Howland bests rival Niles in opener for third straight year
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HOWLAND -- One of Trumbull County's most historic rivalries renewed once again to begin the 2026 campaign.
Howland started slow, but once the offense found its groove, they were hard to stop, topping Niles 26-12 for its third win in a row over the Red Dragons.
"I'm really proud of those guys," Tigers coach Brian Jones said. "Everybody, one through 50 on the roster. It wasn't pretty at times. We kind of got punched in the mouth a little bit in that first quarter, first quarter and a half. But we have a bunch of resilient kids, and we challenged them, and they kind of stepped up to the challenge. Tip your cap to Niles, they came out, we knew that they were going to give us all they had, and that's what you expect in a rivalry game. It was a well-fought battle."
It was a relatively quiet first half as the teams traded punts for much of the first 24 minutes. Each team found the end zone once, however.
Niles tailback Nick Cvengros scored on a 23-yard run in the first quarter to get things started, but the extra point was blocked.
Three minutes before halftime, Howland found its equalizer in a 26-yard strike from Darren Douglas to senior receiver Camrin Tucker. The Tigers converted the extra point and went into the locker room with a one-point lead.
Howland made the most of its first possession of the second half, with Isaiah Cluckey bulldozing his way through the trenches and racing to a 45-yard touchdown near the halfway point of the third quarter.
But Niles wasted little time responding. The Red Dragons pushed down the field into the red zone. Vinny Broll took the hand off inside the 5-yard line and punched it in. They missed the PAT, however, and the Tigers held onto the lead, 13-12.
Two plays after a 75-yard catch and run from Douglas to Carter Nielsen was called back due to a penalty, the Tigers did it again. This time, it was from Douglas to Anthony DeNiro, who bobbed and weaved his way through the Niles defenders en route to a 53-yard score.
The Red Dragons fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting Howland up just outside the red zone with the fourth quarter just seconds away.
On the first play of the final frame, Niles sophomore Leroy Johnson recovered a loose ball and prevented another Tigers score. Two plays later, however, Howland's Cole Manners recovered a loose ball of his own, changing the field once again.
The Tigers made them pay for that mistake, handing the ball to bruising powerback Delmar Cox, who extended the Howland lead to 26-12 after the PAT.
The Tigers start the year again with a 1-0 mark. They hope to build on that next week when they host Hubbard.
"We're not there. We have a lot of things that we got to clean up," Jones said. "That's pretty normal after a Week 1 game, but we have a lot of procedural things that we need to clean up. We need to stay healthy and take that next step, and it doesn't get any easier next week."
Niles (0-1) returns home to square off with Liberty.
"I thought we came out strong," Red Dragons coach Chris Kosiorek said. "I thought we executed very well, and then things just started to bog us down. We got some injuries, we got a lot of turnovers, and in a game like this, a rivalry, turnovers (will sink you). I liked how we responded to tie the score up, and then they popped a couple big runs on us, and that was the difference maker. Like we talked about, we got to keep going. We got to stay together, and got to get ready for next week."