Weekly sports roundup: Despite hot defense, Barberton walloped Bulldogs football at home

Turnovers and mental errors doomed the Stow-Munroe Falls football team Aug. 26 in the Bulldogs’ 20-0 loss at home to Suburban League crossover rival Barberton. Stow-Munroe Falls fell to 1-1 overall.

“Defensively, we gave up 10 points,” Stow-Munroe Falls head coach Martin Poder said. “Barberton had a field goal on the opening drive and a touchdown drive in the second quarter. Other than that, we had a batted ball for a pick-six, and we muffed a punt, giving Barberton the ball inside our 15-yard line, and we held them to a field goal.

“We held them to less than 300 yards offense. When your defense does that, you should win football games. Our kids executed the defensive game plan and played more than well enough for us to win a football game.”

Offensively, Stow-Munroe Falls is not quite there yet.

“We’re replacing 11 starters from last year, with an inexperienced quarterback,” said Poder. “We have glimpses that show the potential that we can be, but we’re just making way too many mental mistakes right now to give us a chance to win against a quality opponent like Barberton. We had five turnovers and lost only 20-0.”

One of those turnovers occurred right before halftime when the Bulldogs trailed 10-0 and were still in the game.

“We had a guy open deep,” Poder said, “but we had a protection breakdown and [freshman quarterback] Jake [Harrington] went to throw the ball, but his arm got hit as he was throwing it. The ball popped up in the air, and a Barberton linebacker grabbed it and took off for a touchdown. Then, in the fourth quarter, inexplicably for some reason we decided not to catch a punt and let it bounce, and the ball ricocheted and hit one of our players, and Barberton recovered and got a field goal out of it.”

Harrington was 14-of-32 for 162 yards with two interceptions and two lost fumbles.

Sophomore running back Nick Hosey rushed the ball eight times for 39 yards, while senior running back Sal Romito gained 33 yards on 14 carries.

Senior wide receiver Brayden Gabele had six receptions for 78 yards, and junior receiver Jack Smith caught four passes for 40 yards.

Junior safety Mike Murtaugh led Stow-Munroe Falls with six tackles. Senior linebacker Teddy Gregory, Jr. had five tackles.

“It’s early on in the year, and we’re not where we need to be,” said the coach. “Cuyahoga Falls [the week before] was the type of opponent that can give you some fool’s gold, thinking you might be better than you really are.”

The Bulldogs are scheduled to play at Solon at 7 p.m. Sept. 2.

Girls golf: Win over Tallmadge caps solid week

It was a good week for the girls golf team. The Bulldogs scored an easy win over Suburban League crossover rival Tallmadge after placing third in two tournaments.

Stow-Munroe Falls’ nine-hole victory over the Blue Devils Aug. 25 came by a 167-215 score on the back nine at Fox Den Golf Course in Stow.

“I thought we played well,” Bulldogs head coach Scotte Rorabaugh said.

Senior McKenzie Ickes led Stow-Munroe Falls with a 38, just two above par.

“McKenzie is starting to play better here the last couple of weeks,” said Rorabaugh. “She’s starting to realize that tempo is a big part of her golf swing and is starting to hopefully get into a little groove here.”

Junior Gabby Berlingieri shot a 40, sophomore Sophia Thompson shot a 43, and freshman Olivia Berlingieri, Gabby’s sister, carded a 46.

“We had some course-management issues that we need to clean up,” Rorabaugh said. “There are better scores out there for each of our players, and I think they all recognize that.”

Three days earlier, on Aug. 22, Stow-Munroe Falls finished third out of 20 teams with a score of 352 in the Rocky River Magnificat Invitational at Avon Oaks Country Club.

Magnificat won the competition with a score of 306, and league crossover rival Highland finished second with a score of 321.

“Magnificat and Highland are the two best teams in Northeast Ohio, so to finish third, I was pretty happy with that,” said the coach. “We probably could’ve played a little better. It was the first time playing that course for all of our girls. It was a little bit more challenging. To finish third was a good showing for us.”

Gabby Berlingieri shot a 14-over-par 86, Ickes fired an 87, Olivia Berlingieri carded an 89, and Thompson had a 90.

The next day, on Aug. 23, Stow-Munroe Falls placed third with a score of 347 in the second of four Suburban League Tournaments at Ellsworth Meadows Golf Club in Hudson.

Nordonia won the competition with a score of 326, and Hudson was second with a score of 328.

“Nordonia and Hudson are the strongest teams in our conference,” Rorabaugh said. “We’re still trying to develop and get up to their level, but right now they’re definitely a little bit ahead of us. I thought we played OK. We did make some mistakes here and there that cost us a number of strokes. We’re playing decent, but there’s definitely better potential and better results out there than what we’re getting right now.”

Gabby Berlingieri shot a 9-over-par 80, Thompson shot an 86, Olivia Berlingieri carded a 90, and Ickes fired a 91.

