MEDINA — A storm hit Ken Dukes Stadium Friday night at the Division VI second round playoff game. The St. Paul Flyers started with some low rumbling thunder and then unleashed the lightning for a 48-7 victory over Mogadore.
St. Paul’s initial drive of the game was long and meticulous as the Flyers drove 82 yards in 18 plays. Senior quarterback Eric Schwieterman completed 6 of 7 passes on the drive for 60 yards. The Flyers picked up six first downs on the drive, and used almost seven and half minutes of clock.
A key play was senior running back Brian Griffin gaining 3 yards on fourth-and-inches to keep the drive alive.
Schwieterman finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Justin Wilde.
“It was a good ball-control drive,” St. Paul coach John Livengood, whose team improved to 12-0 this season, said. “The kids came out and executed well. We were able to mix the run and the pass. The kids did a nice job.”
After that the Flyers unleashed their quick strike offense.
St. Paul scored all six times it touched the ball in the first half, including scoring drives of four plays, two plays and one play.
“The way our defense played was important,” Livengood said. “We were able to get three-and-outs. After that we were able to do some nice things. Dan (Tracht) made some nice plays and Eric (Schwieterman) made some nice reads.”
St. Paul’s second drive started after a three-and-out on the Mogadore 49-yard line. After three runs, Schwieterman found senior Brian Roberts on a slant. Roberts broke two tackles and took it 37 yards to the end zone.
On Mogadore’s next series Schwieterman intercepted a pass to get the ball back. This time the Flyers’ drive took just two plays. Schwieterman completed two passes including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tracht.
In the second quarter, Griffin scored on runs of 2 and 4 yards, sandwiched between a 1-play drive where Schwieterman found Tracht for a 55-yard touchdown.
Schwieterman completed 11 of 12 passes in the half for 213 yards. Griffin rushed for 51 yards in the first half, including the two touchdowns.
The Flyers had 14 first downs and 288 total yards in the half. In the first half, Mogadore (10-2) had just 11 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Eight of their runs were for no gain or a loss. Quarterback Drew Babbitt completed just 1 of 8 passes for 25 yards and an interception.
Wildcats’ coach Matt Adorni was impressed with St. Paul’s speed.
“That is one of the fastest teams I have seen in a while,” Adorni said. “I think 11 guys on their defense were faster than our fastest kid. They are a fantastic football team. I will be surprised if that team is not playing on December 5th. They don’t have a weakness. We didn’t find any on film and they certainly didn’t show too many tonight.”
St. Paul’s defense made three big plays in the third quarter. Mogadore started the second half with a little bit of life. The Wildcats picked up a first down and then Babbitt completed a 37-yard pass to senior Matt Traugh, but Tracht ripped the ball out of his hands for the turnover. Later in the quarter Mitchell Gross led a host of Flyers that stuffed Mike Leymon on a fourth-and-inches run for a loss. Tracht ended the quarter with an interception that he returned 15 yards for a touchdown.
“I was pretty upset that I got burnt,” Tracht said of the strip play. “He had a touchdown if I didn’t run him down, but fortunately I caught him and stripped the ball and went the other way with it. I got lucky.”
Mogadore scored with 4:41 remaining in the game when third string quarterback Ryan Harmon scored on a 1-yard sneak. The play before Harmon completed 14-yard pass to freshman Dylan Natko to set up the touchdown.
