High school football playoffs: St. Edward dominant in win over Medina

PARMA — The Medina football team hasn't seen the last of St. Edward offensive linemen Devontae Armstrong, Deontae Armstrong and Ben Roebuck. The Bees will get to watch them play Big Ten football on Saturdays. Keyed by a dominating performance up front and a great defensive effort that held sixth-seeded Medina to a season low in scoring, the top-seeded and two-time defending state champion Eagles rolled to a 42-7 victory Friday night in the Division I, Region 1 final at Byers Field. Running behind Ohio State-bound twins Devontae (6-foot-5, 305) and Deontae Armstrong (6-7, 295) on the left and Michigan recruit Ben Roebuk (6-8, 320) on the right, the Eagles (13-1) amassed 340 yards rushing on 34 attempts for a nifty 10-yard average per carry. "It was very intimidating at first," 6-3, 220-pound Medina defensive tackle Cliff Nicholson said. "I've never seen anybody like that before. They're definitely the biggest people I'll ever see. (Injured defensive end) Nathan Nunn said they'll probably be the best players I ever go against. "You can't think about how big they are, but they're the best part of that team. They were great." Running behind his mammoth yet still athletic line, St. Edward running back Brandon White finished with 20 carries for 255 yards and touchdowns of 10, 5 and 52 yards, with a 42-yard score called back due to holding. He had just two carries for 35 yards in the second half, then took the rest of the night off and watched backup Jacob Robinson carry nine times for 61 yards. "They did wonderful," White said of his O-line. "I want to thank those big guys up front. They block downfield, and so do our receivers, and that led me to do what I did tonight. "They just tell me to take advantage of the opportunities I get and by myself. They're big, they believe in you and they trust in you." The Bees (10-4), who trailed 14-7 after the first quarter, 28-7 at the half and 42-7 when the game went to a running clock with 7:17 to play in the third period, became believers as well. When Medina sold out in an attempt to stop White, it gave up a 24-yard TD on a reverse to Brian Sullivan, a 41-yard TD pass from Casey Bullock (6-for-11, 126 yards, 2 TDs) to Zach Hackleman and a 12-yard scoring toss from Bullock to Sullivan, but it all started up front. "Dude, they were good," Bees defensive tackle Cooper Estes said of the St. Edward linemen. "They were everything we expected they'd be. They just beat us up front. "It's going to be interesting watching them play on Saturday at big (college) schools. It's going to be fun to watch. They were definitely everything people said they were." Defensively, the Eagles were just as good while holding the Bees to 282 yards on 57 plays. All-Oho quarterback Danny Stoddard took some hard hits early, aggravated a right shoulder injury suffered two weeks earlier against Wadsworth and gutted out a 15-for-31, 174-yard passing night while also leading the team with nine rushes for 46 yards, while backup Chris DePasquale was 2-for-8 for 27 yards and two interceptions. St. Edward rushed four or five players a few times early in the game but spent most of the night rushing three and dropping eight. Stoddard sometimes ran 30 or 40 yards in the backfield while getting 10 seconds to throw, but finding anyone open downfield proved difficult. "They were moving around their defenders," he said. "They're a good team. They put window dressing on their coverages, making what seemed to be there not be there." Medina's biggest highlight came one play after it fell behind 7-0, as Austin Knowles leaped high to catch a Stoddard pass, then turned and raced 60 yards to complete a 77-yard scoring play that tied the game with 4:25 to play in the opening quarter. Knowles was stellar with eight catches for 128 yards — he had seven for 121 in the first half — but Medina's other 49 plays netted 154 yards, with fellow All-Ohio wide receiver Jack Wojciak held to two catches for 1 yard and four rushes for 3 yards. With a steady wind blowing out of the north and Stoddard not 100% healthy, the Bees also muffed a short St. Edward kickoff, mistakenly fielded another one and went out of bounds, which resulted in them starting from their own 1-yard line, and dropped a handful of passes. "They were good," Medina coach Larry Laird said of the St. Edward offensive line, "but we're not going to use that as an excuse. We didn't get it done offensively. We didn't keep pace with them." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. St. Edward 42, Medina 7 Division I, Region 1 Final MEDINA 7 0 0 0 — 7 ST. EDWARD 14 14 14 0 — 42 First E — Brian Sullivan 24 run (Kellen Moyer kick), 4:44. M — Austin Knowles 77 pass from Danny Stoddard (Finn Kelps kick), 4:25. E — Brandon White 10 run (Moyer kick), 1:10. Second E — White 5 run (Moyer kick), 9:46. E — White 52 run (Moyer kick), 7:05. Third E — Zach Hackleman 41 pass from Casey Bullock (Moyer kick), 11:04. E — Sullivan 10 pass from Bullock (Moyer kick), 7:17. M E First downs &emsp;&emsp;14 19 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;18/81 34/340 Rushing average 4.5 10.0 Passing &emsp;&emsp;17/39 8/17 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;201 130 Total offense 57/282 51/470 Punting &emsp;&emsp;4/34.0 2/36.5 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;3/25 7/88 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;4/1 0/0 Individual statistics RUSHING: Medina — Stoddard 9-46, Chris DePasquale 2-24, Cooper Josefczyk 2-6, Jack Wojciak 4-3, Dylan Whitehill 1-2. St. Edward — White 20-255, Jacob Robinson 9-61, Sullivan 1-24, Mason Sak 1-10, Bullock 3-(-10). PASSING: Medina — Stoddard 15-31-174-0, DePasquale 2-8-27-2. St. Edward — Bullock 6-11-126-0, Thomas Csanyi 1-4-7-0, Sak 1-2-(-3)-0. RECEIVING: Medina — Knowles 8-128, Camryn Hathaway 4-39, Braylon Schramm 2-21, Nathan Angus 1-12, Wojciak 2-1. St. Edward — Hackleman 3-58, Kyan Mason 2-41, Sullivan 2-27, Luke Hess 2-4.