High school football playoffs: Sorry season ends for Medina with loss to Perrysburg

With 10 new starters heading into the season, no one expected the Medina football team's offense to match the amazing standards set by Drew Allar, Danny Stoddard and Co. No one expected the Bees to be this bad, either. Getting shut out for the third time in their last four games, a disappointing season that continued to snowball mercifully ended with a 47-0 loss to third-seeded Perrysburg in the opening round of the Division I, Region 1 playoffs. No. 14 seed Medina (2-9), which tied the school record of nine losses set in 1993, 1960, 1959 and 1935, finished with 50 yards total offense, took a season-high six sacks, threw its 27th interception of the season and had one of two blocked punts returned for a touchdown against the Yellow Jackets (9-2), who advanced to play No. 11 Berea-Midpark (4-7) in the regional quarterfinals. While the defense technically gave up 47 points to finish with its worst scoring average since 1916 at 36.3, the Bees' first string allowed only approximately 200 yards total offense and by and large bottled up Perrysburg's power running game. Dual-threat quarterback Josh Takats also finished with just 98 yards total offense, though he did find tight end Tivan Bennett for a 32-yard TD that made the score 14-0. That TD was set up by Medina failing on fourth down from its own 45-yard line. The interception then gave way for the second of three short TD runs by Joseph Seney before the wheels fell off and went spinning down Interstate 90 back to Medina County. Medina's Beckett Vogrin lined up to punt down 21-0, but the left side of the line was overwhelmed and the kick was blocked. Perrysburg picked up the ball and rumbled to the house for a 13-yard return to make the score 28-0, yet couldn't make it 31-0 after another blocked punt on the next Bees possession due to a missed field goal. Not to be denied, Seney scored from 5 yards to make the score 35-0 and initiate a running clock to begin the second half. Fellow senior Carson Pershing added two more short scores in the fourth quarter, including a not-to-be-denied 5-yarder on fourth-and-goal on the final play of the game. The Bees used Cason Diiulio, River Blomquist and Vogrin at quarterback, and they combined to complete 12-of-25 passes for 74 yards. Medina's only first down for most of the first half came via penalty before Vogrin entered the game and came out slinging, completing passes for 9, 14 and 18 yards and three first downs before the drive stalled short of the red zone. Coming off failing to convert 10 third-down attempts in a 40-0 loss to Cass Tech, the Bees extended their streak to a whopping 21 against Perrysburg to make them just 35-for-138 (25.4%) for the season. They also failed on four fourth downs, dropping them to 16-of-46 (34.8). There were a few bright spots defensively, as All-Ohio linebacker Cooper Josefczyk fought through bruised ribs to to post a pair of sacks. Dylan Pay also had a diving pass breakup in the red zone, while Camden Sokolowski broke up a pass to go with a tackle for loss. Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Perrysburg 47, Medina 0 Division I, Region 1 First Round MEDINA &emsp;&emsp;0 0 0 0 — 0 PERRYSBURG 14 21 0 12 — 47 First P — Joseph Seney 1 run (Brayden Heitmeyer kick). P — Tivan Bennett 32 pass from Josh Takats (Heitmeyer kick). Second P — Seney 4 run (Heitmeyer kick). P — No. 4 13 blocked punt return (Heitmeyer kick). P — Seney 5 run (Heitmeyer kick). Third P — Carson Pershing 2 run (kick failed). P — Pershing 5 run (conversion not attempted). &emsp;&emsp;M &emsp;&emsp;P First downs &emsp;&emsp;5 &emsp;&emsp;16 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;17/-24 43/179 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;-1.4 &emsp;&emsp;4.2 Passing &emsp;&emsp;12/25 &emsp;&emsp;7/14 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;74 &emsp;&emsp;78 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;42/50 57/257 Punting &emsp;&emsp;4/19.3 1/18.0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;6/58 &emsp;&emsp;6/30 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;2/0 &emsp;&emsp;1/0 RUSHING: Medina — Beckett Vogrin 2-8, Jackson Riffle 1-(-2), Cooper Josefczyk 3-(-3), River Blomquist 7-(-8), Cason Diiulio 4-(-19). Perrysburg — Nicolo Walkosky 13-54, Beckett Walters 5-44, Seney 9-32, Takats 9-20, No. 21 1-15, Pershing 6-14. PASSING: Medina — Vogrin 5-11-43, Diiulio 4-10-26-1, Blomquist 3-4-5-0. Perrysburg — Takats 7-14-78-0. RECEIVING: Medina — Aidan Stallings 2-27, Caleb Sherman 4-20, Brian Wuchter 3-10, Kellen Hathaway 1-9, Sydney Lloyd 1-6, Vogrin 1-2. Perrysburg — Bennett 1-32, Dominick Woods 3-25, J.D. Zeeb 3-21. MISSED FIELD GOALS: Perrysburg — Heitmeyer 41 (WR), 45 (SH).