The Bulldogs are set to play league crossover rival Kent Roosevelt at 3:10 p.m. Sept. 1 at The Fairways at Twin Lakes Golf Course in Kent.

Boys golf: Bulldogs win crown at Green Invitational

The boys golf team got off to a rousing start last week by capturing the title at the 22-team Green Invitational Aug. 22 at Ohio Prestwick Country Club in Uniontown.

Stow-Munroe Falls had a score of 309, Avon finished second with a score of 315, and Green was third with a score of 318.

“We prepped the kids that the greens were going to be really fast,” head coach Chet Feldman said. “We were struggling up to that point. We practiced really hard the day before. The kids just came out and played well.”

Three players broke 80: senior Ben Skirpac (73, one over par), senior Mitch Tyger (75) and sophomore Austin Wilhoit (78).

“Ben is just steady, all the time. He rarely has three putts, he knows what club to hit where. He’s very good,” said Feldman. “Mitch came out ready to play. He was not happy with his performance the time before. He worked at it and was striking the ball with his driver really well.

“I was very happy with Austin’s score. Anytime you have guys going under 80 is a great score for them. Austin’s driver was on a point, giving him a lot of open looks and open shots.”

Freshman Tyler Cheetham shot a respectable 83.

“Tyler is coming along,” Feldman said.

Three days later, on Aug. 25, Stow-Munroe Falls defeated Brunswick in a nine-hole match 154-164 at Fox Den Golf Course.

“It’s our home course, and we putted really well, and they should putt well there,” said the coach.

On Aug. 27, Stow-Munroe Falls competed in the 19-team University School Invitational at Windmill Lakes Golf Club in Ravenna.

“We didn’t finish anywhere in the top eight. We struggled,” Feldman said. “A lot of my players were in the trees all day long. It was a grind for almost every one of them. It was a tough course.”

Cleveland St. Ignatius and Akron Archbishop Hoban both had scores of 292, but Hoban won on a fifth-place tiebreaker. Massillon Jackson finished third with a score of 302.

Skirpac fired a 5-over-par 75, Tyger shot a 77, Wilhoit shot an 83, and Cheetham carded an 84.

The Bulldogs are scheduled to oppose National Conference rival Wadsworth at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 1 at Fox Den Golf Course.

Girls cross country: Bulldogs finish runner-up at Gibas Invitational

All five runners who scored points for the girls cross country team’s second-place finish in the season-opening meet Aug. 27 at the Kenston Frank Gibas Invitational earned praise from head coach Aaron Morris.

“All of those girls put in a lot of work over the summer,” said the coach. “I thought they ran real well. We ran very well up front. Our first three girls were all in the top 10. Our 4 and 5 girls ran course personal records by more than a minute.”

The Bulldogs scored 88 points. Kenston won the 16-team competition with 84 points. Revere finished third with 97 points.

Leading the way for Stow-Munroe Falls was junior Jayla Atkinson, who had a time of 19 minutes, 21.2 seconds, good for second overall out of 134 runners.

“Jayla ran the first half of the race pretty close to the [Cortland] Maplewood girl who won the meet,” Morris said. “But then the Maplewood girl pulled away from her in the second half of the race and really opened up a pretty good lead on her. I believe that young lady won the Division III state meet last year.”

Junior Deena Ingrassia finished fifth overall with a time of 19:51.6, and senior Sydney Pitcovich finished ninth overall with a clocking of 20:16.9.

“Deena ran very well,” said Morris. “One of our goals for her is we’d like her to be able to see Jayla finish, which means that she’s not going to be too far behind her. Last year at the same meet, I believe she was a minute and a half behind Jayla, but this year she was about 30 seconds behind her. She’s improved a lot. She’s made a huge jump.

“Sydney is another one who made a huge drop.”

Junior Ellie Brosch finished 32nd overall with a time of 21:32.5. Senior Lily Baker placed 40th overall with a clocking of 21:56.5.

“Ellie dropped a whole bunch of time from last year when she was in the 23s,” the coach said. “Lily’s time was about two minutes faster than it was last year on the same course.”

The Bulldogs are set to compete at the Ashland Invitational at 9 a.m. Sept. 3.

Boys cross country: Shorthanded Bulldogs take third at Gibas Invitational

The boys cross country team competed minus senior Zach Shawala, one of its best runners who is a little banged up, in its season-opening meet Aug. 27 at the Kenston Frank Gibas Invitational.

The Bulldogs were still able to finish third out of 13 teams with 107 points. Chardon won the competition with 42 points, and Kenston was second with 99 points.

“Had Zach run, we would’ve been in a much better situation position-wise,” head coach J.K. LeSeure said. “Overall, we had a good day. Almost everybody got personal bests or course personal bests. We’re in a good position. We have a bunch of depth.”

Pacing Stow-Munroe Falls was senior Micah Bentley, who finished third overall out of 118 runners with a time of 16:29.9.

