Bulldog sports roundup: Despite ‘lights out’ defense, loss at Solon leaves football team 1-2

Head coach Martin Poder believes his Stow-Munroe Falls football team has played more than well enough on the defensive side of the ball thus far this season for the Bulldogs to be 3-0.

Unfortunately, because of a not-quite-there offense, the team is 1-2 following a 17-14 loss Sept. 2 at Solon.

“I thought the kids’ effort and intensity on the defensive side of the ball was there,” Poder said. “Defensively we were lights out, dang near perfect, in the first half. I don’t think our defense has given up 600 yards overall in the three games we’ve played.”

Two big touchdown plays in the second quarter gave Stow-Munroe Falls a 14-0 lead. The first was a 36-yard pass on a broken play from freshman quarterback Jake Harrington to senior wide receiver Brayden Gabele. The second was a 69-yard pass from Harrington to senior wideout Zach Huff. The Bulldogs had several opportunities to increase that lead, but they were unable to do it.

“Other than the two touchdown plays, we weren’t clicking on all cylinders offensively in the first half,” said Poder. “We were controlling the game, though, all the way through late in the third quarter, but we let Solon hang around.”

Late in that third period was when the home team scored on a 75-yard pass play to pull within 14-7. A 6-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter tied the score 14-14.

Stow-Munroe Falls had a fourth-and-3 at the Comets’ 38-yard line and was trying to get into field-goal range to win the game. Instead, the Bulldogs went for the first down but failed, giving the ball to Solon with 1:20 to play. A few plays later, a 42-yard field goal as time expired gave the Comets the win.  

Harrington was 8-of-16 for 164 yards with the two touchdown passes.

“Mechanically, Jake has to get a couple things cleaned up. The ball has been sailing on him a little bit. He missed a couple throws, but he also made some good throws,” Poder said. “I challenged him not to throw any interceptions and not to turn the ball over, and he did both of those things. We don’t need him to go out and win football games, we just need him to give us a chance to win football games.”

Gabele wound up with three receptions for 49 yards. Junior slot receiver Jack Smith caught three passes for 25 yards and also ran the ball 10 times for 28 yards.

Senior middle linebacker Teddy Gregory led the way on defense with six tackles, including two sacks and four tackles for loss.

“It was the second game in a row where Teddy is playing like the best defensive player in the area. He’s all over the field,” said the coach. “I can’t use a certain adjective or superlative to describe him. We’re playing very well defensively because of how he plays. He gets in the backfield and is sacking the quarterback. If not, he’s making the tackles in the box. Very rarely do I ever hear the coaches commenting or lamenting about a missed assignment on his part.”

The Bulldogs are scheduled to play at Medina at 7 p.m. Sept. 9.

“Right now,” Poder said, “the way Medina is playing, they’re probably considered one of the top 10 teams in Northeast Ohio, so it will be a big challenge for us.”

Girls cross country: Atkinson captures D-I title at Ashland

Junior Jayla Atkinson fought through extremely humid conditions to defend her Division I title Sept. 3 in the Ashland Cross Country Invitational. She finished with a time of 18 minutes, 52.7 seconds, besting a field of 273 runners.

“Jayla was three seconds faster than she was the week before,” head coach Aaron Morris said. “She ran with the second-place girl for the first 2 1/2 miles, and then she really opened it up on her in the last half-mile and made it not close. Last year, she had to run a girl down to win the title. This year, she took a much different approach.”

Overall, Stow-Munroe Falls nearly captured the team championship. The Bulldogs and Suburban League National Conference rival Brecksville-Broadview Heights both finished with 106 points, but the Bees won first place out of 21 teams on a sixth-place tiebreaker. Cloverleaf finished third with 132 points. 

“Because of the humidity, our times across the board weren’t where we’d hoped they’d be,” said Morris.

Junior Deena Ingrassia finished eighth with a time of 20:01.4, while senior Sydney Pitcovich placed 12th with a clocking of 20:29.9.

“Both Deena and Sydney were kind of in the same boat,” Morris said. “They put themselves in a good position. They had pretty lofty goals for themselves, but the weather just didn’t allow them to hit the times they wanted, but place-wise they ran well. They ran good, strategic races.

“I don’t think Deena was real pleased with her time because I know she’d intended on getting under 20 minutes, which she just missed.”

Junior Ellie Brosch finished 29th with a time of 21:25.3, and senior Lily Baker was 57th with a time of 22:45.

