ADAMS TOWNSHIP – If you’re going come at the king, you best not miss. Much like last year’s 86-54 defeat to perennial Southern Buckeye Conference American Division champ Clinton-Massie, high-flying Western Brown threw everything at the Falcons. This year, the result was a 42-35 loss in a chippy affair at Frank Irelan Field.
Western Brown quarterback Drew Novak completed 40 of 57 passes for 370 yards and five touchdowns plus had 45 yards on 10 carries. Matthew Frye was his favorite target with eight balls for 124 yards and two touchdowns. According to MaxPreps, Novak entered the game as the nation’s passing leader in yards.
The wrecking crew of Carson Vanhoose, Colton Trampler and Carter Frank accounted for all six of Massie’s scores. Vanhoose had 21 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Colton Trampler had 14 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown. Carter Frank had 15 carries for 96 yards and three touchdowns.
“That’s a really good team. They have a nice receiving corps. We’re playing the high school version of (former Clemson quarterback) Trevor Lawrence. Real difficult to get a rush on them because they’re so big. They were huge up front,” CM head coach Dan McSurley said.
It was evident early the two teams would not exchange Christmas cards this year. After a quarter, there were just as many points as personal foul or unsportsmanlike penalties. Massie (5-1, 2-0) led in points, 7-0. The Broncos (5-2, 1-1) led in those types of penalties, 5-2.
“I think there is some animosity back even to basketball season. We had a school record 86 points (in our game) last year. They were (ticked). I actually think the refs did a good job of getting it under control. It was out of control early in the game,” McSurley said. “It’s football. We’re just going to get up, strap it up and play another game. It motivated our guys as much as their’s. It kind of woke us up a little bit.”
Western Brown played catch up most of the night. It did tie Massie at 7-all early in the second quarter, but the Falcons answered to go up 14-7, then forced a Western Brown turnover on downs and scored again to go up 21-7.
Massie would never trail again.
Western Brown scored right before the half to pull within 21-14 and had a chance to tie after receiving the second-half kickoff. But again, Massie forced another turnover on downs and subsequently scored.
“You get a couple stops, grind it out, win an ugly game. That’s what it’s all about,” McSurley said. “I told the kids at the pep rally, ‘Stats are for losers. Final scores are for winners.’ That’s a (New England Patriots head coach Bill) Belichick quote. The kids showed it tonight and said ‘we don’t (care) about your stats, it matters who wins the game.’”
That score to give Massie a 28-14 advantage was the first of six consecutive drives ending in the end zone between the teams. Two of the Massie scoring drives chewed about three minutes off the clock. The other ate about six minutes.
“We wore them down with our offensive line. They did an admirable job,” McSurley said. “We couldn’t give them the big play. They had some, but if they were going to move the ball, we wanted them to take short chunks and eat the clock.”
Clinton-Massie recovered Western Brown’s onside kick attempt with 2:14 left in the game and ran out the clock.
SUMMARY
October 1, 2021
@Frank Irelan Field
Clinton-Massie 42 Western Brown 35
WB^0^14^7^14^^35
CM^7^14^14^7^^42
First Quarter
CM-Carson Vanhoose 7 yard run, Ean McGuinness PAT, 1:43
Second Quarter
WB-Logan Campbell 41 yard pass from Drew Novak, Evan Grimes PAT, 10:30
CM-Carson Vanhoose 2 yard run, Ean McGuinness PAT, 6:04
CM-Carter Frank 12 yard run, Ean McGuinness PAT, 2:35
WB-Matthew Frye 39 yard pass from Drew Novak, Evan Grimes PAT, 1:23
Third Quarter
CM-Carter Frank 13 yard run, Ean McGuinness PAT, 8:19
WB-Dylan Novak 20 yard pass from Drew Novak, Evan Grimes PAT, 5:41
CM-Colton Trampler 14 yard run, Ean McGuinness PAT, 2:33
Fourth Quarter
WB-Matthew Osborne 1 yard pass from Drew Novak, Evan Grimes PAT, 9:40
CM-Carter Frank 3 yard run, Ean McGuinness PAT, 3:18
WB-Matthew Frye 20 yard pass from Drew Novak, Evan Grimes PAT, 2:14
