High school football playoffs: No rust evident as Highland hammers Brecksville

Casey Myser broke the Medina County career scoring record, but more importantly he set up his teammates for tremendous success. That was the story Friday night in a Division II, Region 6 quarterfinal, as the top-seeded Highland football team systematically picked apart No. 8 Brecksville 38-7 with another sterling performance in all three phases of the game. The Hornets (11-0) advanced to host fourth-seeded North Ridgeville, a 42-7 winner over Whitehouse Anthony Wayne, next week at North Gateway Tire Field. They were pleased with how they competed after getting a first-round bye in the OHSAA's new 12-team playoff format, their second bye of the season after Barberton refused to show up for a Week 7 Suburban League American Conference game. "It was definitely fun to watch them go out there and play," Highland coach Mike Gibbons said. "Brecksville has some really good players and it was fun to play a good game. I'm excited for our kids. Brecksville played tough." Myser finished with 14 rushes for 99 yards and three touchdowns to give him 534 career points, breaking the previous area standard of 530 set by Black River's Andrew Vaughn from 2010-13. The record-breaker was a doozy, as Myser broke through the line on a counter and ran through three downfield tackles nearly simultaneously en route to a 33-yard TD with 8:07 left in the third quarter. That was his last touch of the game. The Bees (6-5) were clearly dead set on hounding Myser with a 3-3 defense that featured hard-hitting safety Peter Chermonte a yard outside of the box. While Chermonte, by far Brecksville's leading tackler on the season, had another stat-stuffing night, Highland's other key players had a field day. That began with Grady Gibb, who completed 9-of-9 passes for 141 yards to move his season line to an absurd 81-for-95 (.852) for 1,430. Lucas Gerding (2 carries, 26 yards; 2 catches, 52 yards) and Nick Dobkowski (2 catches, 47) also starred as Highland didn't punt until after a running clock had been obtained. "I thought we were really efficient," Gibbons said. "Casey ran hard, our offensive line blocked really well and we took advantage in the pass game of what they were giving us. "They make things difficult. No. 25 (Chermonte) was phenomenal. Total stud. He's everywhere. Good job by them, but we did some good things on offense and were able to move the ball. It took some time, but we were able to punch it in." The Highland defense got an early interception from Dobkowski and another by Jameson Gordon on Brecksville's opening drive of the second half. The Bees finished with 108 yards total offense on 31 plays if Chermonte's 80-yard touchdown run against the backups is factored out. Brecksville was without 1,158-yard rusher Jacob Eterovich. "I thought we played really well on defense," Gibbons said. "I'm proud of our kids. We know we have to keep getting better because we have another big challenge coming up next week against North Ridgeville. We're excited." Highland opened the scoring on a 5-yard Myser run late in the first quarter. Brecksville tried to burn clock each play but ultimately failed, and the Hornets moved to 21-0 on a 12-yard Myser run and Gibb 1-yard sneak to close the first half. Myser made the score 28-0 on his highlight-reel 33-yarder, and Dylan Lazar initiated the running clock on a 12-yard run with 6:31 left in the third quarter. Jonah Kowza, who made 5-of-5 extra points and boomed four touchbacks, added a 36-yard field goal early in the fourth before Chermonte's TD. Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Highland 38, Brecksville 7 Division II, Region 6 Quarterfinal BRECKSVILLE 0 0 0 7 — 7 HIGHLAND &emsp;&emsp;7 14 14 3 — 38 First H — Casey Myser 5 run (Jonah Kowza kick), 3:47. Second H — Myser 12 run (Kowza kick), 10:44. H — Grady Gibb 1 run (Kowza kick), 0:23. Third H — Myser 33 run (Kowza kick), 8:07. H — Dylan Lazar 12 run (Kowza kick), 6:31. Fourth H — Kowza 36 field goal, 9:34. B — Peter Chermonte 80 run (Chermonte kick), 8:18. &emsp;&emsp;B &emsp;&emsp;H First downs &emsp;&emsp;7 &emsp;&emsp;20 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;22/144 37/237 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;6.5 &emsp;&emsp;6.4 Passing &emsp;&emsp;5/10 &emsp;&emsp;9/9 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;44 &emsp;&emsp;141 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;32/188 46/378 Punting &emsp;&emsp;2/34.5 1/36.0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;1/5 &emsp;&emsp;2/15 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;0/0 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 RUSHING: Brecksville — Chermonte 14-135, Nick Milanich 2-5, Cameron Stephan 1-3, Nathan Henegar 3-1, Tommy Toth 1-1, Tyler Soeder 1-(-1). Highland — Myser 14-99, Gibb 11-59, Dylan Lazar 6-48, Lucas Gerding 2-26, Frankie Iannaggi 1-2, Jonathan Prucha 2-2, Ben Radigan 1-1. PASSING: Brecksville — Henegar 5-10-44-2. Highland — Gibb 9-9-141-0. RECEIVING: Brecksville — Carson Zabkar 2-25, Max Ritter 1-10, Stephan 1-7, Chermonte 1-2. Highland — Gerding 2-52, Dobkowski 2-47, Weber 2-22, Evan Foust 2-20, Myser 1-0.