“Ellie ran her best time ever, which was really something to be said considering the conditions,” said the coach. “That was impressive.”

The Bulldogs are set to compete in the Stow Walsh Jesuit Pat Ritchie Invitational at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 10.

Boys cross country: Shorthanded Bulldogs manage fourth place at Ashland

The boys cross country team was without two of its top five runners Sept. 3 at the Ashland Invitational, so head coach J.K. LeSeure was pleased with his team’s fourth-place finish out of 21 teams in Division I.

“We were without senior Zach Shawala and sophomore Gavin Rossman, two of our top five runners,” LeSeure said. “I was happy with fourth place given who we raced. I think we did pretty well.”

Stow-Munroe Falls totaled 179 points. Suburban League crossover rival Highland won the competition with 85 points. National Conference rival Twinsburg finished second with 152 points, and Lexington was third with 169 points.

Leading the way for the Bulldogs were seniors Micah Bentley and Connor Scarberry. Bentley finished eighth out of 409 runners with a time of 16:34, while Scarberry placed 11th with a time of 16:54.8.

“Micah is running great,” said LeSeure. “We’re probably a couple weeks away from him really popping the big one. We were real pleased with how Connor finished.”

Senior Zach Richards finished 36th with a time of 17:44.5; Trenton Macura, his classmate, finished 55th with a time of 18:14; and junior Sam Brownlee placed 69th with a clocking of 18:31.4.

“This was the second week in a row that Zach has run personal bests. He just keeps improving,” LeSeure said. “He’s going to be a solid player in that top five for sure all season long.

“Trenton had a real solid day. This was only his second cross country race even though he’s a senior, so he’s still figuring some things out.

“Sam PR’d for the second week in a row. He just keeps dropping time and getting faster and faster.”

The Bulldogs are scheduled to compete in the Walsh Jesuit Pat Ritchie Invitational at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 10.

Boys soccer: Bulldogs blank Kent Roosevelt

It was the boys soccer team’s finest performance of the season.

Stow-Munroe Falls easily defeated Suburban League crossover rival Kent Roosevelt 3-0 Sept. 1 at home. The Bulldogs improved to 2-2-1 on the season.

“We came out right away and put some pressure on Roosevelt and sustained it through the game,” head coach Kyle Kosmala said. “We were very consistent for all 80 minutes.”

Stow-Munroe Falls’ first goal was scored by junior midfielder Reece Raymond-Smith off an assist by junior outside midfielder Sam Morris about 10 minutes into the game.

“The ball went past the goal originally,” said Kosmala. “Sam saved it from going out of bounds and crossed it back to Reece, who headed it in.”

The Bulldogs’ second goal was scored with about 16 minutes left in the first half off a rebound by freshman midfielder Evan Butler.

Junior midfielder Logan Seaman scored his team’s final goal about 10 minutes into the second half.

“It was just a nice individual effort where Logan took a couple people on and scored,” Kosmala said. “He’s been doing a great job of attacking more and more for us. It finally paid off in this game with his first goal.” 

Two nights earlier, on Aug. 30, visiting Stow-Munroe Falls tied Archbishop Hoban 1-1. The Knights took a 1-0 lead about 15 minutes into the game. The Bulldogs tied the score in the second half on a head-in goal by junior forward Rory Wilson.

“Rory has been playing really well for us,” said the coach. “He has a knack for putting the ball in the back of the net. That was his first goal this season, and hopefully he’s got more to come.”

The visitors nearly took the lead very late in the game but could not quite put the ball in the net.

Girls soccer: Hobart’s early goal stands up in win over Revere

A spectacular goal by senior midfielder Kailey Hobart 10 minutes into the game was the difference Aug. 29 as the girls soccer team held off visiting Suburban League crossover rival Revere 1-0 in a game shortened to 55 minutes due to inclement weather. The Bulldogs improved to 3-0-1 on the season.

“Revere had a goal kick, so they were kicking the ball from their goal box,” head coach Jim Dudones said. “They kicked it, Kailey intercepted it, smashed it with her head to Sophia Yoder, a senior center forward, and then Sophia passed the ball back to her (Hobart), and she smashed it into the goal. It was pretty cool.”

At that point, Dudones was pretty confident in his team’s chances for victory, but the Minutemen did not give up.

“I thought we were rolling at that point,” he said, “but as it turned out, we kind of lost our edge a little bit and let Revere opportunity-wise back in the game. Our defense came through, though.”

According to Dudones, Hobart’s hard work in preparation for the season is paying off big-time.

