High school football: Turnovers sink Brunswick against Berea-Midpark

BRUNSWICK — There were a number of stretches where Sean Barnett looked like the returning All-Greater Cleveland Conference quarterback that he is. There were others where he looked like a guy who didn't decide to play football as a senior until two weeks ago. Barnett had a pick-six among his four costly first-half interceptions and the Blue Devils struggled to defend the pass all night Friday, leading to a 28-7 non-league loss to Berea-Midpark in the season opener for both teams. "I have to get better," the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Barnett said after completing 17-of-35 passes for 154 yards, a touchdown and the four picks. "It will take me one or two weeks to get back into it. My decision-making, I'll take full responsibility for that, because that's what a leader does." An All-Gazette basketball player, Barnett added 17 rushes for 90 yards while accounting for 244 of Brunswick's 238 yards total offense. He threw or ran the ball on 52 of his team's 57 plays. The other five resulted in minus-6 yards on four rushes and an interception by Jake Tamosiunas, who was the Blue Devils' projected starting QB until Barnett returned, on an attempted trick play. "Sean Barnett is a very special athlete, and he's got great charisma," Brunswick coach Kole Carter said. "He likes to be a superhero and put on his cape a little too much, but part of that is on me. I may have pushed him back out there too soon." Defensively, the Blue Devils got three tackles for loss, including a strip-sack, from senior end Eli Nichols and two sacks among three TFLs from sophomore linebacker Logan Matousek, with Jamaurie Garth and Josh Albany coming up with fumble recoveries and Brayden Miles breaking up a fourth-down pass in the end zone. Brunswick's defensive downfall was an inability to stop the pass, as Titans quarterback Vince Weaver, who was 14-for-16 for 205 yards early in the third quarter, finished 21-for-30 for 324 yards. Weaver's favorite targets were Dylan Maddox, who had seven catches for 165 yards while returning an interception 50 yards to the house, and Nick Reece, who had 8- and 34-yard TDs among his three receptions for 61 yards. "I didn't think they were more physical than us," Matousek said. "They beat us in the turnover game (5-2) and in the deep passing game. We'd stop one play and the next play would go for 30 or 40 yards." Brunswick had a great chance to score on its first possession, but a scrambling Barnett forced a throw over the middle and was picked off by Andre Alexander, who had two on the night, on third-and-7 from the Titans 8-yard line. Berea-Midpark, however, fumbled on its first play and Garth pounced on the ball at the 6. After a botched shotgun snap lost 8 yards, Barnett hit Gavin Moore (5 catches, 68 yards) for a 14-yard score and Vincenzo DiTeodoro's point-after put the Blue Devils up 7-0 just 3:20 into the game. The Titans immediately tied it, going 71 yards in 13 plays that took 6:04 off the clock. Weaver, who capped the drive with an 8-yard strike to Reece, was 7-for-8 for 82 yards on the march, which including a holding penalty and sack. Brunswick got as far as the Titans 28 on its next possession, but on third-and-10 from the 33, Barnett, scrambling to his left and about to go out of bounds, threw a pass that was again picked off by Alexander, preventing what would have been a 50-yard field goal attempt by DiTeodoro. The score stayed 7-7 until Maddox's pick-six, which came on a pass that had already bounced off a teammate's hands, but Brunswick had an excellent chance to tie going into halftime. The Blue Devils had first-and-goal at the 9 and had comleted a first-down pass to the 3, but they were called for a 15-yard penalty when a player kept blocking after losing his helmet, pushing the ball back to the 24. On fourth-and-goal from the 16, Barnett threw his fourth pick of the half. "I've just got to throw it away," Barnett said. In a game that featured 20 penalties for 177 yards, the Titans pretty much controlled the second half, scoring a TD in each of the final two quarters and running out the clock after having first-and-goal at the Brunswick 3. "We made mental mistakes and shot ourselves in the foot," Barnett said. "We'll fix it." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. Berea-Midpark 28, Brunswick 7 BEREA-MIDPARK 7 7 7 7 — 28 BRUNSWICK 7 0 0 0 — 7 First Br — Gavin Moore 14 pass from Sean Barnett (Vincenzo DiTeodoro kick), 8:40. BM — Nick Reece 8 pass from Vince Weaver (Arpan Tamang kick), 2:26. Second BM — Dylan Maddox 50 interception return (Tamang kick), 3:40. Third BM — Reece 34 pass from Weaver (Tamang kick), 6:16. Fourth BM — Weaver 15 run (Tamang kick), 11:02. BM Bru First downs &emsp;&emsp;22 14 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;33/119 21/84 Rushing average 3.7 4.0 Passing &emsp;&emsp;21/30 17/36 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;324 154 Total offense 63/443 57/238 Punting &emsp;&emsp;0/0 2/33.5 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;11/100 9/77 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;2/2 1/0 Individual statistics RUSHING: Berea-Midpark — Xaviere Harden 18-79, Weaver 8-28, Tamang 3-26, Team 4-(-14). Brunswick — Barnett 17-90, Moore 1-3, Gavin Ballok 1-2, Landen Kirchner 1-(-3), Team 1-(-8). PASSING: Berea-Midpark — Weaver 21-30-324-0. Brunswick — Barnett 17-35-154-4, Jake Tamosiunas 0-1-0-1. RECEIVING: Berea-Midpark — Maddox 7-165, Reece 3-61, Andre Alexander 4-55, Harden 3-20, Tyson Clay 1-14, Tamang 3-9. Brunswick — Moore 5-68, Tamosiunas 5-32, Anthony Gamboa 3-32, Ballok 2-10, Kirchner 1-7, Adin Evert 1-5.