High school football: Brunswick shows fight in loss to Olmsted Falls

OLMSTED FALLS — Looking for its first win of the season, the Brunswick football team went toe-to-toe with Olmsted Falls for three quarters Friday night before the Bulldogs' powerful option running attack wore down the Blue Devils in a 29-15 non-league defeat. Brunswick was within one score of tying the game after offensive lineman Jamaurie Garth recovered an Eli Nichols fumble in the end zone and quarterback Sean Barnett hit Gavin Moore for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 16-8. The combination of Owen Singleton's brute force and Logan Connelly's nifty moves off the edge took over in the final quarter. Singleton was often the man, marching Olmsted Falls down the field before Connelly finished the final two drives with touchdowns of 7 and 16 yards for a 29-8 lead. Singleton finished with 193 bruising yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, while Connelly had 89 yards on seven tries. The duo spearheaded a rushing attack that accounted for 396 yards on 53 carries Barnett hit Adin Evert on a 41-yard bomb on fourth-and-18 with 36 seconds left for the final score. Barnett's pass gave him 148 yards, making him the 10th Brunswick quarterback to eclipse 2,000 career yards. The signal caller completed 12-of-20 and protected the ball with zero interceptions after throwing four picks in the season opener. Barnett also was the leading rusher for the Blue Devils with 47 yards on 11 carries. Nichols finished with 29 on six and Gavin Ballok had 22 on nine. Brunswick (0-2) struggled out the gate, as the four-headed rushing attack of Olmsted Falls (1-1) had a 75-yard scoring drive that took 4:29 off the clock to start the game, punctuated by a 9-yard toss to Connelly off the left side. The Blue Devils forced a punt on the next possession, but Brunswick muffed the return and the Bulldogs recovered on the 7. One play later, Singleton scored his touchdown. That would be it for the scoring until Aidan O'Malley hit a 29-yard field goal that gave Olmsted Falls a 16-0 halftime lead. Brunswick's offense didn't fare much better early on, tallying only 11 yards in the first quarter and 71 yards in the half. The Blue Devils' fortunes turned for the better on Olmsted Falls' first drive of the second half, when Nichols sacked Cameron Pesch and forced a fumble recovered by Logan Matousek. That set up Brunswick's first touchdown. Matousek recovered another fumble by Pesch on the next drive — he has a Medina County-leading three in two games — but the Bulldogs forced the Brunswick offense to go backward, leading to a punt. Olmsted Falls then scored touchdowns on the next two drives. Trailing 22-8 early in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils faced fourth-and-7 from the Bulldogs 47. Barnett tried to scramble for the first down but was stopped a yard short. Moore caught five passes for 62 yards, while Evert was right behind with 52 on two. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Olmsted Falls 29, Brunswick 15 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp;0 0 8 7 — 15 OLMSTED FALLS 13 3 0 13 — 29 First O — Logan Connelly 9 run (Aidan O'Malley kick), 7:31. O — Owen Singleton 7 run (kick failed), 2:31. Second O — O'Malley 29 field goal, 2:33. Third B — Jamaurie Garth 1 offensive fumble recovery (Gavin Moore pass from Sean Barnett), 3:34. Fourth O — Connelly 7 run (kick failed), 10:31. O — Connelly 16 run (O'Malley kick), 4:18. B — Adin Evert 41 pass from Barnett (Vincenzo DiTeodoro kick), 0:36. &emsp;&emsp;B &emsp;&emsp;O First downs &emsp;&emsp;15 &emsp;&emsp;18 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;29/106 53/396 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;3.5 &emsp;&emsp;7.5 Passing &emsp;&emsp;12/21 &emsp;&emsp;5/8 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;148 &emsp;&emsp;46 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;50/254 61/442 Punting &emsp;&emsp;3/38.3 2/37.5 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;3/15 11/100 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;6/2 &emsp;&emsp;3/2 RUSHING: Brunswick — Barnett 11-47, Eli Nichols 6-29, Gavin Ballok 9-22, Elijah Poindexter 3-7, Jamaurie Garth 0-1. Olmsted Falls — Owen Singleton 27-193, Connelly 7-89, Cameron Pesch 11-53, Khye Gilbert 6-41, Andrew Minor 1-20, Team 1-0. PASSING: Brunswick — Barnett 12-20-148-0, Jake Tamosiunas 0-1-0-0. Olmsted Falls — Pesch 5-8-46-0. RECEIVING: Brunswick — Moore 5-62, Evert 2-52, Anthony Gamboa 3-22, Landen Kirchner 1-12, Ballok 1-0. Olmsted Falls — Connelly 3-30, O'Malley 1-11, Gilbert 1-5.