G-Men get better of Springfield
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NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Despite forcing a pair of early turnovers, Springfield could not stop Garrettsville Garfield's single-wing attack Friday at home.
The Tigers forced and recovered two fumbles in the opening seven minutes, but they remained otherwise helpless to slow down the G-Men on the ground or in the air as Garfield pulled away in a 40-14 win.
"Garrettsville's a really good football team. We are not yet," Springfield head coach Adam Slopek said. "We have to keep on working and keep on trying to get better, try to get to that level."
The G-Men's offense immediately proved efficient, as Collin McGranahan broke free for 51 yards on the third play of the game, setting up first-and-goal from the Springfield 7-yard line.
Poor ball security ended the drive on the next play, though, when the Tigers forced a fumble and recovered it inside their own 10.
Unfortunately for Springfield, its offense could not capitalize on the turnover and went three-and-out, setting up the first scoring drive of the game.
On the second play of the next Garfield possession, McGranahan faked a handoff, rolled left and found a wide-open Oliver Walker, who jogged into the end zone untouched for the 48-yard touchdown reception.
After another three-and-out for Springfield, the G-Men coughed up the ball again. This time, Henry Nemenz recovered the fumble, kickstarting the Tigers' next drive at midfield.
Facing third-and-long, Michael Tuscano extended the drive with a 14-yard completion to Tristan Temperato. Three plays later, Michael Rogenski picked up another first down with a run on third-and-3, which preceded Rogenski finding a hole on his next rushing attempt and scampering for a 23-yard touchdown. The extra point tied the game 7-7 with 1:39 left in the first quarter.
The remaining nearly 14 minutes of the first half, however, solidly belonged to Garfield.
Between McGranahan, Nate Baczkowski and Ryder Cain, the G-Men gained 59 yards in four plays, all runs, including a 13-yard Cain rushing touchdown to reclaim the lead with 12 seconds to go in the opening quarter.
A little more than halfway through the second quarter, after a bad snap stalled a Garfield drive inside the red zone, Springfield took over in the shadow of its own end zone, which only grew larger following a snap infraction.
After the penalty, Tuscano took the snap, turned to his right and threw a backward pass, which, after a hard collision, led to a loose ball in the Springfield end zone. Logan Sell seized the moment and dove on the fumble, scoring another Garfield touchdown.
The G-Men made quick work of their final scoring drive of the first half.
Taking over at their own 20 with 2:15 to play, Cain ran the ball 80 yards for what appeared to be a touchdown. An illegal shift negated the play, though, making Garfield wait a few more plays, when McGranahan floated the ball to Baczkowski on a middle screen that Baczkowski took the rest of the way for a 59-yard touchdown. With Hannah Timmons' extra point, the G-Men took a 28-7 lead into halftime.
"Obviously, I don't know that I have a great answer to that. We gave up 40 points," Slopek said of the key to stopping Garfield's old-school offense. "They do a really good job. Some things tonight -- it's called the spinner series, where they take some direct snap and then spin around in the direction of them. That was something that we hadn't seen on film."
On the second play of the second half, Springfield gave the ball back to Garfield with a fumble.
Starting their possession on the Tigers' 42, the G-Men ran five run plays and capped the drive with a 1-yard Cain touchdown to go ahead 34-7 less than four minutes into the half.
After a holding penalty called back what would have been an 83-yard touchdown pass from McGranahan to Cain, Garfield punted the ball back to Springfield, which cut into the deficit shortly thereafter.
Taking advantage of a G-Men personal foul, the Tigers pulled back within 20 with a 6-yard touchdown run by Rogenski with 3:45 left in the third quarter.
Garfield responded with a touchdown drive of its own, eating up more than five minutes on a 68-yard possession, which concluded with an 8-yard Baczkowski touchdown run.
"With the win, Garfield improved to 3-0 on the season. The G-Men open their Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) Grey slate next Friday at home vs. LaBrae.
Springfield, which beat Lakeview on the road to begin the season, slipped to 1-2 on the year. The Tigers face Mineral Ridge in Weathersfield next week for their MVAC Scarlet opener.
"We're gonna try to get ourselves healthy and restored and focused on that," Slopek said. "We just talked about it: Last year at this point, we were sitting at 1-2, getting beat up pretty good by Garfield, and then we ended up 7-3. So it's far from over, but we have to improve in every aspect."