“Kailey has just been everything you could ask for in terms of being a leader and a very intense competitor on the field,” he said. “It’s been a great start to her senior year.”

Another player who is doing well is sophomore goalkeeper Ava Mancuso. Mancuso is filling in for junior Sara Csernyik, who got injured while training during the preseason and is out for the year.

“Ava played well against Revere,” said the coach. “She’s coming into her own and has done a very good job in Sara’s place.”

The Bulldogs open National Conference play at 7 p.m. tonight at Brecksville-Broadview Heights.

Boys golf: Clutch finish by Eddie Norman, Jr. lifts Bulldogs past Wadsworth

It all came down to Eddie Norman, Jr.’s performance on the last couple of holes for the boys golf team Sept. 1 in a nine-hole (front) match against Suburban League National Conference rival Wadsworth at Fox Den Golf Course in Stow.

Norman, Jr., just a freshman, needed to score 1 over par at the worst to clinch victory for the Bulldogs. He came through with flying colors, parring both holes. Stow-Munroe Falls won 153-155.

“In all fairness, I don’t think Eddie knew the situation because he didn’t know the team score at the time,” head coach Chet Feldman said. “So he just was playing to get the low score.”

Norman, Jr. wound up tying senior Mitch Tyger and sophomore Austin Wilhoit with a score of 38. Senior Ben Skirpac carded a 39.

Feldman was not surprised by his players’ good scores.

“It’s our home course,” he said. “Our guys should be all under 40 in my opinion, and four of the six did it.”

The Bulldogs began the week three days earlier on Aug. 29 with a third-place performance in the 22-team Lake Invitational at Congress Lake Country Club in Hartville. They had a score of 331. Archbishop Hoban won the competition with a score of 294, and Cleveland St. Ignatius finished second with a score of 323.

“I thought our guys grinded it out,” said Feldman. “That’s a tough course to play. The greens had very tricky pin placements. You had to know when to attack on an approach shot and when not to, and when to hit the middle of the greens and two-putt.”

Skirpac fired a 4-over-par 76.

“Ben had a solid performance all the way around,” Feldman said. “He didn’t really get into much trouble. He struggled a little bit on a couple holes with his putting but really got it going on the back nine and stepped it up. He did a good job.”

Wilhoit shot an 83, while Tyger and Norman, Jr. each shot an 86.

Girls golf: Bulldogs hold off Rough Riders

The girls golf team’s 179-181 victory in a nine-hole match Sept. 1 over league crossover rival Kent Roosevelt at The Fairways at Twin Lakes Golf Course in Kent was a little deceiving at first glance.

“One of Kent Roosevelt’s last players made it a little closer, but we were never really in jeopardy of losing,” head coach Scotte Rorabaugh said.

Junior Gabby Berlingieri led the way for Stow-Munroe Falls by firing a 3-over-par 38.

“Gabby played well. She avoided mistakes,” said Rorabaugh. “I think it was one of her best rounds at that course. She got the ball in play. One double-bogey kind of hurt her score, but otherwise she struck the ball well and putted well, and the greens are the biggest challenge at that course.”

Freshman Olivia Berlingieri, Gabby’s sister, shot a 40, senior McKenzie Ickes shot a 49, and sophomore Sophia Thompson had a 52.

Three days earlier, on Aug. 29, the Bulldogs did not fare as well. They finished 12th with a score of 368 in the 18-team Walsh Jesuit Invitational at The Country Club of Hudson.

League crossover rival Highland won the competition with a score of 315, National Conference rival Hudson finished right behind in second with a score of 316, and Rocky River Magnificat was third with a score of 326.

“We were missing Sophia, our No. 4 player, who was sick that day,” Rorabaugh said. “We didn’t play our best. It was very windy, and we didn’t handle the conditions very well. We just didn’t play well. We had too many three-putts, and we put ourselves into some bad positions.”

Olivia Berlingieri shot an 85, Gabby Berlingieri shot an 87, and Ickes and junior Addison Ades each had a 98.

Girls volleyball: Down, but not out, Bulldogs stage big rally to stun Louisville

The momentum was not in its favor, but the girls volleyball team rallied for a five-set win Aug. 30 at Louisville.

The Bulldogs won the first set 25-21 but then lost the next two sets 25-18 and 25-21. They were down 24-20 in the fourth set with defeat seemingly a foregone conclusion. However, junior middle hitter Gianna Cella brought her team back by scoring four service points to tie the match 24-24. From there, the road team won the set 26-24 and took the fifth set 15-9.

