High school football: Medina makes too many mistakes in loss to Hoover

NORTH CANTON — Every time the Medina football team had a chance to gain traction Friday night, Hoover pulled the rug out from under its feet or the Bees slipped on the proverbial banana peel. Often it was a combination of both. In a non-league game marred by penalties, missed tackles and assignments, drops and turnovers, Medina lost to the Vikings 42-17 to fall to 1-1 on the season. "They're a great team," Bees senior linebacker Johnny Nunn said of Hoover. "We practice really hard all year, 5 a.m. lifts, this is what you do it for. Coach (Larry Laird) prepared us really well, but we just didn't finish when the ball was right in front of us." The first missed opportunity came on Hoover's second drive of the game. After the Vikings methodically moved the ball for a touchdown on their first drive, Medina's defense forced third-and-5 at the Hoover 25-yard line, but quarterback John Collins found the dynamic Jack Andes over the middle for a 75-yard touchdown to convert the first third down of the game. Collins was 6-for-8 for 180 yards and also gained 20 yards on eight carries while accounting for five touchdowns. Andes caught three passes for 135 yards and two scores. The Vikings scored on five of seven drives orchestrated by Collins. "It came down to it all game, where we were in the right spot," Nunn said. "We just didn't tackle them. We didn't wrap them up or get the ball down when it was right in front of us. We were so close with every play, but we let off a few big plays and the scoreboard kept going up." The trouble moved to special teams on the next possession. After Beckett Vogrin boomed his first two punts for 58 and 49 yards, he had some trouble with the exchange on his third and the ball was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Aidan Kish to give Hoover a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Medina tried to gain some momentum early in the second quarter when Donovan Delatte recovered a fumble by Gio Bianchi on the Vikings' first play of their next drive. The Bees immediately dipped into their bag of tricks, as quarterback River Blomquist lateraled to receiver Caleb Sherman, who found Jayden Tagalicod in the end zone for a 16-yard strike that cut the deficit to 21-7. "We've been practicing that for a few weeks now," Sherman said. "We were able to capitalize and tried to give some momentum to our offense and also our defense." After Collins and Andes connected for a deep touchdown for the second time, despite a nice pressure by Nunn early in the drive, Medina got the ball again and was driving thanks in part to a pair of Hoover penalties. Linebacker Chase Lukens was flagged for unnecessary roughness and then flagged again for arguing the call, a move that put the ball on the Hoover 27. A 2-yard sneak by Blomquist eventually moved the ball to the 16, but three plays later the drive fizzled when a pass to Vogrin was broken up in the end zone, forcing a 34-yard field goal by Landen Cusick. Carter Lukens returned the ensuing kickoff to the Medina 6, setting up an easy quarterback sneak by Collins for a 35-10 lead. Medina continued to build momentum on its next drive, moving to the Hoover 13 before back-to-back holding penalties set the Bees back. Blomquist (18-of-36, 167 yards, 1 int.; 14 rushes, 59 yards) then pressed a throw into coverage and it was picked off by Brycen Beyer. "Offensively, we've just got to finish drives," Blomquist said. "We've got to cash in. We're doing a good job of moving it down the field, but we never get it in the end zone." Medina had 299 yards on 62 plays compared to 267 yards on 36 for Hoover. Nine penalties for 60 yards by the Bees helped the Vikings out. Medina closed the game with backup quarterback Judah Carrell finding Cooper Sokolowski for a 30-yard touchdown. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Hoover 42, Medina 17 MEDINA &emsp;&emsp;0 10 0 7 — 17 HOOVER &emsp;&emsp;21 14 7 0 — 42 First H — John Collins 1 run (David Wadley kick), 7:05. H — Jack Andes 75 pass from Collins (Wadley kick), 1:48. H — Aidan Kish 18 punt block return (Wadley kick), 0:45 &emsp;&emsp;. Second M — Jayden Tagalicod 16 pass from Caleb Sherman (Landen Kusick kick), 10:20. H — Andes 47 pass from Collins (Wadley kick), 8:23. M — Cusick 34 field goal, 5:23. H — Collins 2 run (Wadley kick), 3:45. Third H — Collins 51 run (Wadley kick), 10:36. Fourth M — Cooper Sokolowski 30 pass from Judah Carrell (Kusick kick), 2:32. &emsp;&emsp;M &emsp;&emsp;H First downs &emsp;&emsp;20 &emsp;&emsp;17 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;22/63&emsp;&emsp;26/80 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;2.9 &emsp;&emsp;3.1 Passing &emsp;&emsp;22/40 &emsp;&emsp;8/10 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;236 &emsp;&emsp;187 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;62/299 36/267 Punting &emsp;&emsp;5/35.0 1/30.0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;9/60 &emsp;&emsp;4/50 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;0/0 &emsp;&emsp;2/1 RUSHING: Medina — River Blomquist 14-59, Sydney Lloyd 6-8, John Nagel 1-3, Carrell 1-(-7). Hoover — Michael Lammlein 10-30, Collins 8-20, J.T. Gregory 3-20, Andes 1-5, Carter Lukens 1-3, Luke Whitaker 1-1, Gio Bianchi 1-1, Team 1-0. PASSING: Medina — Blomquist 18-36-167-1, Carrell 3-4-53-0, Sherman 1-1-16-0. Hoover — Collins 6-8-180-0, Whitaker 2-2-7-0. RECEIVING: Medina — Sokolowski 3-47, Beckett Vogrin 3-46, Tagalicod 4-37, Kellen Hathaway 3-32, Lloyd 4-29, Collin Gonzalez 2-28, Ashton Knowles 1-9, Sherman 1-7, Nicholas Knox 1-1. Hoover — Andes 3-135, Gary Deeb-Perrin 2-32, Drake Cooper 2-19, Elijah Fryson 1-1.