Medina’s Eric Hammer knocks the ball away from Shaker Height’s Melvin Cantrell III with a big hit in the second quarter Friday night at Medina. Photo by Judd Smerglia
MEDINA — There was a fireworks display after the Medina football team’s homecoming game Friday at Kenneth Dukes Stadium, but not before the Bees provided plenty of explosions on the field.
Quarterback Collin Minor threw for three touchdowns and Collin Winters had a back-breaking interception return for a score as Medina routed Shaker Heights 41-7 in a penalty-marred Northeast Ohio Conference River Division game.
“We finally put four quarters together,” Bees coach Doug Sutherland said after his team improved to 2-5, 1-1.
There were plenty of heroes against the Red Raiders (1-6, 0-2), but no one was bigger than Minor, a three-year starter who completed 8-of-12 passes for 164 yards and the three scores.
Throw in a 50-yard score on a halfback option pass from Ian Crawley to Kyle Scherer and Medina controlled the airwaves, especially given that Shaker Heights quarterback Erick Barksdale Jr. went 5-for-17 with two picks, one of which was returned 88 yards by Winters to put the Bees up 34-7 with 9:11 left in the third period.
“We watched a lot of film and we knew what was going to be open,” the 6-foot, 203-pound Minor said. “They pressed our receivers, so we knew the middle of the field was going to be wide open.”
It sure was, as the Bees opened the scoring with 7:20 left in the first quarter when Minor hit Scherer for a 34-yard TD on fourth-and-17.
After the Red Raiders tied the game on a 1-yard sneak by Barksdale, Crawley (6 carries, 50 yards, 3 catches, 70 yards) floated a pass down the right sideline that Shaker Heights’ safety badly misplayed, leading to a 50-yard score for Scherer with 40 seconds left in the opening period.
“Whatever gets me in the end zone, I’ll take it,” Scherer said.
Wearing yellow jerseys in honor of the late Rick Stich, a longtime Medina supporter, the Bees were only getting started.
Medina went up 20-7 with 7:24 to go in the first half when Minor lobbed a pass over two Shaker Heights defenders — neither did a very good job reacting to the ball — for a 22-yard score to Crawley in the right corner of the end zone.
The Bees blew the game wide open early in the second half, with Minor hitting tailback Jimmy Daw (15 carries, 33 yards, 2 catches, 42 yards, 2 total TDs) 20 yards down the middle of the field and Daw doing the rest to complete a 31-yard TD.
“I saw it was going to be open before the play,” Minor said. “Daw is my go-to guy on that play. I just floated it over the middle and he made a great catch and a great run.”
Twenty-six seconds later, defensive back Winters caught a ball that was thrown right to him and streaked down the left sideline to put the Bees up 34-7 with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
Medina capped the scoring on a 28-yard run by Daw with 9:09 to go in the fourth, mercifully sending a game that featured a combined 23 penalties for 191 yards into the running clock format.
“Homecoming is a big game,” Scherer said. “We’ve really let our fans down and let our school down. We really need to make a statement in the second half of the season.”
Led by Winters’ big pick-six, the Medina defense also got in on the fun, holding Shaker Heights to 139 yards total offense.
Jack Green had an interception and tackle for loss, Connor Varney recovered a fumble and Sam Vavzincak, Justice Burkey, Jake Wickey and Nick Pankow added stops behind the line of scrimmage for the Bees.
“We’ll have a little bit of momentum going into the last three games of the year,” Minor said.
Penalties were the only downside for the Bees. Shaker Heights (12 for 91 yards) committed the bulk of the infractions early, but Medina was not about to get skunked, rallying late to finish with 11 for 100 yards, including one that negated a 76-yard TD pass from Minor to Daw.
“We preach it and we drill on it,” Sutherland said. “At some point, these kids have got to realize those are going to hurt us, especially against a good team.”
That, however, was the only negative for Medina.
“There were fireworks tonight,” Sutherland said.
Notes
The Bees pulled Tyler Vogrin off the soccer team to kick extra points and he responded by going 3-for-4.
l Junior Sarah Vanadia was perfect on her one PAT attempt at halftime, winning her a free large pizza once a week for a year from Geppetto’s.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.
Medina 41, Shaker Heights 7
SHAKER HEIGHTS 7 0 0 0 — 7
MEDINA 14 6 14 7 — 41
First
M — Kyle Scherer 34 pass from Collin Minor (Tyler Vogrin kick), 7:20.
S — Erick Barksdale Jr. 1 run (Brandon Hayes kick), 2:34.
M — Scherer 50 pass from Ian Crawley (Vogrin kick), :40.
Second
M — Crawley 22 pass from Minor (kick failed), 7:24.
Third
M — Jimmy Daw 31 pass from Minor (run failed), 9:37.
M — Collin Winters 88 interception return (Daw run), 9:11.
Fourth
M — Daw 28 run (Vogrin kick), 9:09.
Medina quarterback, Collin Minor looks for running room against Shaker Height's Terrance Colvin during the second quarter Friday night. Photo by Judd SmergliaPurchase Photo
Medina's Cale Walter (center), Ryan Bowers (right) with the help of Bryce Moran (left) bring down Shaker Height's Melvin Cantrell III during the second quarter friday night. Photo by Judd Sm …Purchase Photo
Medina's Kyle Scherer catches the ball over Shaker Height's David Wright for a touchdown in the first quarter Friday night at Medina High School. Photo by Judd SmergliaPurchase Photo
Medina's Ian Crawlery catches the ball over the reach of Shaker Height's Terrance Colvin for a touchdown in the second quarter Friday night. Photo by Judd SmergliaPurchase Photo
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