High school football: Highland rolls to win over Cuyahoga Falls

Like the Road Runner evading the ploys of Wile E. Coyote in the classic cartoon, the Highland football team dodged the quintessential trap game with ease Friday. The Hornets dominated Cuyahoga Falls 56-0 in a Suburban League American Conference contest to set up a winner-take-all championship game when Highland travels to co-leader Aurora in Week 10 for a battle of 9-0, 6-0 teams. Like the Road Runner, Highland repeatedly got the better of the Black Tigers, no matter what Cuyahoga Falls tried. The Hornets spread the ball to 16 players on offense, scored on a 64-yard Lucas Gerding punt return and gave up only 27 yards on defense, with the Black Tigers gaining 48 in the second half against the reserves. Cuyahoga Falls (2-7, 0-6) didn't cross midfield until early in the fourth quarter with the game already well in hand. That possession resulted in a turnover on downs midway through the fourth quarter. Colton Winston took the first play of that drive for a 27-yard carry to put the ball squarely back in Black Tigers territory. Highland, which was up 35-0 at the end of the first quarter to force a running clock before the typical halftime start, scored on seven of its first eight possessions, with a short possession just before halftime the lone exception. The Hornets needed just 21 plays to score 56 points as their drives lasted just 49, 31, 45, 20, 32, 18 and 50 yards. Star running back Casey Myser was the leading rusher, as he needed only three carries to gain 67 yards and score two of his team's first three touchdowns. Quarterback Dylan Borla had a similarly efficient night, completing 4-of-5 passes to four receivers with the first and last touchdowns of the first quarter to Kyle Williams (36 yards) and Nick Dobkowski (16). The latter gave the Hornets a 35-0 lead with 58 seconds left. Anthony DePompai caught the final touchdown from Johnny Prucha with five minutes left in the third quarter. Evan Foust and Dylan Lazar also had touchdown runs of 1 and 18 yards, respectively. Defensively, Highland overwhelmed the Black Tigers from the first possession, when Ryan Zywiec got the first of his team's four sacks against Joey Earl on third down. Matthew Dean, Carson Noonan and Lazar also had sacks, leading to Earl having minus-40 rushing yards and only 7 passing yards. Zywiec later forced a fumble against running back Zavier Lindsey that was recovered by Foust to set up Foust's touchdown run. Highland's other turnover came when Colton Foust made a diving grab along the sideline against Earl in the second quarter, which set up Lazar's score. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Highland 56, Cuyahoga Falls 0 HIGHLAND &emsp;&emsp;35 14 7 0 — 56 CUYAHOGA FALLS 0 0 0 0 — 0 First H — Kyle Williams 36 pass from Dylan Borla (Jonah Kowza kick), 10:54. H — Casey Myser 25 run (Kowza kick), 8:09. H — Myser 44 run (Kowza kick), 6:08. H — Evan Foust 1 run (Kowza kick), 4:02. H — Nick Dobkowski 16 pass from Borla (Kowza kick), 0:58. Second H — Lucas Gerding 64 punt return (Landon Kuzma kick), 11:29. H — Dylan Lazar 18 run (Kuzma kick), 7:51. Third H — Anthony DePompai 24 pass from Johnny Prucha (Kuzma kick), 5:01. &emsp;&emsp;H &emsp;&emsp;C First downs &emsp;&emsp;15 &emsp;&emsp;3 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;21/196&emsp;&emsp;23/20 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;9.3 &emsp;&emsp;0.9 Passing &emsp;&emsp;7/8 &emsp;&emsp;3/14 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;100 &emsp;&emsp;7 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;29/296&emsp;&emsp;37/27 Punting &emsp;&emsp;0/0.0 6/30.3 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;1/5 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;0/0 &emsp;&emsp;5/2 RUSHING: Highland — Myser 3-67, Colton Winston 2-28, Lazar 2-26, Foust 4-17, Johnny Prucha 1-13, J.P. Quinn 1-12, Frankie Iannaggi 3-11, Luke Berkmeyer 1-9, Gerding 1-8, Liam Zielinski 2-5, DePompai 1-0. Cuyahoga Falls — Nick Robinson 4-25, Jayden Graffuis 4-16, Daniel Castioni 1-13, Zavier Lindsey 5-4, Gavanni Tuttle 2-2, Dominic De Rita 1-0, Joey Earl 6-(-40). PASSING: Highland — Borla 4-5-69-0, Grady Gibb 1-1-5-0, Prucha 2-2-26. Cuyahoga Falls — Earl 3-10-7-1, Nick Robinson 0-4-0-0. RECEIVING: Highland — Williams 1-36, DePompai 1-24, Foust 1-16, Dobkowski 1-16, Colton Winston 1-5, Gerding 1-3, Zielinski 1-2. Cuyahoga Falls — Damian Scott 2-9, Colin Stanley 1-(-2).