-yard punt return for a touchdown by Tyler Probst for the final score of the first half. The starting defense was one pass interference penalty from shutting out the Generals when it was on the field. "I thought we were really physical," Wadsworth coach Justin Todd said. "We wanted to have a physical mindset coming into this game, and I thought we accomplished that. We stopped the run." Senior quarterback Will Stack was electric once again with his feet, going for 129 yards and two touchdowns on seven attempts and showing improvement with his arm by throwing for 153 yards on 5-for-7 passing and two touchdowns. Stack knows the intensity will ramp up when the Grizzlies travel to Medina County rival Medina next week. Last year, the Bees beat Wadsworth 45-35 in the regular season and 49-35 in the Division I regional quarterfinals. "Back-to-back big wins, but obviously Medina has a lot more skill than those teams," Stack said. "We're definitely going to be put to the test in Week 3. "Our line is setting the tempo up front by coming out physical and hitting them right away." Stack led the Grizzlies to touchdowns on the first three drives. Wadsworth was well on the way to making it 4-for-4, but holding penalties called off a score twice on the same drive. First Stack hit Ryan Keaton for what would have been his second score, and then running back Kyle Figuray saw a 39-yard run wiped out. The penalties — nine for 90 yards — leaked to the defense on the ensuing drive when the Grizzlies looked like they had forced their fourth straight three-and-out. A late flag for pass interference on third down extended the drive and Likowski eventually found Anthony Carmean to end an 80-yard march that took 5:49 off the clock to make the score 22-6. "We left a touchdown on the field and then we gave them a touchdown based on penalties," said Todd, whose team had 133 penalty yards in the opener against Barberton. "It's frustrating. We've got to correct it and do better. We're going to really address that even if we've got to duct tape boxing gloves on their hands." Stack answered with his last touchdown on a 65-yard strike to Drew Jones over the middle. The quarterback and 6-foot-1, 195-pound receiver later connected on a 33-yard pass. "I love Drew," Stack said. "He's a tall, physical guy with speed. He's got great hands. What's not to love about that type of receiver?" Figuray added a 20-yard score in the third quarter and kicker Jack Dinwiddie made a 24-yard field goal before Wooster tacked on a touchdown against backups. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Wadsworth 45, Wooster 13 WOOSTER 0 6 0 7 — 13 WADSWORTH 22 14 6 3 — 45 First Wa — Will Stack 57 run (Stack run), 8:52. Wa — Ryan Keaton 11 pass from Stack (Jack Dinwiddie kick), 3:55. Wa — Stack 46 run (Dinwiddie kick), 1:54. Second Wo — Anthony Carmean 11 pass from A.J. Likowski (pass failed), 4:38. Wa — Drew Jones 65 pass from Stack (Dinwiddie kick), 3:20. Wa — Tyler Probst 43 punt return (Dinwiddie kick), 2:12. Third Wa — Kyle Figuray 20 run (kick failed), 8:17. Fourth Wa — Dinwiddie 24 field goal, 11:06. Wo — Ethan Shetler 8 pass from Likowski (Avi Arora kick), 3:59. &emsp;&emsp;Wo Wa First downs 11 11 Rushing 31/28 26/268 Rushing average 0.9 10.3 Passing 16/20 5/8 Passing yards 154 153 Total offense 51/182 34/421 Punting 5/36.8 1/44.0 Penalties 4/22 9/90 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;1/0 2/0 Individual statistics RUSHING: Wooster — Likowski 9-16, Charlie Williams 14-10, Julian Franklin 8-2. Wadsworth — Stack 7-129, Figuray 9-45, Cooper Gray 3-42, Nathan Metzger 5-37, Ryan Stoops 2-15. PASSING: Wooster — Likowski 16-20-154-0. Wadsworth — Stack 5-7-153-0, Stoops 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING: Wooster — Tristin Walker 5-53, Williams 3-24, Anthony Sines 2-24, Carmean 2-22, Shetler 2-13, Franklin 1-11, Jack Dossi 1-7. Wadsworth — Jones 2-98, Gavin Madigan 1-31, Caden Shriver 1-13, Keaton 1-11. MISSED FIELD GOAL: Wadsworth — Dinwiddie 46 (WL).