#BEYONDTHEKEYSTONE (OHIO) Beechcroft flexes defensive muscles to defeat Northland 30-8 @coachSayers50 @CroftGridiron @NLVikesFB @thebhscougars

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Gameday Hub

David Burnworth | October 2, 2020

I first want to think Coach Sayers for making it very easy for me to get into cover this game for PAFOOTBALLNEWS and I wanted to thank the two ladies working the gate for being so kind and professional. For me, this was A game I really wanted to see for two different reasons. The first being, it was going to be my first trip to Northland for a game. 2nd, I was to see Beechcroft earlier in the year as I was put on the athletic director’s pass list. I drove from Buckeye Lake to Beechcroft high school only to be told A brand new league rule was put in place stating no media. Well later that night I drive to another City League school, Columbus Walnut Ridge, and cover their game and since this new rule was supposedly put into place I have covered four City League games.

The first quarter was a defensive struggle and this showed bigtime when Gentry Ross sacked JJ Simmons after A bad snap, which forced the Cougars into a fourth and two situation. The Cougars would get A nice play from Antwoin Reed, who knocked down A screen pass thrown by the Vikings quarterback Shemar Watson. Watson’s best bet in this one was to throw screen passes because he got absolutely zero protection from his offensive line, who was dominated all game be the Cougars defensive line. Watson would be sacked with:47 seconds left in the quarter by # 53 (NOT ON THE HUDL.COM ROSTER). Watson would get the last laugh in the quarter, when he avoided another sack while using his feet to pick up 20 yards, on A third and six situation.

Watson was able to avoid being sack and found Japhrone Chapman for A 25 yard gain. The drive quickly faded away after the big pass play. The defense would continue to be the focal point in this one, when Diante Latham was stopped on fourth and two, with 5:24 left in the half. Watson would throw deep downfield and making the catch was Isaiah Wills-Jackson, all the way down to the Cougars 5-yard line. After going backward on the drive Watson threw A short pass to Japhrone Chapman getting the ball to the 2-yard line, from there Watson took the ball into the endzone for the games first points. Rayvon Ivery ran in the two-point conversion to give the Vikings the 8-0 lead, with 1:50 left in the half. Beechcroft would get A big 46-yard pass from Simmons to
Travaughn McConnell. The 3-plays, 63-yard drive concluded with A 3-yard run by Latham. Latham would lock this one up at 8 apiece on his two-point conversion run, with:49 seconds left in the half.

The third quarter got started with a nice 15-yard run by Latham but that would be just about all of the offense we would see in the quarter until the 3:43 mark with Simmons finding Latham for A 72-yard catch. Latham caught the pass and easily outran the Vikings defense for the score to make this A 14-8 game. Latham proved to be A very dangerous weapon in all aspects of the offensive part of the game.

The Vikings defense would get things started in the final frame, when #50 (NOT ON THE HUDL ROSTER) and friends combine to stop Simmons 9-yards short of the chains. Amir Brown would wake up the Vikings offense when he blasted away for A 31-yard run down to the Cougars 6-yard line. The drive came to A quick end with Watson being sacked by four different Cougars on fourth and three.
The Cougars would start three straight drives in Cougar territory in the quarter but came away with zero points. The 2nd drive ended when Watson was picked off by THE PAFOOTBALLNEWS PLAYER OF THE GAME Diante Latham, with 5:51 left in the game. Latham would pick up 19 yards on another nice run, that had 15-yards tacked on after A Viking penalty. Latham would score on A 46-yard run, after #20 (NOT ON THE HUDL ROSTER) busted through three tackles to convert the two-point run, we had a 22-8 game. The Cougars final score came with 4:21 left in the game when #23 (NOT ON THE HUDL ROSTER) picked Watson off and took it to the house from 61-yards out. Simmons converted the two-point run to give us our final score of 30-8.

VERY UNOFFICIAL STATS
BEECHCROFT
49 PLAYS
342 YARDS
PASSING, 4-9 1 TD

NORTHLAND
60 PLAYS
133 YARDS
PASSING, 7-18 2 INT’S