‘Hidden’ quarter key to Garfield’s 37-28 win vs. Warren JFK
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GARRETTSVILLE -- Football coaches at all levels stress the importance of the last possession of the first half and the first series of the second half.
On Thursday, Garrettsville Garfield executed both drives and scored. It flipped momentum, and after another hour or so on the field, the victory bell rang in Garrettsville.
The G-Men (1-0) scored 10 points on those two drives thanks to a field goal at the end of the second quarter and a touchdown to open the second half. The series helped the G-Men to a 37-28 victory over Warren JFK to open the season.
"You always want to close halves and start halves," Garfield head coach Mike Moser said. "Driving down and getting a field goal going into halftime and scoring on your first position coming out, I think that was big."
Kennedy struck just 1:19 into the game to take a 6-0 lead. But Garfield responded when Ryder Cain broke through the middle and down the left sideline for a 47-yard touchdown run almost three minutes later to go ahead 7-6.
After punts by both teams, a jet sweep by and an offside penalty by Garfield just before the end of the quarter had the Eagles at their 47 yard-line. The Eagles drove to the other side of the field, but the G-Men got a stop on 4th-and-inches to regain possession at their 23.
The G-Men extended their lead to 14-6 with 4:02 left in the half when Collin McGranahan snuck it in from the 1 yard-line, capping a 77-yard drive.
Several plays after Al Howard picked up a fourth down on a QB keeper, Nick Branca tied the game at 14 with a 5-yard TD run and the subsequent two-point conversion with 27.1 seconds to play before the break.
The Eagles opted for a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff, and the G-Men took over at their 46. However, the home team took a 17-14 lead into the locker room when Hannah Timmons converted a 20-yard field goal as time expired.
Then Garfield came out of the locker room and controlled the line of scrimmage. The G-Men went 75 yards on 10 plays, eating 5:38 off the clock. The drive ended with a 1-yard run by McGranahan for his second TD run of the night.
JFK blocked the PAT, but the G-Men led 23-14.
"(The G-Men) won that middle quarter, that hidden fifth quarter, which is the end of the second quarter, beginning of the third. They won that," Warren JFK head coach Damon Buente said. "It's critical. They scored in short time. They opened with a touchdown (in the third). When you win that hidden quarter in the middle of the game, your odds of success increase exponentially."
Then the G-Men forced a JFK punt, and after taking over at its 45, Garfield pushed its lead to 30-14 when McGranahan rolled right and connected with Nathan Baczkowski crossing over the middle of the field. Baczkowski ran 41 yards for a touchdown reception.
"We drove the ball every time we had it, except for one - we kinda shot ourselves on one drive - but they did a nice job up front," Moser said. "We got some guys starting their first varsity games. They'll keep working. They'll get better."
Kennedy took over and got the ball down to the Garfield 30 before the end of the third quarter. Howard made it a 30-22 game when he took a ball wide off the left side and scored on a 14-yard run. Branca got the two points on a run.
But Devin Bates looked to have crushed any hopes of an Eagles comeback when he ran off the left side for a 19-yard touchdown with 5:55 to play, extending the Garfield lead to 37-22.
However, Howard gave the Eagles a little hope after snapping off a 50-yard run, and Branca scored on a 3-yard TD run. But a bad snap on the extra point resulted in a failed two-point pass, and the G-Men were still ahead by two scores with 2:22 remaining.
"We just kept chipping away, chipping away," Buente said. "We have two seniors. I didn't know how we were gonna react. We're young. We got 10 kids who drive to practice. We're just a young team, but the resilience that they showed ... we're gonna be OK."
Then the Eagles recovered the onside kick, with hopes of getting closer on the scoreboard. But the G-Men recovered a JFK fumble to lock up the Week 1 win.
"Garfield deserved to win the game, we deserved to lose the game. The football don't lie," Buente said. "We'll grow from it."
Minutes after the game ended, the Garfield players ran to the other side of the field. They gathered to ring the victory bell, a gift to themselves after an offseason of work and a 1-0 start.
"These nights are the reward for everything you've done for the last month or two months, three months, whatever it is," Moser said. "You gotta stay humble, work hard and keep executing the things that we're asking you to do."