High school football playoffs: Cloverleaf gets first postseason win in wild fashion

BAY VILLAGE — Cloverleaf quarterback Isaac Smith caught a fourth-down shotgun snap from Austin Sprankle, instantly sprinted back, then looked forward over his shoulder at the scoreboard as the final four seconds ticked away. Three ... Two ... One ... Veering toward the Colts sideline, Smith took a knee at the Bay 44-yard line for the most scintillating 25-yard loss and turnover on downs in program history. Pandemonium ensued with flying hugs, arms raised and smiles that could have enhanced the lighting at Bay Memorial Stadium. Ethan Gray collapsed to the FieldTurf at the 50-yard line, partly from exhaustion and partly from disbelief before cousin Ashton Gray came running over for a memorable embrace. On Friday, Oct. 31, 2025 at 9:41 p.m. — Halloween, no less — 10th-seeeded Cloverleaf captured its first playoff victory with a 42-35 Division IV, Region 14 first-round upset of No. 7 Bay in a wild, head-spinning, jaw-dropping epic that will be talked about in Westfield, Guilford, Harrisville, Chatham and Lafayette townships for decades. The Colts' reward is a regional quarterfinal at second-seeded Galion (9-1) next week. "Holy crap," Ethan Gray said, his lungs still huffin' and puffin' after the 48-minute performance of his life. "That's all I have to say: Holyyyyy crap." Gray was being modest. The Colts (7-4) led 21-0 and 35-14, entered the fourth quarter tied at 35 after blowing the lead in a 6:38 span of a ridiculous third quarter that had 42 combined points, took the lead a mere 2:58 later and held on for dear life with a new jersey number taking over the spotlight each time. The madness ironically ended in anticlimactic fashion, as the Rockets (6-5) took over on their 21-yard line with 2:31 remaining but went four-and-out when freshman cornerback Zayne Trent broke up a pass along the Bay sideline. Cloverleaf ran off-tackle so the Rockets had to burn their final timeouts, then the Colts called time with four seconds left to set up the final play. Not that anyone on the energetic Cloverleaf sideline cared. "We knew those plays that they made were mistakes — simple mistakes we made and they capitalized," Ethan Gray said. "We knew that if we fixed up a few things, they wouldn't make anymore plays." The heroes were endless, beginning with Ethan Gray. The senior carried 39 grueling times for 130 yards and two 1-yard touchdowns, returned a kickoff 89 yards to the house after Bay had cut to 21-14 and played every snap on defense at safety. But he was far, far from alone. Sophomore tight end/outside linebacker Elliot Jordan recovered a fumble on a Rockets kickoff return at the Bay 10-yard line following Gray's kickoff score, then hauled in a juggling 20-yard touchdown from Smith to briefly restore Cloverleaf's 21-point lead. He also combined with Jimmy Tolley for a fourth-down sack with 5:00 left and picked off Rockets quarterback Patrick Cleary in the first quarter. Tolley caught the go-ahead touchdown with 9:47 remaining, a 3-yard pop from Smith on fourth down in which he briefly dropped the ball but regathered on his knees, which led to a gasp of relief from the Cloverleaf faithful. Trent was magnificent at corner, highlighted by an interception of Clearly on the Bay 25 with 1:40 to play. Along with the game-sealing pass breakup, he was matched against Bay's top receivers after fellow starter Kellen Price, whose one-handed, 27-yard catch on third-and-13 highlighted the game's opening drive, exited with an injury during the third quarter flurry. Right tackle Dominic Nau was a key part of the game plan, as coach Justin Vorhies moved the 6-foot-5, 265-pounder around to create an unbalanced front that Bay had no answers for the in first half. While the Rockets adjusted with interior blitzing in the second half, the damage had been done after Cloverleaf scored on its first three drives en route to the commanding 21-0 lead that began with a 1-yard run by Smith. Speaking of Smith, the junior right-hander played arguably the best game of his young career at QB, rushing 12 times for 100 yards and completing 8-of-9 passes for 91 yards and the two scores. He also rotated at corner with opening-night starting safety David Hunter after Price's injury. "We're on top of the world. I mean, first playoff win," Jordan said after a group hug and pictures with Tolley and Trent. "We knew what to expect coming into this game. We knew if we played our ball the way we practiced this entire season, we would come out on top. That's what happened." As Cloverleaf lined up before Gray's second 1-yard TD, the stunned, small crowd was so silent that Smith's "down, set-hut" snap count echoed eerily. The Rockets, a bit of a Helter Skelter team to begin with, were in desperation mode with 4:36 on the second-quarter clock. To Bay's credit, it responded emphatically and nearly turned the night into Cloverleaf's version of a horror show. Cleary (13-for-28, 162 yards, 3 INTs) rallied the troops, marched down the field and hit