“Micah ran a good race,” said LeSeure. “We feel like he can probably go just a little bit faster than that, though. He was anticipating more people being around him than there were. I think that caught him off guard a little bit. He’s just getting back in the swing of things. I think he’s in better shape than 16:29, which is a good thing because 16:29 is a pretty darn good time.”

Senior Connor Scarberry had a time of 17:00.8, good for 14th place overall, while sophomore Gavin Rossman finished 27th overall with a time of 17:36.

“Connor is well positioned. He ran significantly faster than he did a year ago at Kenston,” LeSeure said. “Gavin ran significantly faster than he did a year ago at the same meet. He was banged up a few weeks ago, so he’s on the comeback trail. We expect him to just get better and better as the season goes along.”

Senior Zach Richards finished 31st overall with a time of 17:45.9, and Trenton Macura, his classmate, was right behind him at 32nd overall with a clocking of 17:49.3.

“Zach took a big leap towards the end of cross country last year and all the way through track. And he just picked up right where he left off,” said the coach. “Trenton did extremely well in his first varsity race. He played soccer in the fall his first three years but has also been on the track team.”

According to LeSeure, one of his major goals this season was to decrease the time between his first and fifth runners.

“That time in this meet was about 80 seconds,” he said. “I was expecting it to be a little bit bigger. That’s going to be key for us. Can our 4, 5 and 6 guys reduce that gap to our three superstars? They did a pretty darn good job of that in this meet.”

The Bulldogs are scheduled to take part in the Ashland Invitational at 9 a.m. Sept. 3.

Girls soccer: Unusual goals forge tie with powerful Jackson

The girls soccer team had a tall order in front of it Aug. 24 going up against Northeast Ohio powerhouse Massillon Jackson at home. The Bulldogs did not win the game, but they didn’t

Both of Stow-Munroe Falls’ goals were scored in quirky manners. Just five seconds into the game, junior forward Paityn Marino gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

“Jackson kicked off backwards,” head coach Jim Dudones said. “The ball went back to their goalkeeper, and their goalkeeper sort of made a blind turn where she wasn’t looking on her right side. And Paityn swooped in and put the ball in the goal from like 0.1 yards away.

“Paityn has played fantastic this season. If you’re playing us, you better game plan for her because, if you don’t, you do so at your own peril. She’s doing a really good job of being dangerous.”

Senior defender Grace Beck scored the Bulldogs’ second goal that put her team ahead 2-1 in the second half. She actually corner-kicked the ball into the goal!

“Grace wasn’t trying to put the ball in the goal,” said Dudones. “She kicked it into a dangerous spot, and the goalkeeper, because there were a lot of players around, couldn’t really see where the ball was, and it just went right in the goal. If the goalkeeper isn’t decisive, that’s when they get in trouble, and in this case that’s what happened. The ball just had a bend on it. It probably happens a couple times a season for us.”

Dudones put the result of the game in perspective.

“With all ties,” he said, “there’s a degree of disappointment because you were winning 2-1 but you didn’t win the game. On the other side, that’s a very good result because Jackson is a very good team.”

Three days later, on Aug. 27, it was a much different story as Stow-Munroe Falls laid a whipping on Field 9-0 in another home game. The Bulldogs improved to 2-0-1 on the season.

“We overmatched Field,” said the coach. “Field’s girls played hard, but they just did not have the same experience level as we have. They could not stay with us. From the very beginning, we did exactly what we should’ve done.”

Seven players scored a goal apiece for Stow-Munroe Falls, and the other two goals were accidentally scored by the Falcons into their own goal.

The Bulldogs are set to open National Conference play at 7 p.m. Sept. 7 at Brecksville-Broadview Heights.

Boys soccer: Win over Lake highlights week

The boys soccer team had a good start to its week Aug. 23 by defeating Lake 2-1 at home.

“We were the aggressor all night long,” head coach Kyle Kosmala said. “We moved the ball pretty well and created a lot of opportunities. We could’ve gotten more than two goals. It was our best offensive performance in the three games we’ve played.”

Senior forward Dallas Wagner gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with 16 minutes left in the first half on a free kick in which he headed the ball into the goal.

Junior outside midfielder Mason Snyder made the score 2-0 with about eight minutes to go in the first half by scoring off an assist from senior outside midfielder Seth Stuber.

Lake scored its goal with 14 minutes remaining in the game.

“We just had to make sure we closed out the game, and we did do a nice job of that,” said Kosmala. “I give our guys credit. They didn’t let the momentum turn once they got scored on. We held Lake off the rest of the way.”

Four nights later, on Aug. 27, Stow-Munroe Falls lost 1-0 at Norton to fall to 1-2 on the season.

The Panthers scored their goal with about eight minutes left in the game.

“We played solid defensively,” Kosmala said, “but we just could not create offensive opportunities.”

The Bulldogs are scheduled to play at Hoban at 7 p.m. Aug. 30.