High school football: Fourth quarter sinks Brunswick against Strongsville

STRONGSVILLE — The Brunswick football team saw its five-game winning streak against archrival Strongsville slip Friday night in a 19-9 Greater Cleveland Conference matchup that lived up to its billing of intensity between neighboring schools. The Blue Devils surrendered a 9-7 lead by giving up the game's final 12 points in the fourth quarter. "We worked hard, and our seniors deserved it," junior kicker Vincenzo DiTeodoro said. "We had them. We trained so hard in practice for this one, and it just didn't come our way." DiTeodoro nearly did enough to lift Brunswick (3-7, 3-3) to the victory, scoring all his team's points on three field goals. He also had a punt that pinned the Mustangs (6-4, 5-1) on their own 2-yard line, which eventually led to his first field goal, and booted three kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. Strongsville quarterback Nolan Beard put Strongsville ahead for good when he hit receiver Alex Esay down the sideline for a 73-yard touchdown. That came one play after a DiTeodoro punt with 7:41 left in the game. Until that pass, the Blue Devils had kept Beard in check, as he finished 6-for-8 for 113 yards and one touchdown. Following the TD, Brunswick went three-and-out midway through the final quarter. The Mustangs took advantage and didn't give the ball back. Instead of kneeling to kill the clock, they gave the ball to running back Sam Dimacchia (17 carries, 106 yards, TD) for a 31-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left. On the final play, Blue Devils quarterback Sean Barnett was tackled hard along the Strongsville sideline and emotions ran high through the postgame handshake line. "It's a tough loss, but I'm going to stick with my guys no matter what," Barnett said. "I'm an underclassman, a junior, and I'll bounce back next year. Just know that." Barnett was 12-for-24 passing for 98 yards. He also was Brunswick's leading rusher with 49 yards on 17 carries. His biggest play came on third-and-6 from his own 34-yard line when he hit Aiden Konopinski for 41 yards to the Mustangs 25. That led to DiTeodoro's second field goal. The Blue Devils moved the ball inside the Strongsville 25 on four occasions but only got nine points. On the last one, John Root recovered a muffed punt by Strongsville on the Mustangs 10, but Brunswick kicked the go-ahead field goal three plays later from the 9 with 7:19 left in the third quarter. On the drive they didn't score, the Blue Devils got the ball to the Strongsville 16, but a bad snap cost them 15 yards on the final play of the first quarter and Barnett was sacked on the next play. "I take blame for all of it in the red zone," Barnett said. "I know I could have focused better. I'm the quarterback. I've got to take full responsibility for my guys. We fought, even though we didn't score (touchdowns)." After going into halftime with a 7-6 lead on a Boddie Kendick touchdown after a Blue Devils fumble, the Mustangs had 128 yards on their final two touchdown drives and had another long drive disrupted by a fumble recovered by Brunswick junior Brayden Miles. The Blue Devils punted after the latter, setting up Espay's go-ahead TD. "It hurts, for sure," Miles said of the loss. "It's my first time playing in this game on a Friday night. It's never going to be perfect, but we had a chance a couple different times and didn't execute. I think we can use that going into next week and get it right." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Strongsville 19, Brunswick 9 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp;0 6 3 0 — 9 STRONGSVILLE 7 0 0 12 — 19 First S — Boddie Kendick 39 run (Vincent Roncone kick), 5:39. Second B — Vincenzo DiTeodoro 41 field goal, 3:13. B — DiTeodoro 37 field goal, 0:14. Third B — DiTeodoro 26 field goal, 7:19. Fourth S — Alex Espay 73 pass from Nolan Beard (pass failed), 7:41. S — Sam Dimacchia 31 run (run failed), 0:31. &emsp;&emsp;B &emsp;&emsp;S First downs &emsp;&emsp;11 &emsp;&emsp;12 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;31/78 30/197 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;2.6 &emsp;&emsp;6.6 Passing &emsp;&emsp;12/24 &emsp;&emsp;6/8 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;98 &emsp;&emsp;113 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;55/176 38/310 Punting &emsp;&emsp;4/35.2 3/37.7 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;3/24 &emsp;&emsp;6/45 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;2/1 &emsp;&emsp;3/2 RUSHING: Brunswick — Sean Barnett 17-49, Eli Nichols 7-18, Cooper Neel 1-9, Aiden Konopinski 1-9, Collin Kavulic 4-8, Team 1-(-15). Strongsville — Dimmacchia 17-106, Kendick 7-65, Beard 5-19, Espay 1-7. PASSING: Brunswick — Barnett 12-24-98-0. Strongsville — Beard 6-8-113-0. RECEIVING: Brunswick — Konopinski 4-60, Cohen Easa 3-13, Kavulic 3-10, Cooper Neel 1-8, Brandon Gross 1-7. Strongsville — Espay 2-76, Dimmacchia 2-28, Eric Bly 1-5, Kendick 1-4.