Ethan Sedivec on a slant for a critical 12-yard touchdown 48 seconds before halftime. The Rockets continued the momentum coming out of the locker room, as three-year starting running back Rocco Ereditario bulldozed in from 7 yards to cut 21-0 to 21-14 in the blink of an eye. Buckle up, folks, because the touchdowns came with NASCAR speed after that. Gray answered with his 89-yard kickoff return 13 seconds later. Jordan's fumble recovery and 20-yard TD then gave Cloverleaf a 35-14 lead just 48 seconds after the score was 21-14. The Cloverleaf special teams units immediately imploded, as Bay's Jimmy Boehniein returned the next kickoff 79 yards to the 1, setting up a TD sneak by Cleary. Four plays from scrimmage after that, a punt by the Colts' Ethan Martin was blocked and the Rockets recovered on the 14. A bizarre sequence followed when Cloverleaf safety Grady Porter picked off Cleary in the end zone but lost the ball on the 8-yard line while trying to return, with Bay declining a pass interference penalty to reset the downs with a first-and-goal. Cleary then crossed the goal line tush-push style from the 5 — Vorhies vehemently argued for an aiding the runner penalty but was denied — and the score was 35-28 after two TDs in a 4:30 stretch. Hold on, there's more. ... Struggling to find answers against Bay's newfound interior blitzing, Cloverleaf failed on downs at the Bay 39. On the next play, Clearly heaved a 61-yard touchdown pass to Brody Beggs, tying the game at 35 with 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Bay naturally was fired up but was tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the TD. Cloverleaf elected to take the penalty on the kickoff instead of the conversion attempt, and the Rockets, not wanting to kick to Gray, booted the ball out of bounds to give the Colts possession at the 50. Smith took a counter trey right and rumbled 39 yards to the 11 on the ensuing play from scrimmage. Cloverleaf was in danger of a brutal goal-line stand at the 1 after losing yards twice in three plays, but Vorhies saw another interior blitz coming, yelled to Smith to audible to a pop pass late in the play clock and Tolley's TD put the Colts ahead just 2:58 after they blew a 21-point lead. "We came out really strong in the first half and we started to get too comfortable," Gray said. "We stopped trying to make plays like we were. We thought we could just walk right through the rest of the game, and that's when they started sneaking back on us. "But we were able to come through and make some more big plays to come out on top." The computer simulation website fantastic50.net, which picks every game in the state with more than 80% accuracy, listed the Colts as a 21-point underdog with an 8% chance at victory. The relentlessly positive Vorhies, a 2001 Cloverleaf graduate who's living out his dream as coach of his alma mater, convinced his crew that a win was there for the taking if a conservative, mistake-free game plan was executed to near-perfection. With only five seniors on the roster, the Colts cemented their place in the legacy of Cloverleaf football as the first team to win a playoff game after five teams prior had failed. "There's no better feeling in the world right now," Vorhies said. "I'm so happy for these kids that they get to experience this, and hopefully it's not our last one, you know?" Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Division IV, Region 14 First Round Cloverleaf 42, Bay 35 CLOVERLEAF 7 14 14 7 — 42 BAY &emsp;&emsp;0 7 28 0 — 35 First C — Isaac Smith 1 run (Austin Sustersic kick), 7:28. Second C — Ethan Gray 1 run (Sustersic kick), 8:17. C — Gray 1 run (Sustersic kick), 4:36. B — Ethan Sedivec 12 pass from Patrick Cleary (Griffin Ruppe kick), 0:48. Third B — Rocco Ereditario 7 run (Ruppe kick), 8:30. C — Gray 89 kickoff return (Sustersic kick), 8:17. C — Elliot Jordan 20 pass from Smith (Sustersic kick), 7:42. B — Cleary 1 run (Ruppe kick), 7:23. B — Cleary 5 run (Ruppe kick), 3:12. B — Brody Beggs 61 pass from Cleary (Ruppe kick), 0:45. Fourth C — Jimmy Tolley 3 pass from Smith (Sustersic kick), 9:47. &emsp;&emsp;C &emsp;&emsp;B First downs &emsp;&emsp;17 &emsp;&emsp;12 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;59/210&emsp;&emsp;19/54 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;3.6 &emsp;&emsp;2.8 Passing &emsp;&emsp;8/9&emsp;&emsp;13/28 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;91 &emsp;&emsp;162 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;68/301 47/216 Punting &emsp;&emsp;1/0.0 1/22.0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;7/57 &emsp;&emsp;7/53 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;4/2 &emsp;&emsp;2/1 RUSHING: Cloverleaf — Gray 39-130, Smith 12-100, Kellen Price 4-12, Marzell Davis 1-1, Team 3-(-33). Bay — Ereditario 11-40, Charlie Rodgers 5-23, Cleary 3-(-9). PASSING: Cloverleaf — Smith 8-9-91-0. Bay — Cleary 13-28-162-3. RECEIVING: Cloverleaf — Price 4-47, Tolley 3-24, Jordan 1-20. Bay — Beggs 5-88, Rodgers 4-37, Sedivec 2-32, Michael Foreman 2-5.