High school football playoffs: Jaden Gross' interception sparks Wadsworth rout

WADSWORTH — A defensive end making an acrobatic, game-changing fourth-down interception wasn't on anyone's bingo card Friday. Jaiden Gross, however, had proclaimed earlier in the week during practice that he would have an opportunity to crash the party. The highlight of the senior first-year starter's career came in the second quarter of a one-score game, firing up the second-seeded Wadsworth football team en route to an efficient 34-6 elimination of No. 7 Toledo St. Francis de Sales in the Division II, Region 6 quarterfinals. The matchup that everyone has had circled on their calendar for months, the Grizzlies (11-0) against defending state champion and third-seeded Avon (11-0), is now locked in for next week at Art Wright Memorial Stadium, where Wadsworth has lost only twice in 11 playoff games. "Oh, man, it was great," Gross said. "I know the team was super ready. We've been itching to get back at it (after a first-round bye). We played Solon (in Week 10) and it was a quick game, so we were really excited to get this." Wadsworth was still in the feeling-out stages against the big, physical front of the Knights (7-5) and was clinging to a 6-0 lead after left tackle Jordan Jones, left guard Aiden Meisterics and H-back Dawson Mendel's punishing blocks sprung Army recruit Gavin Madigan for a 47-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter. St. Francis de Sales elected to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Wadsworth 39-yard line early in the second quarter. Third-string quarterback Thomas Nowowiejski, a surprise starter over leading passer K.J. Collins-Walker, drifted back to set up a screen to the right, and Gross saw it coming after Rutgers recruit Jermaine Polk allowed him to come through untouched. The 5-foot-10, 215-pounder stopped his rush at the 44, leaped and tipped the ball. He then flailed his arms in a failed attempt to keep his balance, kept his eye on the ball and caught it while simultaneously falling on his backside for a pick that wasn't necessarily needed given the circumstances, but one that was such a shock it sent the rest of the Grizzlies into hysteria. Air Force recruit Calix Lemp hauled in a 31-yard touchdown from Brysen Hall 2:17 later and Wadsworth was off and running. "Oh, my gosh, honestly, in practice we ran against that exact same play and they threw it straight over my head," Gross said. "I was like 'Coach, if they throw this, I can pick this.' You can ask (defensive line) Coach (Jeremy) Porchowsky. I said that. "I just stopped, saw the screen, hit that ball up, fell on the ground and I just caught it. I was running back to the sideline and celebrating with my teammates, then I was like, 'Did I just get an interception on a Friday night game?! This is insane."' The interception highlighted an outstanding night for the Grizzlies defense, which technically pitched a shutout because the Knights' lone touchdown was a 49-yard fumble return early in the fourth quarter. St. Francis de Sales featured Polk at right tackle and All-Ohioan Eli Beal at running back but was limited to 171 yards total offense and eight first downs despite Wadsworth posting only four tackles for loss. Included was another key stop in Grizzlies territory with the outcome still in doubt, as St. Francis eventually punted after having first-and-10 from the Wadsworth 38 with the game scoreless. Beal finished with 42 yards on 15 carries and Nowowiejski largely worked the quick game to complete 14-of-26 passes for 120 yards. Top receiver Jayden Houston, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder with speed, was a non-factor with one reception for 8 yards, though he was underthrown on open deep balls twice. "Really, it was just grit," Gross said. "We had a great week of practice and a great bye week. We knew we were ready because we don't take days off. We knew what he had to do to make plays." The Wadsworth offense found sledding tough against the three-man front of Polk, all-league pick Tyrelle Lawrence and multi-year starter Deon Banks and lots of man coverage in the back end. The Grizzlies were crisp enough to ground and pound for most