H.S. Football: Cloverleaf gets back in the saddle ending a four-game skid with win over Coventry

John Urchek The Gazette COVENTRY TWP. — The Cloverleaf football team took full advantage of the opportunity to exorcise its frustrations from a four-game losing streak Friday night. The Colts got back to doing what they do best and also got back into the win column with a 35-0 shellacking of Coventry in a Metro Athletic Conference game. "It feels great to finally get back in the win column," Cloverleaf senior Griffin Petrocci said. "I'm proud of the way we executed on offense, defense, special teams. It was a great win." With another win in Week 10 against winless Springfield (0-9, 0-6), the Colts (4-5, 2-4) can reach their fifth .500 or better season in the past six years. "We've still got one more week," Cloverleaf sophomore Ethan Gray said. "We've got to focus up and get a big win next week to hopefully have a chance at the playoffs." Petrocci recorded the first of three interceptions of quarterback Bryce White-Heldman for the Cloverleaf defense, which swarmed the Comets (1-8, 1-5) all night. It was the Colts' first shutout since a 48-0 victory over Field on Sept. 17, 2021. "They flew to the ball," Cloverleaf coach Justin Vorhies said. "We talked to them about reading keys and playing disciplined, but pulling the trigger quickly. They pulled the trigger real quick tonight." At halftime, Coventry had lost 33 scrimmage yards on offense. The Comets were still in the negative until White-Heldman ran for 20 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was one of four first downs for Coventry, two of which came on defensive pass interference calls. "That's amazing," Petrocci said of his team holding the Comets to negative yardage for three quarters. "Everyone did their jobs. We were getting after them, dialing up some blitzes. We brought the intensity." The Colts held the Comets to just 12 yards of offense, including negative-13 yards on the ground. Coventry reached Cloverleaf territory only three times. Offensively, the Colts bounced back from averaging 2.1 yards per carry and only tallying 108 yards in the last two games combined. Gray ran for 103 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries to lead a rushing attack that totaled 331 yards on 47 carries. Subtract two kneel downs at the end of the game and Cloverleaf averaged 7.2 yards per carry. "It's great to have our main thing, running the ball," Gray said. "That's our key to winning. It's great to have that back and be able to run the ball again." Gray ran for a touchdown in each of the first three quarters to put the Colts ahead 21-0. Tristan Craddock (11 carries, 91 yards) and Petrocci (6, 40) added 45- and 10-yard scores, respectively, in the third quarter. "We were able to get back to doing what we do," Vorhies said. "It didn't matter who had the ball. As long as we followed our rules and played hard, we knew we were going to get good plays tonight." Along with its dominant effort in restricting Coventry's yardage, Cloverleaf also created big plays by forcing four turnovers. The first came on Petrocci's only punt of the night when the Comets muffed the catch. In addition to Petrocci's interception, freshmen Kellen Price and Brayden Beier also got picks. "Brayden had a big game and Kellen had a great game," Petrocci said. "(Turnovers) are game-changers. We preach turnovers every week and it's a big reason we switched to a new zone defense. That's what we strive for every week." Offensively, the Colts were only able to score one touchdown off the four turnovers. After the fumble, back-to-back offensive penalties on fourth down pushed a Dylan Bresnahan field goal attempt back to 41 yards, which he narrowly missed. The Comets answered the Petrocci interception with one of their own on a deflected pass by Jordan Letner and Cloverleaf ran out the clock after Beier's pick. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Cloverleaf 35, Coventry 0 CLOVERLEAF 7 8 20 0 — 35 COVENTRY 0 0 0 0 — 0 First Cl — Ethan Gray 9 run (Griffin Petrocci kick), 8:54. Second Cl — Gray 3 run (Petrocci kick), 10:30. Third Cl — Gray 2 run (kick failed), 8:44. Cl — Tristan Craddock 45 run (Petrocci kick), 4:57. Cl — Petrocci 10 run (Petrocci kick), 2:10. (Dylan Bresnahan 41-yard field goal wide right) &emsp;&emsp;Cl Co First downs 16 4 Rushing 47/331 20/-13 Rushing average 7.0 -0.6 Passing &emsp;&emsp;2/6 7/15 Passing yards 7 25 Total offense 53/338 35/12 Punting 1/36.0 5/31.2 Penalties 7/60 3/11 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;0/0 1/1 Individual statistics RUSHING: Cloverleaf — E. Gray 13-103, Craddock 11-91, Jordan Letner 8-50, Petrocci 6-40, Ashton Gray 4-26, Austin Sprankle 1-11, Austin Brooks 1-5, Clay Combs 1-5, Team 2-0. Coventry — Lamar Taylor 7-12, Bryce White-Heldman 7-2, Brad Little 2-1, Lucas Futrell 1-(-2), Matt Perbenski 3-(-26). PASSING: Cloverleaf — Letner 2-6-7-2. Coventry — White-Heldman 7-15-25-3. RECEIVING: Cloverleaf — Petrocci 2-7. Coventry — Alex Meinen 2-13, Kell'in McAfee 1-6, Taylor 1-4, Perbenski 1-2, Futrell 2-0.