High school football: Valiant effort falls short for Brunswick against Berea-Midpark

It was a shame either team had to lose in Kole Carter's debut as Brunswick football coach. In what was nothing short of a back-and-forth classic Friday night at Finnie Stadium, quarterback Danny Bowser scored on a short sweep in the final minute to give the Titans a hard-earned 34-27 non-league victory in the season opener for both teams. Brunswick had tied the game with 3:01 to play after a brilliant 90-yard drive engineered by first-year starting quarterback Sean Barnett, but Berea-Midpark calmly pounded 5-foot-10, 200-pound running back Javion Showers down the field before Bowser finished the job off the left side with 27 seconds remaining. Down 20-10 midway through the third quarter, the Blue Devils gave themselves a chance after Vincent DiTedoro's second field goal cut the deficit to one possession. Brunswick then tied at 20 when Barnett found Hayden Swarm for a 7-yard strike over the middle that went directly through a defender's hands, only to watch Berea-Midpark respond 1:31 later when Bowser rumbled home from 42 yards. The 90-yard drive was one of the most clutch by a Blue Devils team in years, as Brunswick converted two third-and-longs. The first saw Cooper Neel take a sweep to the right before throwing the ball across the field to Barnett for a 22-yard gain on third-and-15 — a late hit moved the ball 15 yards more — while Barnett connected with Swarm for a 26-yard touchdown on third-and-13. Barnett largely showed why Carter named him QB1 in the summer — before two-year starter Ethan Roksandich transferred to Archbishop Hoban — as the junior completed 18-of-30 passes for 291 yards and another 46-yard score to Aidan Konopinski. While the inside running game was tough to come by, Neel had six carries for 58 yards and the receiving was well-balanced between Swarm (8 catches, 96 yards), Collin Kavulic (3, 56), Konopinski (2, 53) and Neel (3, 44) as Brunswick frequently used pre-snap motion to keep the defense guessing. Including Neel's 22-yard pass to Barnett, Brunswick threw for 313 yards, its highest total since Medina County Sports Hall of Famer Sean Bedevelsky went for 390 against Toledo Whitmer in the 2007 Division I playoffs. Berea-Midpark countered with a grueling 27 carries for 148 yards from Showers and nine attempts for 95 yards from Bowser, who also completed 9-of-20 passes for 127 yards and an interception to cornerback Landon Kirchner. One of the Titans' most important scores came when backup running back Arpan Tamang went in from a yard out to put Berea-Midpark ahead 20-14 with eight seconds left in the first half. Showers opened the scoring on an 8-yard run to cap a drive that followed a Brunswick three-and-out, but the Titans curiously went for two and failed on a pass. The Blue Devils took a brief 7-6 lead when Konopinski caught his 46-yarder from Barnett, only to watch Berea-Midpark come right back when Bowser tossed to Andre Alexander for a 16-yard scoring strike. Brunswick had an 8-yard TD from Barnett to Swarm called back for holding, forcing it to settle for a DiTeodoro 28-yard field goal. That set the stage for Tamang's score at the end of the first half that gave way to the wild finish. Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Berea-Midpark 34, Brunswick 27 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp;7 3 10 7 — 27 BEREA-MIDPARK 6 14 7 7 — 34 First B-M — Jayvion Showers 8 run (run failed), 8:46. Bru — Aidan Konopinski 46 pass from Sean Barnett (Vincent DiTeodoro kick), 4:31. Second B-M — Andre Alexander 16 pass from Danny Bowser (Jalen Ball kick), 8:15. Bru — DiTeodoro 28 field goal, 1:32. B-M — Arpan Tamang 1 run (Ball kick), 0:08. Third Bru — DiTeodoro 25 field goal, 4:55. Bru — Hayden Swarm 7 pass from Barnett (DiTeodoro kick), 1:33. B-M — Bowser 42 run (Ball kick), 0:02. Fourth Bru — Swarm 26 pass from Barnett (DiTeodoro kick), 3:01. B-M — Bowser 6 run (Ball kick), 0:27. &emsp;&emsp;Bru &emsp;&emsp;B-M First downs &emsp;&emsp;21 &emsp;&emsp;23 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;34/95 41/266 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;2.8 &emsp;&emsp;6.5 Passing &emsp;&emsp;19/31 &emsp;&emsp;9/20 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;313 &emsp;&emsp;127 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;65/408 61/393 Punting &emsp;&emsp;2/35.0 &emsp;&emsp; 6.4 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;8/80 &emsp;&emsp;7/58 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;3/0 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 RUSHING: Brunswick — Cooper Neel 6-58, Eli Nicholas 15-34, Collin Kavulic 6-13, Swarm 2-3, Barnett 5-(-13). Berea-Midpark — Showers 27-148, Bowser 9-95, Tamang 4-20, Dylan Papushak 1-3. PASSING: Brunswick — Barnett 18-30-291-1, Neel 1-1-22-0. Berea-Midpark — Bowser 9-20-127-1. RECEIVING: Brunswick — Swarm 8-96, Kavulic 3-56, Konopinski 2-53, Neel 3-44, Brandon Gross 1-29, Barnett 1-22, Ryder Kern 1-13. Berea-Midpark — Showers 3-52, Connor Stemm 3-42, Alexander 3-33.