of the night, running a whopping 74 plays for 377 yards, including 49 for 185 (3.8 average) on the ground. Cooper Gray developed into the workhouse to save Madigan for defense, racking up 30 carries for 112 yards that included an 8-yard score that pushed the score to 20-0 with 1:30 left before halftime. Hall completed 17-of-25 passes for 192 yards, while Lemp got open out of stacked-receiver formations — a stellar counter to man coverage — en route to nine catches for 118 yards, including a 30-yard score that put Wadsworth on the verge of running-clock status at 27-0 with 4:43 left in the third quarter. Madigan finished with 10 carries for 81 yards and Jude Haller capped the scoring on a 1-yard run with 3:49 to play. The lone critical error was a shotgun snap through Hall's hands that St. Francis de Sales' Noah Edwards caught on a bounce and scurried untouched to the end zone in the fourth, and the extra point inconsistencies continued with another blocked attempt. At the end of the day, the line of Jones, Meisterics, Merit Fortner, Gavin Britton and Colton Leavitt — guard Carter Raymond exited with an injury just 5:49 in, forcing Leavitt to switch his jersey from No. 85 to No. 64 — was up for the challenge. "I mean, No. 54 is a Rutgers commit, so they had big men on the line," Jones said. "We had to figure out a way to block them efficiently every play. Sometimes (Polk) got into the backfield, but we made more plays than them. "We have an amazing play caller, Coach (Brent) Steiner. He's our O-line coach. He's been in the game for so long, so he really knows the balance between when we need to throw the ball." While Wadsworth came up short of obtaining its 10th running running clock of the season, the Grizzlies certainly did enough to dominate a quality opponent. The Knights played a brutal Detroit Catholic High School League schedule that wasn't far off from competition comparable locally to St. Edward, St. Ignatius, Archbishop Hoban and Walsh Jesuit, yet Wadsworth controlled both lines of scrimmage with a team effort. The Grizzlies will need another next week against Avon, which eliminated Wadsworth 41-10 in the regional semifinals last season, but this time they're much healthier, more experienced and, maybe most important of all, playing at home. "This is one of the last times you get to play at Art Wright," Jones said. "It's just a great experience, especially with this great team that we got to play tonight. "It was really physical up front. It was a grind to get through that, but we came out on top and it was great." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Wadsworth 34, Toledo St. Francis de Sales 7 Division II, Region 6 Quarterfinal ST. FRANCIS &emsp;&emsp;0 0 0 7 — 7 WADSWORTH&emsp;&emsp;6 14 7 7 — 34 First W — Gavin Madigan 47 run (kick blocked), 5:33. Second W — Calix Lemp 31 pass from Brysen Hall (Justin Lazzaretti kick), 8:55. W — Cooper Gray 8 run (Lazzaretti kick), 1:30. Third W — Lemp 30 pass from Hall (Lazaretti kick), 4:43. Fourth SF — Noah Edwards 49 fumble return (kick blocked), 9:35. W — Jude Haller 1 run (Lazzaretti kick), 3:49. &emsp;&emsp;SF &emsp;&emsp;W First downs &emsp;&emsp;8 &emsp;&emsp;20 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;21/51 49/185 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;2.4 &emsp;&emsp;3.8 Passing &emsp;&emsp;14/28&emsp;&emsp;17/25 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;120 &emsp;&emsp;192 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;49/171 74/377 Punting &emsp;&emsp;6/41.0 4/40.3 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;7/50 &emsp;&emsp;2/10 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;0/0 &emsp;&emsp;1/1 RUSHING: St. Francis de Sales — Eli Beal 15-42, Sol'Vaire Hughes 1-4, K.J. Collins-Walker 1-4, Thomas Nowowiejski 4-1. Wadsworth — Gray 30-112, Madigan 10-81, Haller 4-16, Jacob Earnest 1-1, Team 2-(-8), Hall 2-(-17). PASSING: St. Francis de Sales — Nowowiejski 14-26-120-1, Jayden Houston 0-2-0-0. Wadsworth — Hall 17-25-192-0. RECEIVING: St. Francis de Sales — Hughes 7-64, Daniel Hyler-Taylor 2-39, Jordan Brown 3-8, Houston 1-8, Beal 1-1. Wadsworth — Lemp 9-118, Kyle Schmeltzer 4-44, Jack McNeill 2-16, Luke Maddox 2-14.