Springfield tops Blue Devils to win fourth straight
Springfield tops Devils for 4th straight win
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BERLIN CENTER -- Springfield and Western Reserve entered Week 8 trending in opposite directions. And the trends continued Friday, with the Tigers, in their fourth straight win, dominating the Blue Devils 41-0 in Reserve's fourth loss in a row.
"I was just really proud of our kids, the way they played, the way they responded," Springfield head coach Adam Slopek said. "I’m always nervous because we didn’t have school today. There was a day off of school and everything. And once you’re in that school routine, it’s hard to keep that same routine [without school]. And boy, they did a great job of staying locked in and staying focused and being ready to go tonight."
The Tigers' offense set the tone immediately Friday.
Passing only once, Springfield drove 74 yards over 13 plays and nearly seven minutes while utilizing a three-headed rushing attack of Michael Tuscano, Alex Caldwell and Marco Gentile.
Tuscano gave the Tigers a lead with a 4-yard touchdown run with 5:01 left in the first quarter.
Springfield then forced a three-and-out from the Reserve offense, which gained just a pair of yards before Cole Dotson's punt.
Set up with field position on the Blue Devils' side of the 50, the Tigers kept the ball on the ground again and enjoyed similar results.
On the drive, the Tuscano-Gentile-Caldwell trio combined for 36 yards, averaging 7.2 yards per carry, including the 5-yard score by Caldwell with 41 seconds to go in the opening period.
The Blue Devils earned their first first down of the game on the final play of the quarter, but the second quarter soon proved just as fruitless for the Reserve offense as the first.
After an 11-yard completion by Wesley James to Jayden Goddard to start the drive, the Devils gained just 9 yards on the subsequent four plays. The possession ended with a turnover on downs when Springfield stuffed Shane Ashburn on fourth-and-short.
The Tigers threw an incomplete pass to begin the ensuing drive before reverting back to their ground game, which incorporated Michael Rogenski and extended the drive in the form of a 6-yard Caldwell run on fourth-and-1 from the Reserve 37-yard line.
Tuscano scored his second touchdown of the game with a 5-yard bootleg run, giving the Tigers a 21-0 lead with just under five minutes to play in the half.
"We have multiple weapons," Slopek said. "Obviously, it starts upfront. Our tight ends did a fantastic job. Our backs all were called upon to block or fake for the quarterback, and they all did a great job. They were real precise with the execution. So between our offensive linemen and our tight ends really just being assignment-sound, and then the physicality and the attention to detail from the other backs, including the quarterback, I think that’s what really carried us tonight."
On their first possession of the second half, the Blue Devils quickly gave the ball back to the Tigers when a botched handoff between James and Ashburn allowed Henry Nemenz to recover the ball at the Reserve 20-yard line.
After Tuscano completed a 14-yard pass to Tristan Temperato, Tuscano ran it in from 6 yards out to put Springfield ahead 28-0.
Later in the third quarter, after a pair of Devils punts and the first and only punt for the Tigers, Tuscano triggered a running clock when he faked a handoff and broke free for a 79-yard rushing touchdown with 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Backup quarterback Carson Timmins capped off the game with a running score of his own just before time expired in the fourth.
"I think we’re getting better, so that makes me really happy because we want to be playing our best ball here," Slopek said. "We have two very tough games coming up, and then, hopefully, the playoffs. So we want to be playing our best ball at this point. And I think that we’ve grown a lot defensively, and we still have room to grow."
With the loss, Western Reserve dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) Scarlet Tier play. The Blue Devils, who have lost four straight, visit undefeated Mineral Ridge next week.
Reserve head coach John Armeni declined to comment after the game.
Springfield, after a fourth straight win, is 5-3 on the season and 4-1 in the league. The Tigers will host undefeated defending MVAC Scarlet champion and state semifinalist McDonald next week.
"I think we were hardened by that three-game losing streak. Those were three really good football teams, and I kept trying to tell our guys, 'Listen, this is going to make us better in the long run. We just got to hang with it,'" Slopek said. "I’m so proud of them because there was never a wavering, there was never a drop-off in practice and things like that. They believed in that message. And I think we’re reaping the benefits of it now."