“We just dominated the fifth set,” head coach Sara Snyder said.

A key to the Bulldogs’ victory was senior libero Maggie Ruggles, who missed the first two sets.

“Maggie is dealing with a strain in her leg, so I was trying to not play her,” said Snyder. “But we needed her, and she told me she was ready to play, so I put her in. Once I put her in, our passing game went up.”

Cella wound up with 24 service points, eight kills and six aces. Sophomore defensive specialist Kate Flaherty had 20 service points and three aces.

Two nights later, on Sept. 1, Stow-Munroe Falls fell 25-21, 25-21, 25-14 at home to Brecksville-Broadview Heights. The Bulldogs slipped to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

“We actually played well, but Brecksville had great defense, was spot-on. They were just really scrappy, were picking everything up,” Snyder said. “We had a hard time scoring points, finding the court.”

Cella and junior outside hitter Leara Gilbert each had seven kills. Senior middle hitter Delaney Ramsey totaled four kills and four blocks.

Field hockey: Rice’s hat trick leads Bulldogs to first win of season

McKenna Rice was a huge reason why the field hockey team won its first game of the season Aug. 29, 4-0 at home over Shaker Heights Laurel.

The junior right forward scored three goals – one each in the first, second and fourth quarters.

“McKenna is really, really athletic,” head coach McDaniel Palma said. “She messed up her meniscus a little bit this season, but she’s been able to find her balance and be able to still perform really well for us. She can just visualize the field really well, and she can see the areas that she can advance and score a goal.”

Senior midfielder Bri Kerekes scored the Bulldogs’ other goal in the second quarter, which gave Stow-Munroe Falls a 3-0 lead.

Palma was very pleased with her team’s overall performance.

“We were able to utilize the sideline a lot and be able to make great transfers and great passes,” she said. “Our forwards and midfields were able to score, which was awesome, and we were able to communicate a lot.”

It was a much different story for Stow-Munroe Falls two nights later on Aug. 31 when the Bulldogs lost 10-0 at Hudson in their National Conference opener. They are 1-2 overall.

“Hudson is great,” Palma said. “They have had a very established program for a very long time.”

The Bulldogs host Western Reserve Academy at 5 p.m. today.

Girls tennis: Bentley holds up under pressure against Akron North

It all came down to junior Leah Bentley’s match at second singles for the girls tennis team Aug. 30 in a home match against Akron North.

With the four other matches having ended and the teams in a 2-2 standoff, Bentley was in the process of pulling out a tight 7-6, 7-6 victory in a marathon match that lasted well over two hours, giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 victory. 

“Leah pulled it out for us,” head coach Brian Banas said. “She competed well throughout. She did a nice job driving her backhand groundstroke and took advantage of her opponent’s second serve quite a bit in hitting some good, solid backhand returns to take control of points. It was really a match of endurance. She ended up winning a lot of the big points in the tiebreakers.”

Senior McKenna Hoffstetter lost at first singles 6-2, 6-1, and Sophie Ing, her classmate, fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 at third singles.

Junior Claire Goetz teamed with freshman Kaelyn McGovern to win 7-5, 6-3 at first doubles. Juniors Mikayla Witner and Celia McHale joined forces to triumph 6-4, 6-1 at second doubles.

“It was Kaelyn’s first move into the varsity lineup, so it was nice to see her get a win. She’s one of our better volleyers,” said Banas. “Steady baseline play for Mikayla and Celia really paved the way for them.”

The win over the Vikings was sandwiched between 5-0 losses Aug. 29 at home to Brecksville-Broadview Heights and Aug. 31 at National Conference rival North Royalton, two much more experienced teams. The Bulldogs slipped to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference.  

In the loss to the Bees, Hofstetter lost at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-0; Bentley lost at No. 2 singles 6-0, 6-0; and freshman Kamryn Martin fell at No. 3 singles 6-0, 6-1.

McHale and Goetz lost at No. 1 doubles 6-0, 6-1, and Witner and Ing lost at No. 2 doubles 6-3, 6-0.

In the loss to the Bears, Hofstetter lost at first singles 6-0, 6-0; Bentley lost at second singles 6-1, 6-1; and Ing fell at third singles 6-1, 6-0.

Goetz and McGovern teamed to lose at first doubles 6-2, 6-0, and Witner and McHale lost at second doubles 6-0, 6-1.

The Bulldogs are set to host conference rival Wadsworth at 4 p.m. today.